Automotive Interior Repair with The Interior Guy

I’ve run across this a lot in my travels, a customer asks “Can you dye my cloth seats?” my answer to them is, “No I can’t really dye your seats, what I can do is paint your seats.”

Dyeing and painting cloth are two very different things.

Dyeing cloth consists of immersing the entire fabric in a dye solution, soaking it through and through for a period of time, then rinsing the excess dye away.  Rinsing removes any excess dye left so not to transfer onto something that you don’t want dyed like your clothes. Dyeing cloth is a more permanent way to change a color. The dyes actually penetrate the fibers of the fabric.

Painting cloth consists of spraying a solution of colored pigments and a binder of some sort onto the cloth. This process is usually used to rejuvenate an existing color or slightly change a color. When trying to change a color you usually will have to go darker not lighter. If you have a dark gray and want to go light gray, won’t work. Painting cloth can be tricky, but can yield some really nice jobs. Painting cloth can be a semi-permanent way to change the color of fabric. Usually the paint will eventually wear off on high traffic areas. The paint lays on top of the fibers. Designs can also be done by the paint method, usually with an airbrush.

So with that said painting cloth seats can be done.  Dyeing a cloth seats, well…. if your willing to tear your seats apart and hope the fabric doesn’t shrink while washing it in the dye solution, which most fabric dyes require hot water, then dyeing a cloth seat can be done too, but with a lot of work. I guess it could save a little on reupholstering, but with all that effort you might as well go ahead and go all the way and just add new fabric the color you want. But to each his own, I guess if you have a new car and want it different color then maybe, that’s new fabric.

I got into a job today that you almost had to laugh at. This was a lot of time and effort put into a vehicle that if finished probably could have been a show car if…and I mean if….it were a different car. It was a 2006 Suzuki Forenza, that someone had put custom crushed velvet silver with emerald green inserts. Tucked, quilted, molded and sewn just right.  The job was done really well, just didn’t really match anything. The car was white with a two tone gray interior. They had done all four seats, headliner, door panels and trunk area only.Kinda looked like someone just wasn’t quite done. I don’t know it didn’t match and needed to get sold.

So my job was to turn the green to black.

Doing this took some prep time, I thought of just going in with a blocking card and paint and going to town but then I thought again, too many curves and just too much area. Masking was my only way. Now masking cloth can be a pain, usually tape just really doesn’t stick that well and I was a little worried, but this material held tape very well, thank God. Not really sure what it was, surely some sort of synthetic. If ever you run into a problem with your tape not sticking to cloth, I’ve found if you heat the tape a little with a hair dryer while applying it, it will stick better. The tape from 3M and from Scotch Tape, work the best I think. Anyways I taped off the entire areas using a 1.5″ tape. This took about an hour, paying close attention not to tape over the green or exposing any of the silver. I used my blocking card for the rest. Papering it off too is just a waste to me, I can use a blocking card most of the time and tape and get the same effect. Less material cost….

Now mixing up your paint solution. I used my water based vinyl paints to do this. Vinyl paints are dye pigments mixed with resins, or your binder. Water based works best for cloth, solvents seem to leave the cloth stiff and hard looking where water based paints are more flexible leaving the cloth feeling and looking more natural. And I see your questions flying, “Water Based?” “Will it wash off on my clothes?” Water based means the pigments and resins are water soluble, basically meaning when the water evaporates the paint is permanent. It won’t come off on your clothing once done, if done correctly.

I mixed my paint with about 2 oz. paint to 1 oz. water, with a dab of slip additive for a softer feel, and rubbing alcohol to help evaporate the water faster boosting dry time. I watered it down to help it absorb into the fabric better. Doing it this way helps to give you that softer feel in the end, more time, but worth the effort.

I laid around two coats on each panel before moving onto the next, then went back after wards and laid another coat to deepen the black. The darker designs on the fabric showed through giving it a pretty cool effect. It worked out really well.

I did this job today and will probably have to go back tomorrow to touch it up and brush the fabric, this will remove any excess left over and give the cloth a softer feel. Touching it up will consist of either having to dye the seats again or just laying a light coat over them. Sometimes the dye will soak into the fabric and lighten as it dries basically the other color will bleed back through. You really can’t tell if your really done until they are completely dry. So there’s where the time thing come in.

