Hello all;

I am trying to find the most cost effective way to re-do my interior.

I have two new skins for the front seats only , which I ordered in Barley. My car is originally a Cream (NDR) 2+2 convertible. The cream gets filthy fast, so I went with Barley.

At this point I need to re-dye the rest of the interior to Barley to match the new leather. I had originally planned to do this myself to keep costs down, but I have already dyed the original seats once and it it was not pleasant at all. Lots of stripping with sandpaper, had to use lacquer thinner and ended up getting high and getting the old lady on the 25th floor above me high as well even though I opened the windows

While I might be willing to go thru the process for the 2+2 rear seats of stripping the old dye, moisturizing it etc, I do not think I want to do that for the door panels, the rear speaker panels, the center console, the back of the front seats and every other little thing that is now cream

Question is:

I think most of the trim is finished in ambla/vinyl. Do I really need to strip the vinyl as well to re-dye it successfully? I have even seen cans of interior paint that come with a type of liquid vinyl to give it a nice finish. If I can just remove, clean and spray the trim in the new color , then that would be an easy job, and I would be willing to invest the time in properly striping the rear seats (which are real leather) and re doing them. That would mean that the only thing that the trim shop would have to do is actually install the new leather. That would save me lots and lots of money.

Advise please

 

Vinyl just needs a good scrubbing with a household cleaner and then quick wipe-off with lacquer thinner.

You *might* have more leather than you think. My XJS (1988) had a full leather interior....door trims, console, quarter trim panels, entire seats (not just the facings). But this is something that varied quite a bit from year to year.

I recently redyed a Mustang interior using vinyl paint custom mixed at the local automtoive paint store. They sold me a little spray kit, too....glass jar with a sprayer thingy using small disposable propellant cannisters. I'll never go back to a brush!

Cheers
DD

 

Doug, thanks for the quick reply.

My 95 came from the factory with a mostly ambla interior. That is the main reason I got new seats for the front (which are 100 percent leather everywhere).... when I re-did the ooriginals the first time in their original cream about a year ago, I discovered the the only panels on the front seats that where leather on those front seats where the head-rests and one side panel...so two panels of each leather for each seat, rest synthetic....OTOH, the rear seats where mostly leather. with maybe two synthetic panels.... I am pretty sure the trim is vinyl. I know for a fact that the door panels are, I doubt they would go thru the trouble of using leather for the center console or any other trim.

My problem is that its been re-done before in its original color, as I mentioned earlier, so I fear that it will be necessary to remove the old dye from the vinyl first...

 

Oh, I missed that, sorry

But, still, it may not matter. Is the previous redye peeling or flaking? If not, I'd be tempted to go right over it. Or at least try it on one panel and try to get a sense of how well the new will adhere to the old.

Also, you can buy "adhesion promoter" for use with dyes/plastic/vinyl/paints

Cheers
DD

 

Thanks Doug.

I wonder how hard it would be to just recover the hard to do parts like the door panel and the rear speaker panels with new vinyl to match the new leather seats and then just re dye the small parts like the trim and the console. My crazy head is telling me it would just be a matter of removing the old vinyl from the door , cutting new from the old pattern and stapling it to the door. I am sure much more is involved.

 

I agree with Doug, when I took the interior of my 92 apart (for cleaning etc.) I was surprised to find leather almost everywhere. Only a few small parts are vinyl. This is very different to older XJs and newer XKs where only the seating surface is leather and everything else is viny. At least my 92 XJS has leather on the back of the seats, the center console and the door trims. Make sure to check the material before you dye.
M

 

I just did my seats last weekend, time consuming but worth it. they were really shot, I was going to buy new seats. Tried this from ebay, it comes from the UK, good stuff.
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