Suede Retriming

[bimmer boy 21]

I got sick of my parcel shelf's ugliness so I thought I'd give her a quick spruce up since I had a few hours to kill.

Im my old E30 I just reprayed the parcel shelf and it looked okay but thought it was a tad too rangi for the E36 so I decided to buy some suede ($$ ouch) and do it, thought while I was at it Id do the pillar covers also and (Will be doing the Headliner next) but yeah, never done anything like this before was I found it easy I had it all out retrimed and installed again in 2 hours.

Any way here are the before and after pictures...

[Guest Ari Gold]

Looks great Ryan, but tell me its macro suede or alcantara

[bimmer boy 21]

Alcantara, Cowhide Suede if you want specifics. Its not automotive stuff thought its just the stuff you retrim couches with so its not UV resistent so will fade a bit quicker than usual. Might be able to get a spray for it who knows.

If anyone else is going to do this I'd suggest Macro suede, looks exactly the same I was just fussy.

[Guest Ari Gold]

phew, was praying wasn't suede, that lasts all of about 5 mins in automotive applications.

Alcantara will last fine, wear wise, I've seen 13 year old 250k e36 m3 interiors that have barely worn at all.

[greenday-rulz21 6]

Looks mint Ryan.

Consider doing a quick write-up? My parcel shelf is faded and been thinking to respray it for a while, but this looks 1000 x better.

[bimmer boy 21]

Um yeah I guess I can do one, I dont have any pictures of the process though..

Step one: Go out, stop being poor and buy some suede (preferebly something thats made to be used in a car or a high wear situations. Go for something with a UV protectant so it doesnt fade too quick) You only need about half a metre to do the parcel shelf but I bought two metres as I was doing the pillars aswell.

There are quite a few different kinds of suede you can use I think the best is genuine suede/ alcantara but macro suede is also good too.

Get Macrosuede if you dont want to spend much money, Its about $30 a metre when I looked at it from Spotlight or what ever shop it was. Real suede is about triple that price.

Step two - Buy some glue, not just any glue though. You need to use 3M Hi-Strength 90 spray adheisive. Its best to use this as it stay stuck through heat which is commonly encounterd in cars as you know. Just use it, dont question it. You can pick it up for $40 a can from Gordon Harris in Newmarket. I bought two cans but I only used just over one can.

Step three - Remove the parcel shelf, its not held in there by much, you will figure it out, if not have a laptop in the car so you can google how to remove things when you get stuck like I did.

Step four - Put down some old sheets so you dont get the glue everywhere, lay the fabric over the top of the parcel shelf and if you got more than half a metre then cut out the piece you need and keep in mind for bends in the parcel shelf so keep plenty of suede on each side.

Step five - I started with the front of the parcel shelf ( The car closest to the front of the car) and sprayed and stuck down the suede in 3 - 4 stages. This makes it easier to control creases and wrinkles in the fabric. Get in there with your hands and smooth out the wrinkles pushing them out to the sides and make sure there is enough glue covering each part of the area you are working on otherwise the suede will kind of blister.

Step six - If your parcel shelf is the same as mine take extra care around the high stop light as it is had to get it to stick down properly where there are folds in the parcel shelf.

Step seven - Once you have stuck it all down and there are no wrinkles etc go have a break and let the glue dry, only takes 15 mins but leave it for 20 - 30 just to be sure.

Step Eight - Once dry, flip the parcel shelf over and trim all the edges of the parcel shelf keeping about 3 inches of sued over hang on each side. What you need to do it fold these bits over and glue them to the underside of the parcel shelf. When it came to this bit I used the spray glue aswell as a hot glue gun on the tricky bits, you can be as messy as you like under here since no one will see it.

(Please use common sense when trimming and know where u will have to cut so the suede will be all fully stuck down)

Step Nine - Once you have it all stuck down and trimmed and looking good get out some scissors and cut two slices in where any holes are and do the same as you did in Step eight and stick the overhanging bits to the underside of the parcel shelf.

Step Ten - Put back all the plastic trim, speaker grills etc onto the parcel shelf.

Step eleven - Install in reverse order as you took it out.

Step twelve - Do all 11 steps again with what ever other piece/s you want to do.

It sounds hard but it isnt, I removed, retrimmed, reinstalled 5 items on two hours, so can you

[greenday-rulz21 6]

Cheers mate. Huge help.

I'm guessing your headliner is already black? Suede/Alcantara headliners finish off the interior of the car IMO.

[bimmer boy 21]

Cheers mate. Huge help.

I'm guessing your headliner is already black? Suede/Alcantara headliners finish off the interior of the car IMO.

Yeah I have always liked suede insted of the yuk fabric.

Nah my headliner is grey like the other parts were beofre I trimmed them, proberbly going to do the headliner next week.

