Tuesday, September 18, 2012 - 10:31 pm, by: Corey Griffith(Ianhard)
hey all
had my soarer for about a month now and have just stripped the interior. it started with just the seats to run cables for an amp then one thing lead to another and now i have decided to paint my interior black with red carpet and red roof lining. this will be all starting next week.
so thought i would start a build thread and see what others thought of this. also has anyone one on here got carpet from these guys http://http://www.all-car-carpets.com.au/. and if so whats the quality like. also if anyone knows where to get roof lining done and a rough price
well that's about it for now. looking forward to hearing what you guys think.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012 - 10:29 pm, by: Alistair David(Aldmo87)
Yeah I got carpet from those guys. There are pics of the installation and final product in my thread, "painting my interior black".
Overall quality is great but the fit is not as good as original, but original is not really available anyway so its your best option.
My advise is to look at pics of high end sports and luxury car, it gives you a good idea of what colors go together. Personally I don't think red carpet and roof lining will look good, but that's just me. Plenty of people don't like what I have done to my interior but it doesn't bother me.
If you can, try and source a black interior over dyeing it. Everything turned out great in mine except the door trims and the lower parts of the seats, so budget to get them done professionally.
Thursday, September 20, 2012 - 12:06 am, by: Corey Griffith(Ianhard)
thanks for the comment on the quality of the carpet.
yea i seen your thread it's what inspired me to do this project. i liked the look of it with the cream carpet then thought a red would look good with a bit of red here and there on the trim.
i considered getting a factory black interior but thought it would be more satisfying to do it myself and one hell of a lot cheaper.
i'm also getting custom fiberglass 6" speaker mounts made on the doors so if the doors don't turn out to well ill get them to fix it up then
Thursday, September 20, 2012 - 01:32 pm, by: Vinh Bui(Hyudsjk)
I'm not sure if red carpet and roof lining will work but give it a shot if that's what you want. I've gone with the red and black theme for my car and I don't regret it at all. I've always wanted to do a dark red for the roof lining but I've been persuaded not to do it as it would ruin the balance.
Thursday, September 20, 2012 - 02:10 pm, by: Alistair David(Aldmo87)
What are you planning on doing with the seats?
From my experience the lower half of the seats don't hold the dye well, becuase you scrape your foot over the bottom vinyl piece when you get in and out, the dye can wear off.
My opinion is this
Lower vinyl part of seats - Buy genuine black from Amayama $100 each.
Upper door trim - Vinyl Dye
Lower door trim, in particular the handle you should get professionally retrimmed. If cash is tight then at the very least get the handles retrimmed, this will be approx $100 for the pair, plus you can get the stitching changed to red or something to match your interior.
Dash, centre console, glove box etc. Dye them.
Rear seat arm rests and rear window trims. Dye them.
Rear of front seats - Remove the netting and dye the vinyl bits, don't worry about replacing the netting, although you could probably dye them in a sink with some fabric dye. Personally mine were sagged a bit and I don't like people storing rubbish in them so I took them out.
Bottom sills of drivers and passenger door (the long bit that curls up at the ends) don't bother painting as the door will scrape the paint off. I bought replacements from Toyota/Amayama for about $150 for the pair.
Lower half of front dash, boot switches etc. as well as the side vents on the dash, paint these.
Electric switches on the seats - Paint these.
Plastic pieces that cover the recline mecahnism of the seats - replace these, you can paint them but there are a prick to get back in without scratching, replacements are probably $100 from Amayama.
Basically any plastics that don't get scratched can be painted, if your serious it's probably easier to remove all the plastics, clean them properly and drop them off at a spray shop to have painted, they will do a better job than you and the cost is probably not that much more than buying decent plastic paint (Krylon Fusion is the only option I think, it sticks well and doesn't scratch off easily, it is also very matte and look OEM).
For the seat covers, your only option is eBay USA. I got synthetic leather with red stitching, the pack included a hand brake boot and centre console lid. The quality is outstanding! It feels so much softer than the Soarer leather covers and Synthetic will last longer than leather and it doesn't need to be conditioned.
So far nobody can tell they are not leather and the price is significantly cheaper, hang out for an auction if you can, I got my full set (front/rear) for $180 delivered. Although since then I have not seen another auction without a reserve of $400. I got them for an absolute steal.
Fit the seat covers yourself, it's really not hard, mine are a touch loose, I could fix them if I wanted but I honestly can't be bothered.
Professional fitting is like $150 per seat.
For the Vinyl Dye use....ummm... I forgot the name, whatever is in my thread. For the plastic us Krylon Fusion, Crockers paint sell it in NSW and you can order online. It's not cheap but works and looks really really good.