Painting your cloth seats can give you a revive to your ride or give you a new look all together. Just remember when doing so to use a water based paint to give you the feel and look your looking for.

Talk to ya soon,

Mike ” TIG”

I Just got this email from one of my suppliers today and thought I’d pass this little jewel onto to you my readers. I’ve got one of these and if your into airbrushing and art of any sort then an image projector is an awesome little tool to add. Read the rest of this entry »

Well that time of year is here again. The cold weather has arrived and here we go with trying to get our automotive water based dyes to dry in a reasonable amount of time.

Painting in temperatures less then 40 degrees makes it almost impossible to yield a perfect repair without a little preparation first.

The first and foremost thing is to heat up the area where the repair is being made. Now the best way to do this is with a hairdryer, not your heat gun. This will heat the area just enough to make it easier to work with and not damage the area any further (like a hole in vinyl getting larger due to to much heat being put to it).  Heating the area will also help your compounds work like their supposed to along with giving you a warmer surface for the dye to stick to helping in curing time. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve run across this one a lot lately. Leather seats turning a shade of Blue on the lighter colored tan and gray leather seats. It’s what I call “Suit Blue”.

What this really is, is when the leather turns a blue color where your back, butt, or arm rests on the wet leather and the dye from your clothing is then transferred to the leather.

The dye from your clothing is actually dyeing the leather in your car. The leather soaks it up like a sponge, like I’ve always said “What you put on leather stays in leather”, and as you see it’s true.

Whats really bad about this is there’s is no cleaner to remove this from the leather without damaging the leather or the leather’s original dye, at least not one that I know about.  Your only solution to this is to have the seats, armrests, ect. resurfaced or dyed to bring it back to it’s original color. Read the rest of this entry »

Today was definitely the day for “Blue”. I worked on 3 different blue interiors today which is kinda unusual. It’s weird like that though.  I’ll go for weeks and not have one blue interior and then bam all at once I’ll get them all in one day. The last blue one I worked on today was a 1980 Mercedes 450sl. The dash was cracked from Read the rest of this entry »

Heat guns have got to be one the most used tools in my business. I use them for heating my repairs on a daily basis, whether it be a vinyl repair, a leather repair, melting plastic when needed, or just heating up a piece prior to repair.  Having the correct heat gun to do these repairs is crucial to your success.

If a heat gun breaks down while your doing a repair it can cost you time and money in the long run. So Read the rest of this entry »

I ran across this article a few minutes ago and just thought I’d share this with my readers too, it kinda makes you think a little about how you come off to others in these hard times. The article was written by a local Missouri guy just up the road from me in Joplin. His name is JD Buckridge, he is a marketing expert.  I’ve been following him now for a while and he’s got some pretty good stuff to read, but anyways here’s the link to his blog, enjoy.

JD Buckridge - The Branding Specialist

Later…Mike”TIG”

Read the rest of this entry »

This is gonna be kinda a quick post today. Sorry for the lapse in info lately I’ve had other duties to attend to lately and haven’t had a lot of time to write. But I did want to throw a little info out to all of the automotive interior repair professionals. This little trick gives you a pretty good grain pattern when done correctly. I call this “The Reverse Grain“.

This graining technique is actually pretty easy and gives you a light grain on a leather repair when a little more hide factor is needed. Read the rest of this entry »

I get questions on occasion on whether seat covers are needed to keep a cars leather seats looking new. This is one question that I have to ask a question back before I can give a truthful answer.

” Are you going to leave them on all the time? ”

If they answer is yes then I have to say that their seat probably won’t look new when they take them off say a year or two from now. Read the rest of this entry »

I get into so many autos that the buttons on the radio are peeling off and what your left with are white buttons that just look awful. At night it can be at the least distracting. Have you seen one of those? Well Viper Products has done it again and has come up with a fix for those peeling buttons. Its a two part film. A translucent film and a black film with cut outs for the lettering. All you do is sand the peeling radio button to give you a smooth surface to put the film onto. Prep, then lay the film over the radio button and heat it to reform the coating to button. The lights from the radio still shine through the lettering and the finished product looks, as Viper Products always does, factory. Read the rest of this entry »

Hey guys…It’s been a while since I’ve posted a helpful tip to add to your arsenal of automotive interior repairs I’ve given here on my blog.

