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Tired of your interior??? CHANGE IT!

481K views 1K replies 348 participants last post by  itzjudifitz 
#1 ·
I have only had my Jeep for a short time but I have had a blast making it my own. One of the things that I did not like about it was the all black interior. It's fine when you have the top off, but if you have the top on it is kind of dark in the cab and started to feel dreary. Who wants to drive the most fun vehicle on the road while sitting in a dark, boring black hole? Reminded me of a funeral too much.
After playing around on here and meeting a few people I came across Lilyeller and his Banana Blast inspired TJ. I knew that he and I shared the "a Jeep must be FUN" concept so I used his painted interior as inspiration.

Since posting pictures of it I have been asked by several people on how to paint the plastic pieces and I know Lilyeller has been asked the same... partially because I asked him myself. lol

So I will include in this thread what I did to prep and what products I used, as well as what I learned works or doesn't work.

So this is what my interior looks like.




Next up.... proper prep. Prep is the key.
 
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#624 ·
So glad I found this thread! I've got a 98 TJ, green exterior with tan interior, and I want to paint some of the trim pieces black, but keep some tan. Someone told me this would clash, but I thought it looked pretty good. Thoughts? Was going to pain the vent area black, keep the seats tan ( maybe with some black seat covers ), black floor mats, keep the glove box area tan. Open to suggestions though. Also will be painting my grey soft top black pretty soon...wish me luck...
 
#628 ·
Arrggh.... buddy called me Sat and asked if we could reschedule painting the soft top to next week sometime..... :banghead:

Ah well. Speaking of interiors, let me run this by everyone: My TJ is a nice dark green (hunter? forest?) on the outside, with a black and tan interior. I really enjoy the green exterior, and saw that krylong fusion hunter green color. I was thinking rip up all the carpet and either replace it with black carpet or just leave it off to expose some green, paint all the dash black except for green speaker covers ( the trim pieces you remove to get to the speakers on left and right side ), black and green door trim and.................stuck. Thoughts? Too boring?
 
#629 ·
Im personally not a fan of just doing the covers and "easy to remove" stuff. That makes it look like you just painted whatever was easiest. I say do the full thing black, or do the dash black and the wrap around the interior (like where Dragonii put red) in Hunter Green.
 
#630 ·
LilYeller said:
Im personally not a fan of just doing the covers and "easy to remove" stuff. That makes it look like you just painted whatever was easiest. I say do the full thing black, or do the dash black and the wrap around the interior (like where Dragonii put red) in Hunter Green.
Good idea! That's why I ask, 'cause I suck at creativity!
 
#637 ·
I know this is a TJ thread, but I'm new to Jeep, and stumbled onto it before I knew what the difference was between a TJ and a JK. I now know, but I wanted to give credit to Dragonii for the excellent thread, and for being the impetus for my interior transformation. Thanks to Dragonii and everyone who gave their input.



I really like the brown. It's subtle, but I think it adds a sense of luxury that the all black interior lacks. Also painted the stock antenna, overhead speakers, and sub brown. I'm probably going to paint the hardtop interior brown as well next summer.
 
#638 ·
What the hell is that fancy, overly glossy, luxurious mode of soccer mom transport? Does that thing come with a built in cappuccino maker? :rolleyes:

Just messing with you dude. It looks good. I've seen a couple of JK's done with some nice accents. Someone that hangs out in the same groups with me has a red one and the red interior accents really pop. That brown looks like a good choice in your case.
 
#640 ·
Lycian said:
I know this is a TJ thread, but I'm new to Jeep, and stumbled onto it before I knew what the difference was between a TJ and a JK. I now know, but I wanted to give credit to Dragonii for the excellent thread, and for being the impetus for my interior transformation. Thanks to Dragonii and everyone who gave their input.

I really like the brown. It's subtle, but I think it adds a sense of luxury that the all black interior lacks. Also painted the stock antenna, overhead speakers, and sub brown. I'm probably going to paint the hardtop interior brown as well next summer.
It looks so fancy! Haha. Looks good tho, clean and factory looking
 
#642 ·
Lycian said:
Yes, I'm going into 2013 w/ power windows and no tape deck. I could see how you old TJers would be overcome w/ my jk's extravagance. It must be akin to when you saw electricity for the first time at the World's Fair. :whistling:

Not gonna lie. A hot chocolate machine would be pretty nice in the middle of winter, though.
Thumbs up Lycian!
 
#643 ·
Lycian said:
Yes, I'm going into 2013 w/ power windows and no tape deck. I could see how you old TJers would be overcome w/ my jk's extravagance. It must be akin to when you saw electricity for the first time at the World's Fair. :whistling:

Not gonna lie. A hot chocolate machine would be pretty nice in the middle of winter, though.
lol, what you talking about bro? I have mp3, Bluetooth media streaming, hands free calling, HD radio, hard wired phone dock, gps, led lighting and a Starbucks right down the road from my house. lol
As for power windows, don't need em, I prefer to just leave the doors at home.

Seriously, it's a nice ride dude. I looked at them. I just chose a TJ cause I like to tinker with things. Not sure if I would have had the nerve to pull all the interior out and paint it with a 2013. I just prefer vehicles that are more "raw", so to speak. Someone in the next couple of years I plan to buy an old air cooled vw too. I've had 4 of them, love them.
 
