We're changing son Joshua's '71 project cars interior, from brown to black. We'll be using SEM Vinyl Dye (Landau Black), on the door panels, dash pad, etc.. Can we recover the armrest pads ourselves, or are they a molded piece? Looks like there's screws on the back side of the armrest, that hold them on. Thnx for any/all advise. Joe X.
They are a vinyl covered item. It takes a lot of patience, stretching and some cussing to get them smooth (no wrinkles) I have done it a few times but I have bought the repro versions lately. Easier and the do look nice. I would not redye the originals since the vinyl would be a wear area and most likely the vinyl with peel/wear off.
George, if you don't mind me asking, where did you get your repros?? The ones I tried were garbage, didn't fit, not very nice at all...sent them back. had legendary send me more of the material used to do my interiro pieces, recovered old foam...it was a PITA for sure, got a few wrinkles on bottom edge (just like GM!!) but better than the repros I got.... Pictures on my website of the repros I tried. Thanks Tim
I picked up the OPGi repo's and while the fit is okay, they're just enough off in color, that I'll be going the same route as Tim and George did and recover mine. The light metallic blue is a bitch to match.
I did my own I did my own after learning that the repos were of lesser quality. I'm happy with the results. A few things to know before you start that I learned from the upholstery dude who told me what to do: Order enough vinyl so you can experiment a bit; Remove the old vinyl first - this will also give you an idea of how to cut and place the new stuff; Vinyl stretches one direction much better than the other - stretch it across the width not the length of the armrest; Don't glue the vinyl to the padding - only to the steel base. Clean the steel base first - I wire wheeled most the old glue off. Go to you local upholstery shop and get 6 ounces of THEIR glue - keep it in a well sealed jelly or mayo jar - will last about a year this way; Gotta warm up the vinyl before you do this work; Immediately after gluing the vinyl screw those pads back onto the armrest to hold the vinyl in place while the glue dries.
Hey, thnx guys for the replies :TU: . Brad those are some great tips for sure. Year One wants $46.95 pr.( old catalog, probably higher now), don't know about OPG, just to much for our low budget resto. Also, were doin a new headliner ( cheap OPG $#&%$, well you know), and lookin for any/all tips on what NOT to do up there. They say there's enough material to do the sail panels too. Anyone ever tried to recover there's? Thnx again, Joe X.
For the glue, I went to Home Depot in the Paint/Glue Dept, bought the 3M spray adhesive, blue bottle, about $12-14/can. It is the rubber contact cement that upholstery shops use by the 55 gallon drum. The spray bottle is much easier to use than liquid and a brush(been there, done that, makes a mess) As for the headliner, I wrote about this here for someone else. Do a search and you should find it. The key for a wrinkle-free finish, buy a nice steamer from Home Depot, costs about $30-35 and well worth it to me since I will be doing many more headliners in the future. Also, you will use the same spray glue as I stated previously. :TU:
