Urgent appeal for door card information

[Irish2002]

Having the upholstery of my 2002 changed from cream to black to match black Recaro’s seats which I bought last year. The upholstery guy has just contacted saying I will lose valuable stitching on the original door cards if I cover with a new leather.

He’s suggested two-part vinyl paint which apparently is very common.

 

Has anyone used it before and what are your thoughts on it.

 

 

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[Conserv]

Vinyl paints and dyes nowadays are excellent, and highly recommended. Others will weigh in with specific brands....

 

It appears you may have a Lux edition, based on your door card’s wood trim and map pocket! The Lux edition was never officially sold in the U.S., so we tend to get excited when we see one! ??

 

Regards,

 

Steve

[Irish2002]

Vinyl paints and dyes nowadays are excellent, and highly recommended. Others will weigh in with specific brands....
 
It appears you may have a Lux edition, based on your door card’s wood trim and map pocket! The Lux edition was never officially sold in the U.S., so we tend to get excited when we see one! [emoji39][emoji6]
 
Regards,
 
Steve

Thanks Steve. Your information is very valuable.


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[AceAndrew]

Steve's right, those are very desirable Lux door panels!

 

That being said .... in my experience, dye/paint works well enough but it doesn't age as well as a proper vinyl change.  If this is a forever car for you, you may want to have him be a little more specific as to what "stitching" would be lost if he were to make new panels.  I'm guessing he's unable to recreate/incorporate the "chrome" strip, but he should be able to reuse the wood slat and the map pocket in the creation of a new panel.

 

If you end up going dyed, at the shop I've used SEM products with success.

[Irish2002]

Steve's right, those are very desirable Lux door panels!
 
That being said .... in my experience, dye/paint works well enough but it doesn't age as well as a proper vinyl change.  If this is a forever car for you, you may want to have him be a little more specific as to what "stitching" would be lost if he were to make new panels.  I'm guessing he's unable to recreate/incorporate the "chrome" strip, but he should be able to reuse the wood slat and the map pocket in the creation of a new panel.
 
If you end up going dyed, at the shop I've used SEM products with success.

Thank you.


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[irshmerc]

Buy new black door cards from W & N and save the originals in case you ever want to go back. Who are you having do the upholstery ?

 

Good luck

 

[02Les]

Have the Recaros re-upholstered in tan to match your interior.

[Spyke]

I've successfully dyed MANY e36 vinyl interior pieces from "dirty camel" (as my wife calls it) to black with outstanding success. After 12+ years there's no fading or discoloration yet, though the surface does feel a bit more "rough" when caressing it. I used Duplicolor matte black since it was available locally and prepped heavily with 90% alcohol until it was spotless. Alcohol not only cleans but opens up the vinyl to more readily accept the dye.

 

Sadly that's the only bit I can offer, I've not been brave enough to do anything on the 2002's yet.

[irshmerc]

Ok, so those Recaros are gonna look pretty shite in black anyway, so I will take them off your hands to save your embarrassment and you can keep your original old seats, problem solved, like....

Good luck

 

[LarsAlpina]

Stitching isn't necessarily lost depending on how you do the work.

 

 

Didn't find a satisfying and reasonably priced solution for the chrome strips yet, though.

 

Best regards, Lars.

[rstclark]

Regarding the chrome strips

Do a search on using aluminum tape from Lowe’s  at about $5 a roll and polish the tape with Mother’s polish.

You will be very surprised by the results

The Aluminum tape is much easier to do than Mylar tape as it is thinner and stays attached to the rounded edges

[rstclark]

Here is the product