TUTORIAL: Changing your interior by means of paint

[8G_GTZ]

This tutorial was written by Steveo and anything you screw up is not my fault. This is all on you and my guide is a helper. I got a quote on my car a while back before I did this, and it was $7-10k for silver/black vinly, so expect leather to be more.

Ok, you are going to need about 7-9 can's of paint. Duplicolor makes a vinyl paint especially for this purpose. Spray paint for exterior and interior use is only going to crack because of the softness of the vinyl and it's padding. chose whatever color you would like, i chose gloss black and silver.

We will start with the door panels. there are a total of 5 screws in the front doors and 2 in the rear panels. Take out the door handle trim with one screw holding it in, take out the toggle switch for window/locks and unplug it. If you do not want to paint the speaker cover, there are a few screws to take off the second half of the lower section of the panel(fronts only). remove those screws and you will see that the speaker cover is only "bent" into place. Unbend these sides and it will come right out. Clean it with a mild soap/water solution to rid of the oil and such on it. Dry it well as paint does not stick to water either. Then follow directions on paint can. Most of the newer lines of spray can come with a nozzle that "the pros" may use spraying at a vertical pattern. Let dry, Do as many coats as needed. The carpet piece inside of the upper half of the panel can be spray dyed as mine was. I bought a simple black spray dye that you can get at the same store as the interior spray.

The rear is a one piece design with no need to take out anything. Wash and dry as above and follow same directions.

The center consol is held in by 9 screws in their given locations. once removed, it will simply pop out. Unscrew the arm rest by the 2 screws holding it if you want another color for it or even painting. Clean and dry, and paint as directed above.

Now the big piece. The dash. You may take it out if needed, but that will hold up time a little longer. I did not do this, so i have no idea how to take it out. I have a 2-tone color scheme in mine with the lower half silver and upper black. if you would like this, you will have to remove the driver's side lower panel, A/C tubing, and Glove box. Taping off parts is probably your best friend in this situation, so tape off the windshield with newspaper and a strong masking tape the best you can. If not, you will have paint on the windshield and is a bitch to remove. Take out all of the trim(most just pop out). There is the center trim piece, radio bezel, clock bezel, a/c bezel, both sides of the a/c bezels, the gauge cluster bezel, and 2 defog bezel pieces right on top of the dash near the windshield. be sure to "plug" all of these holes so the over spray doesn't get in there. Now you may wipe this down with a mild detergent and dry very well. You can now spray your dash. Be sure to do all even coats because this is the part that will stand out, as it is the largest. once finished, put all trim back in.

Most of the lower trim is plastic so you can use regular spray paint or the vinyl paint you have. follow the given directions on the can.

the a-pillar pieces are the same as the plastics above as with the rear pillar pieces, and seatbelt trim on the side of the front seats.

The trim pieces themselves are very easy to do. You can use the vinyl paint, but i would suggest the exterior paint for this. Sand them down with a high grit because they are already smooth and just need some sort of graininess for the paint to stick to. clean well, dry, and primer them. sand with high grit again, primer, sand. then you can paint, wet sand, paint, wet sand. clear coat 2x, wet sand, clear coat. not very hard.

The headliner, carpet, and carpet pieces in the doors can be colored by a spray dye available in most automotive stores. I used black again on the door carpet and speaker carpet behind the rear seat. The visors, headliner and carpet i did not do. but as many layers as needed to get appropriate color.

Hopefully this covers most of the interior.

My finished product:





any questions, comments, etc. email me at [email protected] or IM me or PM me.

Steve

[galant_speed]

hi man just wondering, did u, if i wanna mix some sort of a pearl, do i mix it with the clear coat or the paint it self??? also what kind of clear coat did u use for the dash??

[jusmills]

shogun...it looks good man...I was just wondering how well does the vinyl paint and the dyes hold up to frequent use, someplace like the armrest that gets alot of abuse...

Also, I was wondering if now that you are done, does the car have the solventy smell that you usually get from spray paints and the like...if so how long has it lasted...

[8G_GTZ]

to answer the first one, i did not mix, it was a spray. no clear either, it was a gloss black finish.

#2: there is very little fading on places like the arm rests. the smell like all paints is going to last at the most 2-3 weeks. you just have to deal with it.

Steve

[SuperGALANT]

i need a headliner for my car.. i colored my carpet.. maybe dash paint is next after headliner.. and ideas on making a custom head liner?

[GalntGripr]

LOL i thot only my fuckin passenger side airbag vinyl was creepin up on me... ne one kno how to fix that?

[Fusion]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(8G_GTZ)</div><div class='quotemain'>to answer the first one, i did not mix, it was a spray. no clear either, it was a gloss black finish.

#2: there is very little fading on places like the arm rests. the smell like all paints is going to last at the most 2-3 weeks. you just have to deal with it.

