Spitznagle

I have a 2008 ES 350 with black interior (looks more like dark charcoal). I need to repair the vinyl on the driver's interior door panel. There are some scratches/scuffs in the vinyl above the arm rest. The hard plastic is fine. It also looks like the door slammed on something and caused some gouges along the bottom edge of the panel. It is not very noticable now but I would like to fix it. The scuffs and scratches bother me more than anything.

I have spent quite a bit of time researching this site and others for more information. I've tried scrubbing and treating the scuffs.

Leatherrepairkits.com offers two colors that should be compatible with my car. (I am aware of their return policy). Blue black and charcoal black. I am assuming one matches the seats and the other matches the steering wheel. Could be wrong. Has anyone sucessfully matched the interior of their car with either of these? Or anything else? I've looked at SEM Landau black but it might be too dark.

I plan to attempt a repair first. If it does not work, I will look for a replacement part. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

Guitarman

Choosing from pre-formulated colors will always be a crapshoot, but may I make a suggestion that's worked well for myself and friends who show their late model and classic vehicles?

Find a local automotive paint supply store in your area and ask about them matching a sample of your interior that you want to re-dye. They all have a guy that mixes vinyl dyes/paints for the dealerships and tradesman that do repair work for dealerships and body shops.

I needed some for my GS400 a few years back, for the center armrest, and I left them my armrest cover for an afternoon and their guy mixed me up a pint.

Spot on for color, no one can tell I resprayed it.

That's your best bet, but you'll of course need an airbrush or small spray gun to DIY, and compressed air cylinder or compressor.

Buying a pre-mixed color probably will not work to your liking.

P.S. if you go that route, do buy some of the SEM clear vinyl spray coating or equivalent, in satin or a gloss finish, to protect the color coat you spray.

Dan

Spitznagle

Perfect! I will do that. Thank you very much!

Spitznagle

I was a bit nervious about the DIY option so I decided to take it to a local upholstery shop specializing in car restoration. The repairs look fine but the paint job is terrible. The color does not match and there is overspray on everything. I'm just sick about it. Now I have to figure out how to remove the paint so I can redo it myself.