Finishing the car interior

Kinja'd!!! by "Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury)
Published 02/16/2017 at 20:53

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I know my car is on the cheap side, but one of the things that drives me crazy in cheap cars is seeing painted metal in the interior. There’s not much, but I’d like to cover it up, but how should I go about doing it? I was thinking of something like Con-Tact paper, but I don’t know how well it would hold up. Perhaps I could find some headliner material at the junkyard and glue it in place.

Any suggestions on what material and adhesives I could use?


Replies (13)

Kinja'd!!! "FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com" (alphaass)
02/16/2017 at 21:02, STARS: 0

Mazda5, right? It’s been a while since I’ve been in one, but I’m having trouble figuring out where the painted metal is. Along the windows and pillars?

Kinja'd!!! "Monkey B" (monkeyb)
02/16/2017 at 21:05, STARS: 0

photos of what parts you are wanting to cover?

Kinja'd!!! "My X-type is too a real Jaguar" (TomSlick)
02/16/2017 at 21:11, STARS: 0

Channel the 70s thick luxurious shag carpet.

Kinja'd!!! "Dave the car guy , still here" (a3dave)
02/16/2017 at 21:13, STARS: 0

Use vinyl wrap made for exterior, it’ll hold up pretty well.

Kinja'd!!! "Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury)
02/16/2017 at 21:15, STARS: 0

Kinja'd!!!

(not my interior, but close enough. Cloth and 6MT FTW. See those vertical red areas by the A-pillar? Those are the main ones that I want to cover)

I’ll have to grab some pictures during daylight hours, but yeah, around the windows, especially the little ones in the front doors right near the A-pillar. I think there are some other places, but I can’t recall where they are at the moment...

Kinja'd!!! "Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury)
02/16/2017 at 21:16, STARS: 1

Saving that for the custom floor mats. A good reason to drive barefoot.

Kinja'd!!! "Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury)
02/16/2017 at 21:16, STARS: 0

Where do I buy a small quantity?

Kinja'd!!! "Dave the car guy , still here" (a3dave)
02/16/2017 at 21:23, STARS: 0

eBay has it in small to large quantities.

Kinja'd!!! "FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com" (alphaass)
02/16/2017 at 21:26, STARS: 0

Gotcha. Yeah that’s what I was expecting. My cheapo Forester is the same way in the same spots. It doesn’t bother me but clearly it bothers you. I actually don’t think matte black contact paper would be too bad. You’d probably do better, though, with some sort of vinyl and a heat gun to get it to form to the surface and cut off the excess with a razor.

Kinja'd!!! "Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury)
02/16/2017 at 21:38, STARS: 1

It’s really not too bad, but after years of driving MBs, BMWs and Porsches, it just seems incomplete. While I know I’ll never turn this car into something to compete with those cars, I would like to finish some of the things that seem incomplete.

I think I might go searching on FleaBay for some vinyl wrap material and give that a try. I’ve got plenty of Exacto knives and a heat gun, so all the necessary tools are there. All I need now is some skill, but it’s a small enough area that I could easily re-do it if I don’t like the initial results.

Kinja'd!!! "Chariotoflove" (chariotoflove)
02/16/2017 at 21:41, STARS: 1

This is a huge issue with my Mazda. It looks like hobby store silver metallic model paint on the console. I saw some detailed DIYs on the RX-8 Club forum about doing a wrap on it. Here’s one . It might be of use to you.

Kinja'd!!! "AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
02/16/2017 at 21:47, STARS: 1

And here I just bought brushed stainless steel door panels to replace my vinyl wrapped door panels haha

That said, you can get nice top grain leather for cheap if you only need small pieces. For soft surfaces like your basic cardboard door panels you’d generally use contact glue, then stretch the fabric tight and staple it to the back of the door cards. Brings the perceived luxury up quite a bit. On harder surfaces just make sure you pick an adhesive that’s applicable, and clean the surface throughly.

Kinja'd!!! "gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee" (gogmorgo)
02/16/2017 at 22:15, STARS: 0

I actually enjoy that the Niva has painted metal surfaces inside the car, more so since the headliner no longer exists. It’s just more to emphasize the Niva’s personality as a nothing-more-than-a-car sort of car. All it does is car. It’s not a lounge, it’s not a theatre, it’s not a spa, it’s a car.