[Yuen 16]

Good work Ryan, it looks like you wrapped the cloth around the curves on the parcel shelf well.

I can't believe HS 90 is $40 a can now!? Wow. And re: the above comments on Alcantara, are you guys saying Alcantara is some form of natural suede? I thought it was a synthetic material and costs a lot of $.

[_BRS_ 209]

Nice Ryan!

Always like how particular you are about the finer details of cars.

Might have to do the headliner in the e30 soon!

Have already done my parcel tray when i did my sounds..not suede tho!

[ED1RTY 2]

Baller.

Nice job Ryan..

P.S I could have beaten the price on your aerosol adhesive spray by 15% bahahaha

[bimmer boy 21]

Good work Ryan, it looks like you wrapped the cloth around the curves on the parcel shelf well.

I can't believe HS 90 is $40 a can now!? Wow. And re: the above comments on Alcantara, are you guys saying Alcantara is some form of natural suede? I thought it was a synthetic material and costs a lot of $.

Yea I did it pretty carefully, made sure it was all nice and tight, worked out pretty well if do say so myself, Going to trim a few more things I think haha. Yeah $40 a can works nice and didnt use too much of it will proberbly buy two or three to do the headliner though.

Nice Ryan!

Always like how particular you are about the finer details of cars.

Might have to do the headliner in the e30 soon!

Have already done my parcel tray when i did my sounds..not suede tho!

Haha cheers mate, yeah you know me too well. I notice every little detail, but think the details is what makes a car stand out in a sublte way, its a good way to do things on a car, quality stuff over lots of crap.

Baller.

Nice job Ryan..

P.S I could have beaten the price on your aerosol adhesive spray by 15% bahahaha

Next time get a picture with a can of glue spray hahahha

[nath 134]

Hmm looks awesome! This prompts me to.... well.... ok just vacuum the dog hair off mine haha

Haha cheers mate, yeah you know me too well. I notice every little detail, but think the details is what makes a car stand out in a sublte way, its a good way to do things on a car, quality stuff over lots of crap.

- I noticed the 'detail' all over your car at JC that weekend a while ago! It was filth!

Edited May 6, 2009 by Zeitgeist

[bimmer boy 21]

Haha and a lesbian audi is much better? just kidding. Each to thier own Nathan.

[nath 134]

Why the hell is my car a lesbo!

BRA i meant dirt!

[Mattzy 0]

I remember you speaking about this. Good effort, looks good dude!

[bimmer boy 21]

Why the hell is my car a lesbo!

BRA i meant dirt!

Haha umm I dunno just cos? Yeah I figured you meant dirt, its filthy at the moment my wheels are brown. But it keeps raining so I havent bothered

[bimmer boy 21]

So, I did more today, getting a little carried away, but besides the headliner which I still gotta do this is all Im going to do in the car in suede.

The centre console was so tricky but looks good, pics dont do much justice though, but here they are.

[JiB 0]

Holy crap that's Awesome! Alcantra accents are the best thing evar.

And if you had strong enough glue you could do the rim of your steering wheel like the suede techII's

[bimmer boy 21]

Holy crap that's Awesome! Alcantra accents are the best thing evar.

And if you had strong enough glue you could do the rim of your steering wheel like the suede techII's

My steering wheel is so worn down its already like that haha, new steering wheel is on the list.

p.s Cheers for the good feedback!

Edited May 7, 2009 by RJS

[misgvous_1 0]

looks mint...

Have you thought bout doing the door trim inserts. Would look mean

[Yuen 16]

I want to see the centre console job in person! Must have taken some skill to wrap that around.

[bimmer boy 21]

Yeah it took a bit of skill to get it to wrap around the consol properly, It does have a bit of a defect on it but I can see it from the drivers seat so its ok, out of sight out of mind!!

I have thouhgt about doing the door inserts, might still do it, also thought of doing the lower dash and keep the door inserts leather and insted to the rest of the door card. But I dont wanna go over the top with it all you know.

Anyway I did the headliner today in that sexy weather we have been having, but for now my job is complete, looks better in person.

Edited May 8, 2009 by RJS

[MLM 57]

My steering wheel is so worn down its already like that haha, new steering wheel is on the list.

p.s Cheers for the good feedback!

Haha I have the same steering wheel problem too! Im retrimming it in genuine suede but its been a bit of a slow tricky process. Im using red stitching to match the car and should look sweet once its done.

[bimmer boy 21]

Haha I have the same steering wheel problem too! Im retrimming it in genuine suede but its been a bit of a slow tricky process. Im using red stitching to match the car and should look sweet once its done.

Oh really? post when you are done mate, would like to see how it comes out. I want to change my steering wheel , nothing screams 1993 build more than my steering wheel but I heard its not as easy tochange as others since the Airbag light is built into the wheel and not on the dash? anyone know?