#644 ·
Just to let everyone know i did my dash just like Dragonii's with the red band along the midle except mine was all grey to start with so i painted the rest black. TIP! I added many layers of clear coat gloss to prevent scratching and it makes the color look so much better! Ill try to put up pics soon
 
#645 ·
lifting tub off frame

sorry i know it's sorta off topic but I am planning on painting the interior and lining the tub, but while I'm tearing apart the jeep i want to chassis saver the undercarriage and my question is how much can I raise the tub without having to disconnect the steering column and brake lines...i could just raise one side at a time so I can do a thorough job undercoating.
 
#646 ·
On the interior subject- I saw this thread back in June and painted my interior just as instructed on many of the posts.. however.. My prep must have not been done properly because the paint has flaked off the doors, and half the dash. What has me confused is that the defrost cover, airbag, handle, and center console all held up to the wear and tear except for the parts that do not get abused. (except for the doors). I used acetone to clean, prep all to get the grease or oil substance removed. Cleaned all the parts with soap and water, and painted- in a controlled environment with Duplicolor Vinyl and Fabric paint - using a professional plastic promotion adherent. Nevertheless - the doors look like they have leprosy. my question is how do I get the paint off the dash to start over? I want to make sure I do this right because I took the dash off (which I will do again) and that is a lot of work just to watch it peal off again. Plus - I decided I hate the grey interior and want all black to match the exterior so might as well start over anyway. Any suggestions? I have heard to use brake fluid dot 3 and not to use brake fluid- Acetone and not to use Acetone, sand - not to sand.. etc.. Has anyone had this same experience and had to start all over by removing the old paint? If so, what did you use and what did you do differently. I was reading another forum and some other jeep owner that had a similar experience, gave up and took it to a auto body shop which I am way too cheap for that. Plus this really pisses me off that I didn't get this done right so I am determined to fix it properly myself. Any ideas are appreciated.
 
#647 ·
On the interior subject- I saw this thread back in June and painted my interior just as instructed on many of the posts.. however.. My prep must have not been done properly because the paint has flaked off the doors, and half the dash. What has me confused is that the defrost cover, airbag, handle, and center console all held up to the wear and tear except for the parts that do not get abused. (except for the doors). I used acetone to clean, prep all to get the grease or oil substance removed. Cleaned all the parts with soap and water, and painted- in a controlled environment with Duplicolor Vinyl and Fabric paint - using a professional plastic promotion adherent. Nevertheless - the doors look like they have leprosy. my question is how do I get the paint off the dash to start over? I want to make sure I do this right because I took the dash off (which I will do again) and that is a lot of work just to watch it peal off again. Plus - I decided I hate the grey interior and want all black to match the exterior so might as well start over anyway. Any suggestions? I have heard to use brake fluid dot 3 and not to use brake fluid- Acetone and not to use Acetone, sand - not to sand.. etc.. Has anyone had this same experience and had to start all over by removing the old paint? If so, what did you use and what did you do differently. I was reading another forum and some other jeep owner that had a similar experience, gave up and took it to a auto body shop which I am way too cheap for that. Plus this really pisses me off that I didn't get this done right so I am determined to fix it properly myself. Any ideas are appreciated.

First off I underlined the problem. That paint is not made for plastics, its a felxible paint used on fabrics. Krylon Fusion is made to bond to plastics. Advice to everyone considering this, follow Dragonni's directions to a T and dont change anything. It will work right the first time.

Now, on to fixing that mess. You have to get all the old paint off or else you will have the same flaking issue. I would use a dry green scrub pad to get the main flaking out of the way. after that stops working then I would turn to acetone, put some on a shop towel (these are thicker than paper towels and can take some abuse) and wipe off as much as you can. it will get sticky but keep acetone on the towel and you will be all cleaned off in no time. By the time thats all cleaned up you should be well preped for paint. USE KRYLON FUSION... and use alot of it. I put maybe 3 light coats and 4 more heavy coats and I have no issues at all, plus I did mine before this thread was made so how ever long ago that was. And trust me my kids abuse the Jeep, they think its a jungle gym and crawl all over it.
 
#649 ·
Best of luck to ya, hope it all comes out all right. I didnt use anything on top of the Fusion, you can put a clear coat on top of it but I really didnt see a need. Its bad enough that I used a gloss paint and its all shiny, then add more shine to it... just not for me I guess. If anything I might do a clear matte finish over the fusion to dull it down a bit. But thats a big IF.
 
#942 ·
Ok so I finally got the piece that goes around the shifters on the floor, will install it back in tomorrow after it cures. I have removed and painted the long narrow piece that goes right against the windshield (has the defrost vent and VIN window) and the grab bar and trim behind it on the passenger side.

Disassembly was a breeze until I made it to the passenger air bag cover.
Now I am at the passenger air bag cover and I got the very top and the very bottom undone but can't get the middle part undone. Right where it rounds the top. I am still looking for blue paint for a middle strip. I will have black/blue/black.
 
#657 ·
ClearH2O said:
Well I've been following this blog since well awhile ago and now it's my turn. Going from a grey dash to well I'm thinking a black dash.

Disassembly was a breeze until I made it to the passenger air bag cover.

Now the fun part making it look like new!
Holy crap it looks amazing. I did go all black but hey I just like that look. Also, I found the krylon fusion in a satin finish and it looks amazing!!! It looks like how you would expect it from the factory that way. I did also follow the steps as they were posted on the first page of this thread and the only thing I would add is don't be sparing on the acetone and keep using a clean cloth rag to wipe down. Next are doors and center console.

Big thanks to dragonii for the write up!


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