So I thought of giving you a little bit on Stain Removal in Carpet. This is one thing I get a lot of questions for and that is how to get those nasty brown, or black, or even red stains out of the interior carpet of the vehicles I work on on a daily basis.

The trick isn’t to it isn’t really a trick at all, it’s timing and knowledge of what to use where and when. Getting to a spill before it gets a chance to soak in is your best defense against a stain in your carpet. If you spill something wipe it up and soak it up as quickly as possible and then flush with water and soak it up with a towel, or what ever you have at the time. But thats not always the case and thats where this little guide will help you, but really if you can wipe spills up a fast as you can and this helps to get the actual stain out later when you have more time. Read the rest of this entry »

I used my new heat tool today and WOW what a little wonder this thing is. It looks like a weapon from Star Wars and you have heat control, pinpoint control. This is probably got to be the neatest heat gun I’ve ever purchased, and really it’s not a conventional heat gun but an ultra torch equipped with a pistol grip fan motor. Read the rest of this entry »

Your as good as the products you use…Have you been searching for the right automotive interior products to get the job done right the first time? I know I have. I have been in the automotive interior repair business for a long time and have used a lot of different interior products in my repairs. I have used different water based dyes and leather repair compounds from different suppliers with so many different results, some good and some really bad. I have over the years learned one thing and that is your only as good as what products you use. If the products you use to do a repair fail then you fail. It doesn’t matter if it looked good when you left, it has to last. Why would someone call you back to do another repair for them if the job you did before didn’t last or looked like your kids did it. Well they wouldn’t. You have to have the top of the line products that you can stand behind and for lack of better words, guarantee. Read the rest of this entry »

What a dreary day….It’s rained here now for 2 days solid. We’re getting whats left of hurricane Hanna. We needed it though, things were starting to dry up. It’s hard to believe we needed the rain after all we had this spring. I makes it hard doing interior repair when it’s so wet outside though, water based dyes take forever to dry and whats really hard is trying to fix a cigarette burn in cloth when the humidity is so high, virtually impossible. But I did manage to get some stuff done today, and one that I’m going to talk about today and it’s those ugly screw holes in plastic that have been left from the previous owner of the automobile. Read the rest of this entry »

Well I hope your holiday weekend was a good one. Labor Day is always the last blast of the summer here for us. We spent our time at the lake soaking up some sun, and fun. It was a beautiful weekend, and the lake was finally back down to pretty much normal from all the rain we’ve had here. This year was definitely one for the record books. With the lake being up so far and so murky that the fishing has been terrible, but I did manage to pull a few out this year. I caught two this time down, a 14″ and a 15″ Bass, not real sure what the weight was on them though, but they were a couple of beauty’s.

As I was sitting there on the dock this weekend I couldn’t help to think of what I was going to write this week. I started thinking of some jobs that have been somewhat of booger for me, and I couldn’t help to think of the fist time I painted silver plastic trim. You know where the paint rubs off or scratches off and leaves you the black plastic underneath. Read the rest of this entry »

Ever had one of those days when it seems as if you were running in circles and tripping over everything, well today was my day. Man what a day, things went smoothly with my repairs, thank god, but I couldn’t hold on to anything and every time I turned around I was either bumping into something (like the edge of doors, ouch!) or tripping over my cords and hoses. Read the rest of this entry »

The infamous foam steering repair….Already you can see I’m not a big fan of this kind of repair, but I have done a lot of them and have had pretty good luck with them. Read the rest of this entry »

Today at work as I was working on a pretty badly cracked up Jeep Grand Cherokee leather seat, and my wife and youngest showed up to say hi. It was quite a nice break from a mind bending repair. She does that every once in a while, it’s great being my own boss and being able to take a break when I want to. As I was saying bye and corralling my 5 year old back into our 2001 Chevy Tahoe, I couldn’t help to notice the carpet. GROSS, and that was an understatement. So ya all know what I did when I got home from work, cleaned carpet. Something my wife has been trying to get me to do now forever. But working on vehicles all day thats usually the last thing I want to do when I get home from work is work on another car but sometimes we have to do what our boss says. Read the rest of this entry »

This was a fun one….Actually it didn’t give me to much of a fit. The leather laid just right, I was able to pull it together quite nicely.

I first cleaned the leather seat thoroughly with my prepping solution, I know I always say this, but I can’t stress prepping enough, it is the only way to a top notch job. Read the rest of this entry »