Changing Interior COlor and Re-upholster?

[xskydivingdudex]

Hey guys, so im still debating on whether or not to paint the bottom half of the interior of the 4runner black since im getting tired of the dark grey and recently notied that it annoys me since the top half is a lighter grey. I think the black would make the interior look much newer, cleaner, and luxurious but the thing that concerns me most is the lack of guarantee on the fabric still staying black.

I have been searching for used wet okole seats for front and back since i dont really have the money for a new set right now and well that also leads to my next problem of the fabric on the door panels...

I was looking over the panels and noticed that the way toyota attaches the fabric to the plastic is plain and simple. "cut general dimension, adhesion/glue back side of fabric, trim, and staple" So i was wondering if any of u guys know of a good site that sells fabric that would feel and look nice in black for this project.

Please let me know wat u guys think of this idea... i may end up or may not doing this. Still up for debate though im growing really towards just dying the interior panels and figuring out the fabric later.

 

[4-Ripcord]

I suggest this, funds permitting of course.
post50396354
Sound deadening and new black carpet.

I think it would look awesome with black carpet and black door fabric!

 

[GottaBeTRD]

yeah man ill re post if i can find that site i used to use for buying auto upholstery. ive done a few projects in my day but now am lacking the tools to do a legit job on my 4runner. (thats why i painted the doors lol) aare you looking for a soft material?

As for the doors. you are correct it will be easy, cut the shape out. you will need some thin foam too put in between the fabric and the door panel but thats the easy part. the hard part is gonna be the arm rest. you will need an industrial air staple gun to staple it on there. Ive tried one of those normal staple guns... it doesn't even put a mark in the plastic.

anyway i can walk you through some things. IMO i would NOT paint the seats everything else would prob look ok. but reupholstering really isn't that hard, its simply cutting the shapes out and getting them together, the seats are the same way but they will take much longer. you will need an industrial sewing machine and lots of time.

i was about to update my build thread with these pics but here are my doors after everything had settled with the paint option. remember i went through a preocess to get the softness back. so that took away some of the darkness

 

[xskydivingdudex]

Ya, i want the door panels to be black black so thats why i want to re-upholster... Well im not exactly sure wat part u mean by the arm rest. Do u mean the handle u use to close the door?

Well i thought bout painting the seats at one point but figured it would look like junk so decided against it and my grandmother is a professional sewing lady (does wedding, prom, homecoming dresses and just all kinds of stuff so sewing isnt the issue) but i really want something like wet okoles since i use my 4runner alot on the beach, tubing, river, etc.

As for material, im thinking of just something kinda new feeling/looking that would look nice. I wish i could find a material like the sport seats or like in the newer toyotas/scions.

 

[GottaBeTRD]

yeah man i hear ya plus the nice thing is the upholstery looks good and you wont get any discoloration. thats sweet your grandma can hook you up though! i think it took me 3 months do sew up my back seat in my civic

i still cant find that site. a while ago when i was doing some research on this and i found this sweet looking material they used on todays VW's, and audi's. I just can remember what it was called. it was a perforated black. looked so sick!

one of the materials i liked to work with was tweed here is what i did to my civic back in the day (the tweed is the fabric looking stuff)

 

[xskydivingdudex]

Ya thats nice, see i want a fabric like the tweed for the center of the seats but for the outer seats and door panels i would love to use that black fabric with holes in it like in the pic around the tweed.

So decided to pick up 2 bottles of paint and figured id get most if not all of it done sat night and sunday. Im pretty confident that i can get it done in that time frame but well see...

 

[GottaBeTRD]

cool man! yeah just keep the coats far ahead i think its 10 minutes apart? the 1st and 2nd coat will barley even make a difference but after that your good!
here are some sites i just found for ya for material

Suede Headliner (Foam Backed)

this thread seems to have a lot of examples too the perforated would look sick on the edges! there are some examples of it in here too.

VWVortex.com - Headliner fabric question......

 

[xskydivingdudex]

ok thnx dude ill def check those two sites out... ya im not too worried bout using the paint since i make custom radio coolers and this is the safe stuff i use to paint the plexiglass in it and i also used it when i modded my old xbox 360.

 

[vooduguru]

Call Auto Trim & Design and ask for Steve Hammer.

They're located near 3300 S and 300 west IIRC.

 

[GottaBeTRD]

oh cool man is it a spray paint or a legit dye? im excited to see it though man!

BTW get a new air freshener the paint smell gets pretty strong lol!

 

[xskydivingdudex]

its the dupli-color vinyl spray paint... so i was looking on the links u sent and found some black tweed that looked good but wish i could see it first without having to pay for that sample card.

Oh ya and do u think it would be bad if i put my new upholstery on top of the existing one instead of buying new foam?

 

[GottaBeTRD]

You can possibly do that. The armrest or door pull thing may be a little more difficult. The main thing is you want it to stick to the glue. And it could get too thick and won't stay on tact.

I have some tweed left from my job if you want I can send you a slice of what I used. I'm not sure if it's the same or not. But send me a PM of your address and I'll mail something over to you.

 

[xskydivingdudex]

ok PM sent.

 

[GottaBeTRD]

cool man ill get that out tomorrow. i think you'll like it its a good looking material

 

[GottaBeTRD]

and one more thing i have this much left of the tweed if you decide you like it. im not sure if its enough to cover all the doors but ive already pre cut one piece while attempting to do a reupholster already. it should fit one of the doors. and the rest i have is shown in the pics.

the lighting makes it look different its a dark black like you like