Automotive Interior Restoration Training – Day 1
The first day of Automotive Interior Training began today for me and the first day of a New Career for my trainee, and what a wonderful day it was. I was a little nervous being that this was my first trainee but I got over that pretty quick when we got to our first job. Bob my trainee took to it like a natural. He’s a very personable guy and one that is very eager to learn. He wasn’t afraid to ask questions and understood everything I told him, it was really nice to have someone on the same page as me. I think that was what made me the most nervous was I was afraid he wouldn’t understand my way of thinking, but he did, and that was awesome.
We started the day off with vinyl repairs on a Pontiac Grand Prix at one of my new car stores. This car was a great specimen to show off my skills as a craftsman and a great teaching tool for my new trainee. All four door panels had either holes in them or raised areas where the vinyl had been scraped by something. My guess was a dog. The areas looked like someone had left their dog in the car and it had jumped from door to door. I love the vinyl on the Grand Prix’s, it’s probably the easiest to repair and takes a grain really well. Bob was really impressed with the repairs and was amazed at what he was going to be able to do. Unfortunately that was the only car we had there so off to the next lot we went.
From there we headed to one of my smaller lots and leather repairs were our next chore. This again was great specimen. A 2006 Jaguar XJ8 that had been dyed before by someone with not so good of skills and product. Basically peeling from top to bottom and looked like a mess. This was a good one for me to show him what inferior work looks like. Unfortunately not my favorite, but a great teaching tool. I had to remove all the old dye before I could really show him how things work. But as usual things turned out great, I was able to make the seats look and feel new again. Next on the list was a leather repair on a Honda Accord. Just worn leather which was easily repaired with my wet sand repair technique, a little leather fill and dye to match. Then onto a vinyl repair on a Dodge Charger right on the bolster which was a good example of when to use and when not to use an under-patch. This one needed no under-patch since the backing to the vinyl was still intact.
Lastly we headed to one of my higher end internet car dealers, and a Mercedes R350 was on the menu. This one was a little harder to repair. Two of the back seats and the passenger seat all had what looked like a kid had bitten chunks of vinyl from each of the back of the seats. All the holes were right on the seam, which if you’ve read any of my stuff before you know that a seam is a big no no to cover up. I carefully laid my VR-2 compound right up to the seam then cured and grained. One thing with Mercedes vinyl it has a very pronounced grain and takes a little more heat then normal to get the grain imprint back into.
All in all we had a good day of repairs and some really good teaching tools were presented to us. As you have read my training program is hands on personal training. If your interested in a great opportunity and the chance to learn a craft from a professional then shoot me an email with your number, I would be happy to speak with you about starting a new career in the Automotive Interior Restoration business.
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