Subtitled- PIMP MY VOLVO!
I'm sure a lot of you have done this, but I wanted to share a recent project of mine in my still kicking 2005 Volvo xc70.
Recently, some field mice found a home in the car. Not good. Fortunately, no electrical wiring got eaten, but I found over 6 dead ones in the car as they died and rotted due to the high heat this summer. It lead me on a HUGE car cleanout to oust the dead animal smell from my former luxury 4x4 wannabee....
This lead to a lot of carpet cleaning and shampooing, which left everything pretty wet, so I did what any sane person would do and opened the windows on a hot day to let the car air out. Problem was that a storm ensued, which soaked the leather seats, turning them into cardboard.
They came the task of fixing them. Problem is, that there is no replacement for the volvo b980 grey interior. The only online options I could find were a lighter A981 option, which was considerably lighter than the interior I had.
Fortunately, I found a replacement seat for the Driver side from a V70 for $50 in craiglist- but it did not match. I liked the lighter color though, so I watched a bunch of youtube videos and redyed all the leather to match it in the car. After 10 years, the car needed a re-fresh, so here are some pics:
As you can see, the flat dye I ordered does not exactly match the gloss dye of the driver's seat, but overall everything looks a crapload better than the dark seat pictured above. I just put the rear in tonight and couldn't resist sharing (even with the dark pics).I will probably pull the craiglist $50 gloss seat and freshen it up too to match the other seats.
I've painted several cars in the past, but for some reason was always scared of interior work. This turned out really well, and the steering wheel and front passenger seat has held up for over a month. My daughter will trash the rear, but I don't care. It is soooo much nicer than it was.
The point is, if you have a 10-15 year old car with a tired leather interior, and a spray gun and some extra time, watch some youtube videos, order some dye/cleaner and go for it! It is much more simple/fun that painting a car and makes a world of difference!
R