I was on a roll following last weekend's project to
paint my rear window matrix, so this week I went ahead with another idea I'd been bouncing around: painting the rear seat.
I have black leather Yonaka Samurai seats in the front, and an otherwise charcoal interior -- so suffice to say, I the GM "shredded surplus cloth" speckled grey bench wasn't a rear good match. The concensus on this procedure ranges from "that's retarded", to "works, but tends to fade quickly and not hold up to use". In my case, the back seat almost never gets used (if for no other reason than the troublesome adjustments on the Yonaka seats, which make it a royal pain to get into the back of a coupe).
Break out the rattle can:
I didn't take a before shot, but for anybody that could forget, here is the fabric that remains on my door panels. If all goes well, they're up for painting in a coming weekend.
After taping up some newspaper, and dumping most of the can on the seat, I have this:
It was tricky to get good pictures with the sun shining in the back of the car. The fabric is really a richer shade of black than it looks compared to the glossy plastic parts. I'm actually pretty impressed with the result myself. Durability may still be an issue, but I figure the worst that can happen in I'll need to re-dye it. It may not be as professional as -- say -- leather upholstery, but for the price of an $8 can of paint, I can't complain.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edited Monday, July 02, 2007 1:36 PM
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I done mine the same way, only problem I had was it starting flaking off the vinyl around the bottom. I just resprayed it, but other than that it has held up fine.
HAHA your having way too much fun with spray paint as of late
but it doesnt look all that bad is it still soft or all crunchy like that stuff tends to get?
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Chris Vestal wrote:I done mine the same way, only problem I had was it starting flaking off the vinyl around the bottom. I just resprayed it, but other than that it has held up fine.
I'll have to keep an eye out for that, though the same stuff is holding up well on my vinyl console-storage lid after several months. Maybe more flexing will bring it on faster.
I SATCHMOE YOU!!! wrote:but it doesnt look all that bad is it still soft or all crunchy like that stuff tends to get?
I only finished about an hour ago, and I've already been sitting in the seat. Seem dry and well-set, and the fabric feels just like it always did.
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i like it ill have to try that out i got sh*tty seat covers on mine
I did my vert. boots like that and they turned out pretty good,next
is the tan door panels and rear panels.Guess I'll try doing the rear bench as well.
Looks good.
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with the title and you constantly refering to it as 'paint' i was afraid that's what you were actually going to use. lol looks pretty good. i don't think i've ever actually seen the cans of vinyl/fabric dye. hope it holds up for you. can't see why it wouldn't if no one uses the seat.
sykeeok wrote:with the title and you constantly refering to it as 'paint' i was afraid that's what you were actually going to use.
Point taken, and I think it's odd that you won't find the word "dye" anywhere on the can either. The only word they do use is "coating", which still sounds like a mistake on fabric. Meanwhile, it behaves like a coating on vinyl, and works pretty well on plastic too -- so whatever it is, it seems pretty indispensable for interior coloring.
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wow I can't believe it but that actually looks good. I might have to try this out on my junk rear bench I have sitting around...
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JoeyDaBomb wrote:wow I can't believe it but that actually looks good. I might have to try this out on my junk rear bench I have sitting around...
For anyone considering this, I'd say go for it. It was incredibly easy to apply, too -- I'm not great for laying down even coats, but it just "spread out" as I sprayed it on. I just taped over the buttons on the buckles, and flopped them over the other way once one side was coated.
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i did this to my seats on my talon did u notice the seats to "rough" after paint? i took a horse hair brush to it and fixed the issue but also lightened the color
wow, that looks good...I'm afraid of it coming off on your clothes though...have you experienced that yet?
Don't let anybody sit on it for about a week, at least (I'd play it safe and wait two).
The colour will need that time to cure.
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idk man, those last pics make it look stock again lol
please tell me you took them out to paint each piece?
all n all id say good job, never something i would do.. but, it does look good.
z yaaaa wrote:idk man, those last pics make it look stock again lol
please tell me you took them out to paint each piece?
The seats did drink it up a bit and fade slightly overnight, but at least I got rid of that ugly colored fleck pattern.
I might see about giving it a second can later to try and darken it up some more.
And no, I painted everything exactly were it is. Is that a problem?
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z yaaaa wrote:hahahahaa damn dood, the bottom comes off easy, the top is tricky, but once u have it, its easy as hell.
i dont see any overspray, so I GUESS you did a decent job. I GUESS.
I found painters tape and newspaper worked pretty well, but I suppose removing the seat was an option too.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Tuesday, July 03, 2007 6:26 AM
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Hmmmm I remember using that stuff before on my ex girlfriends Geo Storm. I used it to dye her carpet. It came out good, but was extremely crunchy like a bag of Cheetoes. I think it was a different brand though. Good job man. It looks very good.
Geeky wrote:And no, I painted everything exactly were it is. Is that a problem?
Take a clean, white, terry cloth rag to your windows and rub really hard. That'll let you know whether or not there was any problems.
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Raptor (TRB0SDN) wrote:Geeky wrote:And no, I painted everything exactly were it is. Is that a problem?
Take a clean, white, terry cloth rag to your windows and rub really hard. That'll let you know whether or not there was any problems.
Or, maybe I'd like my tint a shade darker.
Seriously though -- the windows were fully masked with newspaper.
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don't remember where i heard this but i've heard that after a couple days you can use spray on fabricsoftener to get rid of the crunchiness, i have no clue if that works or not as i have only used the stuff on dash pads and console covers.
Well I figured if I was going to do something half-assed like painting the seat, there was no sense in doing a half-assed job of it. Upon closer inspection, Z yaaaa's suggestion that the back seat was easy to remove proved very true. Pitifully true, even. I'm not handy at all, and I had the seat out in less than a minute.
Methinks my rattle-can coverage while spraying inside the car might have been slightly uneven.
This is an edge I obviously didn't get to while the seat was still installed. It shows clearly how much difference I got after emptying the first can.
After the second can is empty, we're in business.
Some minor "banding" from uneven application, but lets face it -- some of you thought it looked fine in the car before. You'll never see this, especially after it dries and spreads.
It had only been about 15 minutes, but the sky was looking like rain, so I hurried to reinstall the seats. As an aside, I really love Meguiar's Tech Wax. I didn't even have to enhance this picture (like I normally do) to get that color of red.
With minor effort, it's back in and looking decent. Even with the short drying time, I only had the slightest greyish marks on my knees from the dye.
Spiffy.
With this shot I tried to get the OEM grey door fabric, leather seat, and painted bench all side-by-side for comparison.
Welcome to my new back seat. Seriously -- my father saw them and said "Christ, it looks like you got new seats."
Now I will concede that after the second can went on, I could feel a slight "crispyness" in the fabric. Not so much that I would feel the need to do anything about it though. All in all, I'd still recommend this process to anyone -- provided you have at least two full cans to throw at it for proper coverage. It really drinks the dye up, not surprisingly.
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can i get some better exterior pix? Im in the process of deciding on 20% or 35% tint and need some more pix.... what better car to look at then yours
