Interior redo

[pyro4826]

Does anyone know where I can find someone who sells leather? I am trying to do a custom Black and blue theme in my miata and redlinegoods does a great job, but I am wanting to make it all myself.

[trickyrix]

There's always Tandy Leather... you can buy hides from them.

[pyro4826]

AHH! perfect thanks! Soon I will have a build thread up for it. going from a black and tan '99 to a black and blue

[Rogue]

There is a good place in FtW that has every conceivable upholstery leather/vinyl.
http://www.larrydennis.com/


Theres always Katzkins
http://www.crazyred.com/pages/seats.html

[pyro4826]

I am needing the leather not for seats but for the doors and console and dash. The seats are being changed to racing seats. (NVM just checked and saw they sell the whole hide.)

[Rob®]

Make 100% absolutely sure whatever you get is UV protected/treated/resistant/whatever. Otherwise it will fade in no time. Been there, done that, still see it done every week. It will cost you more, yes. But you will only have to do it once.

[pyro4826]

Is there a way to treat the leather after, or does it have to be done by the company? obviously I am very new to this and am trying to get all the information I can to make it easier.

[Rob®]

Buy it treated. I have never seen a publicly available product to properly treat it for the first time. Products like ArmorAll and others are not the same thing. Although, you do want to use them once in the car. I don't know, nor care, what the proper process is, but I can tell you from firsthand, secondhand, thirdhand, nthhand, experience that if you buy generic leather/vinyl/suede from a fabric store it will fade. Some of the better ones I've seen last about a year in the northeast, which is a LOT easier on interiors than out here. Buy the cheap crap to practice making the patterns and gluing to whatever piece, but don't bother installing it in the car.

And invest in a proper heat gun instead of using a blow dryer, just FYI. And use 3M Super 90, nothing else.

[pyro4826]

Yeah my current seats are getting pretty cracked from the sun here. Would the super 90 not melt even in the direct sun on the dash?

[Rob®]

Cracking is from not treating them over the years, among age and use (and other things). I haven't seen non-automotive grade material crack, but really because it's so faded within a few months to a year that the people (myself included) ripped it all out and did it correctly. I honestly have no experience with long-term durability of the non-treated stuff for that reason.

I never had a problem with the Super 90 on any of my cars, nor have I heard of others, even out here - rather, especially out here - have it come undone when used properly. If you spray it on just one surface and instantly install it, yes, it will probably work its way off. Read and follow the directions, and you shouldn't have issues. And like I said, don't bother with any other glue.

[Rob®]

Here, very basic link: http://www.twinturbo.net/net/viewmsg...msg_id=1008911. This guy used the same process I did on my Z and every car since. For some reason I can't find the links to when we all did write-ups back in 1999-2000, but they were all pretty much the same idea. We all had a few little personal tricks/tips, but mostly it's all the same, so this link should get you through it fairly well. As a note, that guy used the Super 90 back on his (check the date - 2006) and it's still on. The other guys that did their interiors around the same time I did mine - 1999-2000 - never had to redo theirs either. The Supper 77 or whatever is garbage - *needs* to be the Super 90. Or contact cement I guess, but we all used the 3M Super 90.

Like I said above, I would personally suggest a proper heat gun instead of a blow drier.

[pyro4826]

Thank you for that useful information! I guess I will be picking up some of that today.