Are your B-Pillar trims crusty? A solution...

[Talasas]

Hi all, today I decided to freshen up some interior parts on my SX Seca. Turned out really well so I thought I would put a small guide on how I did the job.

It's pretty easy and very cheap. The materials cost me somewhere around $8 for this piece. The vinyl cost $20 for 1 metre but I've used it to trim some door pods and I still have heaps left over for other stuff. I'm using contact adhesive to hold it to the trim, this cost $4 for a spray can.

Tools:
-------------
- Heat Gun (or hair dryer will do as well)
- Scissors
- Stanley knife
- Pencil

So here's what I started with, as you can see 17 years of sunlight can have it's effects on plastic trim. Factor in all those years of the seatbelt buckle hitting it and it ends up quite scratched.



We look closer and see that sanding this down would probably do little for it as the plastic has began to break down. We could try to sand it smooth and putty it and then paint it but we want a nice textured finish don't we?



So what we do is clean the trim piece gently with thinners. Only use a small amount as it does eat away at the plastic and try a small test patch on the back somewhere to make sure it doesn't melt it completely (I've had that happen before). After this we trace a rough shape of the piece in pencil around the trim onto the back of the vinyl. Here we will have to keep in mind how much vinyl will need to fold over each segment, some part needing more "meat" than others. Once this is all worked out (shouldn't take too long with some folding and thorough checking) we glue the flattest face on the piece first and work our way to the edges.



Cut excess bits away and fold over the vinyl neatly keeping in mind what part of the trim is visible and what isn't. A very good way of getting the vinyl onto complex curves is to heat it gently using the heat gun. The allows it to strech better and helps the contact adhesive set quicker to boot. Be careful not to melt the vinyl otherwise the grain will warp.


Once the main exposed parts are glued on we can wrap around the final bit on the edges to finish the job. Some little fiddly bits need to be cut but more often than not it can be done to look very neat.



The finished product. Note the glue spot in the middle there, always make sure your careful when spinning around the trim piece so that you don't get the glue on your hands onto the new vinyl surface. The good news is using some good commercial grade plastic cleaner (a.k.a plastic conditioner) it comes off pretty well.



Here it is installed in the car. Now go to it, and please for the love of zombie jesus don't pick a wanky colour!

[Rodger]

Well done, I like it.

A good easy solution.

Regards

Rodger

[Draven]

that looks absolutely mint dude, fantastic work (+rep)

[JetspeedCamry]

Man thats sweet! My C pillar's are like that..all crusty and pieces fall off them sometimes if u knock em ! I might try this! Although getting it around the C pillar might be fun, seeing as though its got a "empty" section in the centre of the trim. I guess its more of the same...put the vinyl over the whole thing..cut the centre section out and then gently heat and nead it into place.

Well done!

[Timma]

good work! i think only my plastics buttons on the rear shelf have got to that stage, this looks like a solution though thanks

[thomasbl]

That looks impressive. Good guide and high quality photos. This is a solution for lots of little trim and interior bits. Good job.

[takai]

Another good writeup. Me rikey.

[vanman]

Beautiful work! I've used this technique on speaker pods and other solid stuff, but thought it wouldn't work on plastics - great write-up!

cheers
vanman

[The Witzl]

the only thing with doing this on plastics is that you have to be wary that plastics usually have about 15 years worth of oil and grease built up on them.

Clean the plastic THOROUGHLY with thinners and prepsol, then apply a GOOD contact adhesive and avoid stretching the vinyl too much - otherwise the vinyl will lift.

[Les]

+ rep

you should start a business doing this

[Adam_Cressi]

Awesome idea dude, might do this before i sell the sx

[joecoolmk2]

sweet, looks awesome! you've inspired me to do mine now. +REP

and for glue, some araldite would be good eh?

nice. i could redo my car in it's original colour, dirty baby blue

[Bananaman]

Araldite might soak through the vinyl, and be visible in the places where you stuck it down?

In any case its surely overkill, it would be much more convenient to use a spray on adhesive as Talasas here did.

Good writeup

[joecoolmk2]

oh ok, i missed that little bit, cheers

it'd probly be better for the back though, to make sure it doesn't lift off eh?

i love vinyl, until it burns the soft flesh off the back of your legs!

[Bananaman]

oh ok, i missed that little bit, cheers

it'd probly be better for the back though, to make sure it doesn't lift off eh?

i love vinyl, until it burns the soft flesh off the back of your legs!

If its good enough then its good enough, i personally hate working with araldite, give me it in a spraycan and i'll think about it