Automotive Interior Repair with The Interior Guy

It’s been a roller coaster of a time here in the Automotive Interior Repair business here in Missouri. The weather here as been ruthless! One day it’s snowing, the next it’s warm enough to actually get some stuff done, then right back to the freezer we go. Business is really good though, it’s been hard keeping up with the weather but at least the work is there and I have that to definitely thankful for.

Well today I wanted to give you guys a little tip on getting a grain pattern into you next leather or vinyl repair using the “Wet Grain Method“. This little trick can be used with just about any air dry or heat cured compound on leather or vinyl and really could probably be used on plastic but never really tried it yet.

This process has saved me a couple of times and has enhanced some of my repairs and made them basically disappear. It’s kinda a last resort to getting it right. Read the rest of this entry »

Making a repair on Vinyl or Leather hold and last for years is an ongoing quest for all of us automotive interior professionals. Lately I’ve been playing around a bit more with my iron in my repairs and have found it really has saved me on some of my repairs. It’s a tool that to be honest with you I haven’t used much but I guess had forgotten what I was missing.

Getting a vinyl or leather repair level and smooth can be tricky with the different foams and backing materials. By using an iron can better your chance of getting that repair level and smooth without bulging or pushing in the vinyl which can happen with doing your repairs with a heat gun and pressing your grain pad with your hand to achieve your grain. Read the rest of this entry »

I have one thing to say…HOT! It has been scorching hot the past few days and I want to apologize for not keeping up with the progress on the Automotive Interior Restoration Training, but when I’ve gotten home at night I have just been to pooped to write.

Things have been going really good though and I have to say I am really confident that Bob will do just fine when he returns to South Dakota. He has really improved on every aspect in this business over the past 2 weeks, but I also have to say one thing and this really isn’t a brag, but it has been how he has been trained and the products we use. When I started I didn’t have half of what he has gotten or the products that we have in today’s market. I had to basically learn most of what I know today by trial and error, reading on the internet, asking a ton of questions of my suppliers, and the products I had were well let’s say not anywhere near what I use today. Read the rest of this entry »

What a scorcher it has been in the Automotive Interior Restoration Training! We basically melted today and it looks like it’s not going anywhere soon. Bob has been doing awesome if I say so myself!

Today he really got his feet wet and did his first vinyl repair and did great. He’s still a little green but that’s expected, he’s never done this before. This week we’re really going to work on his techniques and really get in there and do the work, and I do mean do it too. I’m basically just there for support this week because he’s the one who’s going to be doing the repairs. Read the rest of this entry »

Super glue can be your friend or your foe, depending on where and when you use it. Remember one thing, super glue is not flexible, and vinyl is. Using super glue in your vinyl repairs needs to be limited, very limited. 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 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 »

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 »

Weather change is here and the cracked padded dashes are rolling in. With every weather change I get the phone calls. “My dash is cracked and what can be done to fix it.”

Due to the exposer to old mother nature, these materials become dried out and crack over time leaving you with a crack in your dash. Left unattended this small crack can and will get larger.

There are measures that can be taken to prevent the dash from getting cracked in the first place. Now I know your dash is already cracked and your wanting to know how to fix it, but this will prevent further cracks and keep your car cooler and looking nicer, and well…. for further reference. Read the rest of this entry »

Automotive interior repair is a skill of a combination of art and magic, yes I said magic…What I really mean is it’s a skill to be able to trick the eye from not seeing an interior repair that has been made, that is the magic.

One little trick that we keep in our bag of pixie dust, is the art of texturizing a repair.

If you look in your automotive interior you see many different textures on the surfaces of the plastic trim pieces, vinyl covered door panels, and your leather and vinyl seats. All of these textures you see we have to imitate in someway to repair whatever has been damaged.

Texturizing a repair takes knowledge of products to use, skill in using them, and a lot of patience. Yes patience, when doing any automotive interior repair, patience is a virtue, if you get in a hurry you will fail, I promise. Read the rest of this entry »

How to mend a vinyl seat is probably going to be your easiest fix, when it comes to vinyl repair. There are those one’s that are a little tricky, but all in all the seat repair is the easiest, there is more padding behind the repair area, under patches can be used to reinforce the repair, they just seem to give me less fits and are easier to mend. Vinyl repair is definitely a game of skill balanced with patience. Taking your time to make your repair look perfect and not just good enough, will make or break a vinyl repair craftsman.

One thing you definitely need to keep in mind is if the hole or crack is to large then is needs to be replaced not mended. I’ve seen some pretty blown out seats in my day and have turned down a lot of work because I know my limitations to my pixie dust, as some of my customers call it ( that is one reason I love my job so much is because the products I use are definitely like magic). If the seat has a hole in it let’s say 3 or more inches maybe 4 but depends on the under structure, it needs to go to an upholstery shop. The thing is a repair is just that a repair, the products are made for small imperfections, not blow outs, that if left can get worse. But by mending them you can make a piece of vinyl look new again and the repair will last longer when done so. Read the rest of this entry »

GOT A CRACK IN YOUR SEAT?

Let me show you how the problem started, how to fix the problem, and how to prevent the problem from happening again.

Well of course I’m talking about your leather or vinyl car and boat seats. Read the rest of this entry »