Hey guys, after some serious thought, I'm scrapping my yellow/black interior and going for a look that combines the 09 GT-R and the Lamborghini LP-670, all black on black with leather and suede. I have a few questions before I start. First off, lemme clarify I am still up in the air whether I want to do half suede (planning on using Black Microsuede) and half vinyl or all suede (I would really appreciate your guys' input). Second, if I do choose to go with the vinyl, most of it will go on the dash which leads me to another question, how well does vinyl fabric conform to corners and rounded edges? Can a heat blower used to shape it? And if not, what could I use? Third, has anyone here worked with faux suede and if so, what sort of advice can you give me? Thanks for reading this and I hope to hear from you guys soon.
#103444, "RE: Suede and Vinyl Interior Project" In response to Reply # 0
microfiber suede works like normal fabric so if your sewing skills are decent it's great to work with. sheet vinyl won't take all the contours of our dash without bunching if you try to do it in one piece. I'm thinking of tearing the vinyl off my old dash if it's not too warped and recovering it in fresh foam padding and microfiber suede.
be warned, upholstery grade faux suede will run you $40-50 a yard and you don't want to use anything less on any surface that will see regular wear. you'll need about 2-3 yards for the dash and about 3 yards per seat.
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#103447, "RE: Suede and Vinyl Interior Project" In response to Reply # 2
if you put the stiching in places that would make sense it would look pretty good I guess. Like around the hump were the gauges cluster and a/c vents sit.
#103478, "RE: Suede and Vinyl Interior Project" In response to Reply # 4
my suggestion would be to 2 tone the dash. I would do the suede around the gauge cluster with a french seam connecting it to the vinyl covering the rest of the dash. then you could also wrap the pieces around the radio and the center console with the suede and 2 tone the seats suede inserts with vinyl outer. the vinyl should cover it fine tho just remember to heat it up to get it to stretch but dont heat and pull to much or you will get stretch marks if you use a good quality glue you should be fine
#103542, "RE: Suede and Vinyl Interior Project" In response to Reply # 1 May-29-09 04:29 AM by BlackBomexTalon
Originally posted by RoninEclipse2G microfiber suede works like normal fabric so if your sewing skills are decent it's great to work with. sheet vinyl won't take all the contours of our dash without bunching if you try to do it in one piece. I'm thinking of tearing the vinyl off my old dash if it's not too warped and recovering it in fresh foam padding and microfiber suede. be warned, upholstery grade faux suede will run you $40-50 a yard and you don't want to use anything less on any surface that will see regular wear. you'll need about 2-3 yards for the dash and about 3 yards per seat.
I know I'm late to chime in but he's pretty much on key, microfiber is great to work with as long as you're pretty competent in the area. The vinyl would be fine but then its going to look pretty much stock.
The main thing after the whole sewing aspect is to make sure you have true upholstery grade glue. This is imperative in making sure you have a nice install. Cheap glues give out, and especially on the dash. Think of all the heat from the sun and this will break down cheap glues with the quickness.
If you plan on doing this yourself you'll need #12 thread and, I just busted out the old Wyotech books the check and make sure I'm right, about 6yrds of material per high-back bucket seat (which is opposed to 5 yrds for a low back), 1 yrd per headrest, 6-7 yrds to be safe on our dashs, 5-6 yards on the back seat, 5 yrds on the headliner with the visors included, 4yrds per door panel( dependent on how you did it), the same for the rear quarters, 2yrds for the kick panels, and 3 for the package tray.
Thats 55 yrds but a whole roll is 50yrds and thats in a 54" width. I say with some carefull layout of the patterns you could squeek out using a roll.
Dont forget all the other shit such as hog rings w/ pliers, quality shears, a steam machine, and so on. Its not a terribly hard task if you can sew, it just takes careful planning and steady hands.
Oh and I dug out some old pics from when I was in tech. My friend did his car while we were in trim but, these are the only ones I can find
#103543, "RE: Suede and Vinyl Interior Project" In response to Reply # 7
Wow, that looks really nice.
Staying on topic, how did you guys remove the dash to work on it? This is something I've never really seen a write-up for on the board. And out of curiousity - any guess as to how much the dash weighs? I'm considering getting someone to CF a replacement for me
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#103544, "RE: Suede and Vinyl Interior Project" In response to Reply # 8
Originally posted by ez Wow, that looks really nice. Staying on topic, how did you guys remove the dash to work on it? This is something I've never really seen a write-up for on the board. And out of curiousity - any guess as to how much the dash weighs? I'm considering getting someone to CF a replacement for me
Maybe 15-18lbs guestimating with all the vents hooked up to it.
#103545, "RE: Suede and Vinyl Interior Project" In response to Reply # 9
Oh man this was done like 2 and a half years ago, but basically start taking out the clipped in items, then start unscrewing the smaller pieces on the bottom and work your way up to the defrost vents. Gently tug and pull on pieces to see where they're attached. If I remember correctly mike had like eleventy billion screws everywhere after taking it out.
Its not hard to do, you just have to label stuff to remember where it goes just like anything else. A few months ago I completely stripped my old 88 celica all-trac cause cancer ate it up, but taking the dash out was just taking stuff out until it came out. Everything under a dash though is held together by a beam that bolts to the mid a-piller area. Thats where the passenger side air-bag bolts to, most hvac shit is attached, and the main harness runs along.
As far as a carbon fiber dash, I've thought of making a mold several times, but I would need a perfect starting point and some canadians actually beat me to the punch.
