Help! It’s dark in here!

[tiger1964]

My wife is thrilled with her new BRZ. The one place where she’s less than 100% happy is the interior; well laid out and comfortable, but an endless expanse of black and near-black. Well, so many cars today only come with one color choice inside.

I’d like to, over the long term, explore what might be done to brighten the inside of the car. Some things might be easy and/or affordable, others might be complicated… and expensive. I’m sure not everyone would agree with our tastes . If anyone has sources or product ideas to share, that might be helpful.

Easiest might be aftermarket floor mats; perhaps blue in her blue car. Any color choice would have to compliment black as there will always be some black inside, regardless.

Seats would be great, but not cheap slip-on covers (prove me wrong on that!) Apparently Katzkin does not offer anything for this car. Ideally something like blue Alcantara seating surfaces, the rest blue leather, with black piping (gee, I don’t ask much!) Presumably a professional upholsterer can do anything, but I certainly don’t want to double what we’ve already spent on the car. Front and back seats and least a little bit of door trim, would really help.

Looking on, for instance, eBay, I see a lot of “dress up" interior pieces, especially for the center stack and console — all in carbon fiber. Uh, we’re not building a race car, nor emulating one. It occurs to me to buy some of these products and “re-finish” them. Simple paint might look a little gaudy and amateurish. I recall tripping over a company online that takes plastic items and chrome plates them... well, that would be bright and make the interior more cheerful, but I should be careful about bright sunlight reflecting off these items (yeah, the top does not go down in a BRZ to that risk is more limited, but…) especially high-up items like vents. Moreover, I saw somewhere (duh, it would help to do a search) a company (or more than one) that takes items and dips in a tank with a film on it, and the results come out looking convincingly like woodgrain (fake wood sounds cheap but check out the dashboard of a Facel HK500, and that’s painted metal. No, really) but the hue, again, would have to compliment black.

I guess a steering wheel cover, of the lace-on type, right be an option.

What else is out there? If anyone has ideas, photos, links… much appreciated. There is some chance there are no satisfactory solutions.

[Sapphireho]

.

[bcj]

And this little piggy wouldn't go to sleep without a nightlight!

[tiger1964]

Originally Posted by Sapphireho

.

Thnaks for the input; interesting item and I could see that as "enhanced nighttime entry illumination" but does not address her key concern which is a dark, colorless interior -- even in daytime.

This is a long-term project and I'll keep looking. I was doing online searching and found that "I saw somewhere a company that takes items and dips in a tank with a film on it, and the results come out looking convincingly like woodgrain" is called Hydro Dipping and there's a place perhaps 25 miles from me that does it -- I might e-mail them (does any business answer e-mails these days?) with links to the various dashboard items I saw on eBay and ask what it would cost to have all of them done at once -- and can it be topcoated to protect the finish.

The really scary part is changing the seats (spelled $eats).

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by tiger1964

Thnaks for the input; interesting item and I could see that as "enhanced nighttime entry illumination" but does not address her key concern which is a dark, colorless interior -- even in daytime.

This is a long-term project and I'll keep looking. I was doing online searching and found that "I saw somewhere a company that takes items and dips in a tank with a film on it, and the results come out looking convincingly like woodgrain" is called Hydro Dipping and there's a place perhaps 25 miles from me that does it -- I might e-mail them (does any business answer e-mails these days?) with links to the various dashboard items I saw on eBay and ask what it would cost to have all of them done at once -- and can it be topcoated to protect the finish.

The really scary part is changing the seats (spelled $eats).

i'm really not sure how to help you, seems like lots of ideas, but no formal direction so far. i know plenty about lights, and plenty about modding cars, just not sure where to go with it all.

hydro dipping generally costs about the same as a professional paint job for the parts-- all the same paint prep stuff applies, it's just the 'first layer' that is the hydro dip. so if there's any texture to the parts, they must be sanded and smoothed out, which is extremely labor intensive. it wouldn't be astronomical to 'dip' an interior, but would be somewhere near $1k-3k. it's why it never really caught on. that would be without the cost of clearcoating it, which is absolutely possible.

[tiger1964]

Originally Posted by soundman98

hydro dipping generally costs about the same as a professional paint job for the parts-- all the same paint prep stuff applies, it's just the 'first layer' that is the hydro dip. so if there's any texture to the parts, they must be sanded and smoothed out, which is extremely labor intensive. it wouldn't be astronomical to 'dip' an interior, but would be somewhere near $1k-3k. it's why it never really caught on. that would be without the cost of clearcoating it, which is absolutely possible.