Steve</div>

Quick way to get rid of the paint smell, get a cup of Vingar and leave it in your car with the windows alittle down, this will draw all the fumes to the vingar, Vingar in a cup will get rid of all types of fumes

[junebugg69]

This tutorial was written by Steveo and anything you screw up is not my fault. This is all on you and my guide is a helper. I got a quote on my car a while back before I did this, and it was &#036;7-10k for silver/black vinly, so expect leather to be more.
Ok, you are going to need about 7-9 can's of paint. Duplicolor makes a vinyl paint especially for this purpose. Spray paint for exterior and interior use is only going to crack because of the softness of the vinyl and it's padding. chose whatever color you would like, i chose gloss black and silver.
We will start with the door panels. there are a total of 5 screws in the front doors and 2 in the rear panels. Take out the door handle trim with one screw holding it in, take out the toggle switch for window/locks and unplug it. If you do not want to paint the speaker cover, there are a few screws to take off the second half of the lower section of the panel(fronts only). remove those screws and you will see that the speaker cover is only "bent" into place. Unbend these sides and it will come right out. Clean it with a mild soap/water solution to rid of the oil and such on it. Dry it well as paint does not stick to water either. Then follow directions on paint can. Most of the newer lines of spray can come with a nozzle that "the pros" may use spraying at a vertical pattern. Let dry, Do as many coats as needed. The carpet piece inside of the upper half of the panel can be spray dyed as mine was. I bought a simple black spray dye that you can get at the same store as the interior spray.
The rear is a one piece design with no need to take out anything. Wash and dry as above and follow same directions.
The center consol is held in by 9 screws in their given locations. once removed, it will simply pop out. Unscrew the arm rest by the 2 screws holding it if you want another color for it or even painting. Clean and dry, and paint as directed above.
Now the big piece. The dash. You may take it out if needed, but that will hold up time a little longer. I did not do this, so i have no idea how to take it out. I have a 2-tone color scheme in mine with the lower half silver and upper black. if you would like this, you will have to remove the driver's side lower panel, A/C tubing, and Glove box. Taping off parts is probably your best friend in this situation, so tape off the windshield with newspaper and a strong masking tape the best you can. If not, you will have paint on the windshield and is a bitch to remove. Take out all of the trim(most just pop out). There is the center trim piece, radio bezel, clock bezel, a/c bezel, both sides of the a/c bezels, the gauge cluster bezel, and 2 defog bezel pieces right on top of the dash near the windshield. be sure to "plug" all of these holes so the over spray doesn't get in there. Now you may wipe this down with a mild detergent and dry very well. You can now spray your dash. Be sure to do all even coats because this is the part that will stand out, as it is the largest. once finished, put all trim back in.
Most of the lower trim is plastic so you can use regular spray paint or the vinyl paint you have. follow the given directions on the can.
the a-pillar pieces are the same as the plastics above as with the rear pillar pieces, and seatbelt trim on the side of the front seats.
The trim pieces themselves are very easy to do. You can use the vinyl paint, but i would suggest the exterior paint for this. Sand them down with a high grit because they are already smooth and just need some sort of graininess for the paint to stick to. clean well, dry, and primer them. sand with high grit again, primer, sand. then you can paint, wet sand, paint, wet sand. clear coat 2x, wet sand, clear coat. not very hard.
The headliner, carpet, and carpet pieces in the doors can be colored by a spray dye available in most automotive stores. I used black again on the door carpet and speaker carpet behind the rear seat. The visors, headliner and carpet i did not do. but as many layers as needed to get appropriate color.
Hopefully this covers most of the interior.
My finished product:



any questions, comments, etc. email me at [email protected] or IM me or PM me.
Steve

hey guy i likes your work.im new to the 7gen. scene and loving the change but i need some help, like with what kind of cold air intake and where did u get your gauge pod?
thanks,
junebugg
96 7gen.

[THE-G]

heres a pic of my freshley paited interior

[galantryinbattle]

I have done this on both front doors, it came out pretty okay, I just painted the top section black, I would recommend carefully taping off and covering the entire section you don't want painted becuase that overspray gets EVERYWHERE and you won't notice until you take the tape off that you oversprayed. I wanted to paint the AC ducts black as well but I couldn't figure out how to remove them without destroying the dash.

[koji464]

is your dash still shiny beyond beleif? cause i have all grey interior on my black G and want to do top black bottom tan variation and dont want it to look like i JUST painted it evryday I get in my car
I really want to do this

[02redgalant]

don't buy a gloss black..lol flat black is nice..I used it on my airbag cover

[cougar214]

I've been thinking about doing this to my dash but the problem is I have sun damage on the top dash.The vent area below the windshield is lifted up and separating from the vents.Any ideas on how to fix this without replacing the whole top dash?

[peanotation]

I've been thinking about doing this to my dash but the problem is I have sun damage on the top dash.The vent area below the windshield is lifted up and separating from the vents.Any ideas on how to fix this without replacing the whole top dash?

same here, although mine's not as bad as others.... someone a while back said they used gorilla glue and it worked great....dont know how easy it would be to remove the entire dash after that though...

[cougar214]

nice wheels on yer car......I only have hubcaps....Damn.....I must be doing something wrong.