Dying the fabric in the door cards

[jonno1972]

When I bought my 1994 250D last month I wasn't that keen on the garish colour of the door cards. The combined effect gave the door panel a pinkish look which is not for me.

So I bought some Rust-Oleum vinyl & fabric spray paint today from B&Q.

I had seen some scary videos on Youtube of other fabric sprays being used on car upholstery and on sofas and the overall effect was not good. So I proceeded with caution and the review I had read of the "Direct to Vinyl" seemed good.

This is the drivers door card before spraying

after the first few passes

After some heavy application. it was running at this point but soaking in nicely. You can see the portion on the left is beginning to dry. As it dries the pattern re-emerges but minus the garish colours

It is not completely dry at this point but you can see the end result is pretty good.

The acetone fumes are pretty strong while it is curing. I also used one 400ml can just for this one card. At £7.98 a can the cost is equivalent to buying leatherette and reupholstering the door card but without all the hassle that entails.

I have some custom made Leatherette seat covers arriving in the next few weeks which will complete the interior upgrades.

Before I bought it, the interior looked like this...

a bit dirty, no proper mats, a nasty shift gaiter and no arm rest.

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Not bad, but for around £50 you get a complete replacement interior off eBay...

Would be quicker to fit than all that spraying/waiting!

 

[salesac1]

Not bad, but for around £50 you get a complete replacement interior off eBay...

Would be quicker to fit than all that spraying/waiting!

OK, maybe £50 or less for a fabric interior, but no guarantee on condition when 13+ years old for the OP's pre-facelift vehicle. May not be local enough to view first, or high shipping fees etc. And you still need to dispose of the original interior.

OP's idea seems good to me. Will be interested to find out how the seat covers turn out and more info on sourcing - please update thread when you can .

 

[jonno1972]

OK, maybe £50 or less for a fabric interior, but no guarantee on condition when 13+ years old for the OP's pre-facelift vehicle. May not be local enough to view first, or high shipping fees etc. And you still need to dispose of the original interior.

OP's idea seems good to me. Will be interested to find out how the seat covers turn out and more info on sourcing - please update thread when you can .

You are quite right. There is all the hassle of getting the original interior out. I was originally going to take the cards off yesterday but had trouble with the large philips head screw behind the door latch so just sprayed in situ which was fine in the end. Aside from my dislike of the colour the door cards are in good nick.

This is the door card today. I gave it a light brush to remove a few small bobbles that had a build up of the spray. The fabric feels rougher to the touch but I was expecting this. As it is not a contact surface it doesn't matter.

The seat covers I am ordering from: JC Seat covers Mercedes C-Class faux leather seat covers and retrim

They have a Midlands contact office but the covers are made in Italy. I've been informed there is about a 2 week turnaround.

Not leather but my budget is limited at the moment so it will have to do.

I made the plunge based on these photos

They've set me back £245. I'll keep you updated when they arrive and I fit them.

 

[jonno1972]

Well the seat covers arrived as promised. The service from JC Seatcovers was excellent all along. Plenty of emails letting me know that they were being made in Italy, packed, shipped etc etc. Clear instructions. The covers themselves had labels letting me know what was what.

Once I unboxed them I let them hang on the banister for a while just so they would lose any creases.

I went for the slightly courser grain of vinyl because it matches the rest of the trim in the car. They do do a finer grained one than this.

On the rear seats there were virtually no attachment points so I improvised with some cheap karibeners from B&Q.

The rear headrests have no external release on the 1994 Classic so I had to remove the back plastic via the two screws at the bottom of the panel. It then slides down and off. Once off there is a black button. Press this whilst simultaneously lifting the headrest out. Once it's out you can put the panel back on and pull the seat cover over. The headrest will then click back into place when you push it down again.

and finally a before and after!

 

[Sp!ke]

Looks like a damn fine job you've done.

Only thing I'd add is that the button to release the headrests is accessible through the rear seat back without the need to remove. (See circular cut out in the seat back of your picture below)

The rear headrests have no external release on the 1994 Classic so I had to remove the back plastic via the two screws at the bottom of the panel.

 

[jonno1972]

Looks like a damn fine job you've done.

Only thing I'd add is that the button to release the headrests is accessible through the rear seat back without the need to remove. (See circular cut out in the seat back of your picture below)

Thanks for that Spike! I never even noticed it I did think to myself that it seemed a very complicated task for merely removing a head rest

 

[Laters]

I've been looking for some good seat covers as I cant find a leather interior in the colour I want locally and dont fancy the chance of seats being couriered without damage.

Any chance of some photos of bottom of backs of front seats (just above where rear passengers feet are) and some photos of seat side near backrest recline control knob?

From your photos the seat covers look good and they have a light cream colour that would suit my car perfect.

Thanks

 

[Littledigger]

Well done to you Jonno1972. You've really turned the interior into something to be proud of, its sooooooooo much better now.