You might be right on target. I found online a 19-pc interior kit for about $425 and let's presume the finish would be OK to paint. One site I looked at said small parts might be $30 each to dip. Maybe a discount for a bunch o' parts all at once but we might be talking $1000 for non-functional appliqué trim -- sheesh! And that's without any other 'upgrades' on the seats, etc.

Then again, she spent an inheritance she got to buy me the Boxster, so if the only thing she wants is a more festive-looking interior...

Jeez, wouldn't it be cheaper to swap in the entire interior from, say, an Alvis TD21?

OT, but the 2nd-gen-specific trailer hitch arrived today, so the car will be getting its first "mod" regardless. If the weight of the box is an indication, gonna affect the F-R weight bias --

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by tiger1964

You might be right on target. I found online a 19-pc interior kit for about $425 and let's presume the finish would be OK to paint. One site I looked at said small parts might be $30 each to dip. Maybe a discount for a bunch o' parts all at once but we might be talking $1000 for non-functional appliqué trim -- sheesh! And that's without any other 'upgrades' on the seats, etc.

Then again, she spent an inheritance she got to buy me the Boxster, so if the only thing she wants is a more festive-looking interior...

Jeez, wouldn't it be cheaper to swap in the entire interior from, say, an Alvis TD21?

OT, but the 2nd-gen-specific trailer hitch arrived today, so the car will be getting its first "mod" regardless. If the weight of the box is an indication, gonna affect the F-R weight bias --

depending on how crafty you or the wife is, you could also consider either vinyl wrapping parts, or plastidip.

vinyl can be tricky to do, but can come out looking right with the correct techniques. it at least offers patterns similar to that of hydrodipping, but will be a thicker covering, which can effect the fit/finish of how some pieces clip back into the car. price is going to matter though-- high end vinyls will have better adhesives and print quality, where lower end will cut corners first on adhesive qualities, which will effect the bond to the part the vinyl's applied to.

plastidip is going to be a singular color, would be removeable later, and is relatively cheap. benefit is that it sprays on like spray paint. but same as hydrodipping, surface prep is king here.

[tiger1964]

Originally Posted by soundman98

depending on how crafty you or the wife is, you could also consider either vinyl wrapping parts, or plastidip.

interesting. That said, I'd have to think through which parts I could do and whether I'd have to remove them from the car. Thanks for the input.

I showed my with the 19-piece carbon fiber accessory kit, she was unimpressed; then I showed her a video of hydro dipping in wood grain, that changed the response a lot. This might be on our project queue, perhaps over the winter. That still leaves the interior 99.5% black.

[bcj]

Do it in light birch rather than ebony.

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by tiger1964

interesting. That said, I'd have to think through which parts I could do and whether I'd have to remove them from the car. Thanks for the input.

I showed my with the 19-piece carbon fiber accessory kit, she was unimpressed; then I showed her a video of hydro dipping in wood grain, that changed the response a lot. This might be on our project queue, perhaps over the winter. That still leaves the interior 99.5% black.

it was a fad for a few years, but never caught great due to the complexity, but you could change the head liner for different fabric
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/570198002804601091/



something i want to eventually do is the starlight headliner... it's extremely labor intensive, but looks really cool once it's done



https://www.amazon.com/AZIMOM-2022Up...63b24bcb5&th=1

[tiger1964]

Originally Posted by soundman98

I something i want to eventually do is the starlight headliner... it's extremely labor intensive, but looks really cool once it's done

Oh - cr*p! My wife works for NASA, if she sees that photo it's all over (2nd mortgage on the house)!

[norcalpb]

Check out some of the twins on here to give you some inspiration:

https://instagram.com/sweidit?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

[tiger1964]

Originally Posted by norcalpb

Check out some of the twins on here to give you some inspiration:

https://instagram.com/sweidit?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Thanks, I saw some until Instagram blocked the screen because I am not a member -- I saw one interior at least partly in tan, was that an older factor option?

[norcalpb]

Originally Posted by tiger1964

Thanks, I saw some until Instagram blocked the screen because I am not a member -- I saw one interior at least partly in tan, was that an older factor option?

Yes that was the 2016 FRS RS2.0!