Budget probably 8-10 cans of dye, and at least 4 cans of plastic paint.
So say $160 on Dye and $140 for paint.
Carpet is $150 and seat covers say $400.
Genuine pieces will be about $300. So yeah $1000 to do it yourself, maybe cheaper if you can get cheap seat covers.
If you can buy a genuine interior for $1500 it's worth it and if your going to get your seat covers professionally fitted then there is probably no point doing it yourself as the price will be the equivelent of a full black interior.
The problem is that they are rare to come by and may be well worn. Once my interior is finished (just got to get the door trims professionally done) mine will look mint, and there is alot of satisfaction looking at it knowing you do it all.
By the way, I have no idea how you are going to do the roof lining, dye would most likely look crap as it will look patchy, unless you can get it professionally dyed.
Look at some pics of mercedes and BMW interiors, see how they have incorperated red and go from there.
I just saw a friends BMW yesterday and it was all black except the seats were cream and half of the door trims were cream, it looks GREAT!
Oh and budget a heap of time My seats took me 3 weekends. One seat per weekend, don't listen to the ebay ads that say you can do the whole lot in one day, you really can't.
Thursday, September 20, 2012 - 03:32 pm, by: Corey Griffith(Ianhard)
yea i have been thinking the same for the roof and thinking i should just go black.
at the moment time isn't a issue. i lost my license for a month so car is off the road till that is up and i work from home mostly with work that can be done at night so really have all day to work on it.
what I'm thinking of going with is red carpet black interior with red on the arm rests, center console box lid and the plastic bits that are sometimes wood grain. the arm rest and box lid will most likely be a retrim. same as the hand break boot as i need a new one anyway
I'm thinking of giving Leatherique leather dye a go. heard some good things about it.
vinh have you got a photo of your interior.
i haven't quite decided on the seats yet. weather to find something like you have alistair or source some black replacements or go aftermarket.
Thursday, September 20, 2012 - 03:50 pm, by: Alistair David(Aldmo87)
Sounds good. Make sure you go with a dark red, there are some with bright red, and it's not my cup of tea, much to harsh on the eyes. Here are some pics of some red interiors.
Aftermarket seats are an easy option, they are a bit more than seat covers and you need rails but the end result could look alot better.
Only downside is that unless engineered they are illegal, check out vicroads for the guide. It sucks because even if the seats are ADR approved and the railes are suited to that car, utilising the same bolt holes and are from a reputable manufacturer they still need to be engineered, with x-rays of welds etc.
Thursday, September 20, 2012 - 04:30 pm, by: Corey Griffith(Ianhard)
that looks mint vinh.
alistair thanks for the links the photos of the seat in the clublexus link is what i would probably be doing if i get a set of factory black seats.
i've been though the EPA ADR and vicroads rules to modifications and f*** me there's some bull s*** laws. i think i have read them about 10 times each just so i can memorize them if the need arises. especially the one from EPA about no external wastegates period.
Thursday, September 20, 2012 - 06:08 pm, by: Jesse Webber(Jessewebber)
Here's some pics of my seat covers, same one as Alistair's but with black stitching, i got them professionally fitted, also dyed the interior, Looks Great. Can you tell its not an OEM black interior?
Wednesday, September 26, 2012 - 01:47 pm, by: Corey Griffith(Ianhard)
just been shopping and could only get 5 cans of dye cleaned out my nearest autobarn so will be ordering more online today but am still going to get started today so will probably have a few pictures up later
Wednesday, September 26, 2012 - 04:59 pm, by: Corey Griffith(Ianhard)
just finished cleaning all the interior parts and did a test paint on the key section of the interior and it came up great until i dropped it but another light coat should fix that. i will be doing as much as i can of the painting tomorrow as it will be 27c. also i have made a album on photobucket for the progress for anyone to check out, figured it would be easier to upload to that as i go than resize everything for here. the link http://s1191.photobucket.com/albums/z463/ian_hard/car/
Tuesday, October 02, 2012 - 04:14 pm, by: Corey Griffith(Ianhard)
hey just finished painting everything besides the center console, dash and half the doors which will be done tomorrow and Thursday everything is looking great. the door pocket and arm rest are a pain to do. so many little bits that's hard for the dye to get in to. if i was to do this all over again i would probably go the spray gun method. my arms are killing me now. ill post some pictures up on photobucket later tonight
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My seats took me 3 weekends. One seat per weekend, don't listen to the ebay ads that say you can do the whole lot in one day, you really can't.
but another light coat should fix that. 
