Author Topic: Black Carpet... made easy  (Read 20311 times)

AcSchnitzer318is

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Black Carpet... made easy
« on: November 04, 2009, 12:39:30 AM »
Well, kind of.  The actual process of doing it is easy, albeit time consuming.  I did mine in a day.  I've heard of ppl doing this with the carpet in the car, but I prefer a more complete approach.

I've read about ppl doing this and was a bit skeptical, but I have a spare car with a spare carpet so I figured what the hell.  Not much cash outlay @ about $20.

Needed:

3 cans DupliColor Vinyl & Fabric spray
Carpet brush
Spray Can top "gun" (saves your fingers from fatigue, trust me)

Process:
1.  Pull carpet, you'll need to pull the center console front and back, seats, side sills, speaker grill things, gas pedal from bottom clips, round rubber thing in drivers footwell, and seat belt metal bar.  Then cut around the HVAC stuff, shouldn't need to cut too much carpet.  Like 3 cuts on each side all less than 6".  After all that you can begin to wrestle the carpet out.  Don't be shy... cuz it won't.  Don't forget the little piece covering the rear seat bottom area.

2.  With the carpet out pull it somewhere well ventilated.  This stuff gives you a rowdy headache if done in an enclosed area.  Ask me how I know.  Then THOROUGHLY vacuum the entire carpet.  Now take a dish soap and water mixture with a toothbrush and clean the heel pads and side kick pad on the drivers side.  After clean, dry them.  Then rub them down with rubbing alcohol.  Let dry.  

3.  Now spray on 2 even coats of the paint.  Spray in multiple directions.  Don't over do the vinyl with spray or it will run/drip.  It's a paint not a dye and will leave your carpet hard and crusty.  This had me worried at first, more on that later.  

4.  After the other coats are dry, ~20 minutes, take the carpet brush and brush the carpet in the direction that let's the original color of your carpet show through.  Now spray the last coat to cover the exposed original color.  

5.  If you had good coverage you should now be able to brush the carpet with your hand in any direction and not see the original color.  If this is not true, put on more coats in the areas that need it.  You can always go back and touch it up later once it's in the car if you find a spot later.

6.  You should be happy with your new looking carpet now, but less than satisfied with the feel of it.  Well kick off your shoes and get to walking on it.  Seriously, spend 15 or 20 minutes walking, kneeling, or otherwise stamping the carpet.  Brought mine back to 98% stock plushness.

7.  Now as they say the installation is the reverse of removal... but slightly harder.  Can be a BEAR to get the carpet back in place.  Took me longer than removal for sure.

And here are the results... I did find some spots (with the help of the flash actually) that needed some touch ups.  This is easy to do with the carpet in the car and since the paint dries in like 15min, it's not a big deal.

Before:



After:







I was intentionally light on the areas under the seat... reason for the different color.









Last one is because I'm a pic whore.  ;)  But for the cash outlay I think the results are ridiculously good.  And the paint seems to be super durable as I was rolling, crawling, scraping, and otherwise roughing it up pretty good while reinstalling it and the rest of the interior.  Questions, berating, and comments welcome.


"A good memory for quotes combined with a poor memory for attribution can lead to a false sense of originality."

monty23psk

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Black Carpet... made easy
« Reply #1 on: November 04, 2009, 09:21:11 AM »
Nice. Also which side skirts do you have?
Alex  88 m5 | 91 318is | 19 Subaru Ascent
BMW Tool Rentals & Fender Roller

1991 E30 M42

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« Reply #2 on: November 04, 2009, 10:09:15 AM »
ford tarus

Jorgeconrico

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Black Carpet... made easy
« Reply #3 on: November 04, 2009, 11:18:54 AM »
I think it looks very good. I did the same thing to the rear deck in my car because it was fading and looked like crap. I was hesitant at first but it turned out pretty well, you took it to another level. Thats a lot of paint....

AcSchnitzer318is

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« Reply #4 on: November 04, 2009, 11:20:28 AM »
Quote from: 1991 E30 M42;80913
ford tarus


Mercury Sable... I wanted to be different.  ;)


"A good memory for quotes combined with a poor memory for attribution can lead to a false sense of originality."

Birdman16

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« Reply #5 on: November 05, 2009, 03:28:33 PM »
Looks absutely banging. Makes the seats really pop in contrast to the black floor. Nice man.  Loving the skirts too. Never seen the skirts off an american car on an e30 but I guess it actually works!
From The Gumball Rally
"What\'s behind me is not important!"

Family Rides:
Birdman16: 91 318is (e30) Back from the dead >:)
Dad: 03 325i (E46)
Mom: 99 M3 Vert. (E36) and 07 X3 3.0si

Wizard

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« Reply #6 on: November 05, 2009, 06:42:41 PM »
Quote from: AcSchnitzer318is;80918
Mercury Sable... I wanted to be different.  ;)

Same ones I have....:D

Nice looking carpet BTW.....
« Last Edit: November 05, 2009, 06:43:44 PM by Wizard »
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

1991 318is Diamantschwarz Black on Black
1992 850i Calypso Red on Black

longtallsally

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Black Carpet... made easy
« Reply #7 on: November 14, 2009, 03:22:46 PM »
You are unequivocally my hero.  I have the same ugly tan carpet and was wondering what to do- or if I could get it black.  Now I know.

My one question is about the carpet material itself.  Yours looks like the "nicer" stuff from a 325is and mine seems to be a bit cheaper and I'm certain OEM.  Did you start with your original carpet?

Again, well done!

AcSchnitzer318is

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« Reply #8 on: November 18, 2009, 11:05:06 AM »
It's funny you ask that.  That carpet is actually out of my 325i coupe that I am restoring/frankensteining.  The other car was already torn apart so it would be easy to pull the carpet and try the color change on that.  That way if it didn't work... I didn't have to touch my 318is.  

I thought they were exactly the same, but I didn't pay too much attention I guess.  I'll check and post my findings.


"A good memory for quotes combined with a poor memory for attribution can lead to a false sense of originality."

YetiX

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« Reply #9 on: November 13, 2010, 07:39:03 PM »
Just thought I'd bump this.  I did my carpets this weekend following what AcSchnitzer318is said to do.  First I cleaned the shit out of them and de-greased all the oil spots.  It looked like the previous owner had spilled a quart of oil in the driver's footwell and coke all over the back footwells.  I started by using carpet cleaning stuff for a Bissel and then used some biodegradable stuff I got at CostCo to get rid of the oil.  Then I hosed everything off.

It cleaned up ok, but you could still see the stains.  It looks a LOT better in the pictures than it did in real life.




After I let them dry for a week, I vacuumed them really well and . . .





Turned out awesome!!
-Scott-
\'91 318i 5spd

Eurospec

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« Reply #10 on: November 13, 2010, 09:58:34 PM »
Awesome indeed. Has me thinking about doing mine. I assume you used the method as the OP?

YetiX

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« Reply #11 on: November 13, 2010, 10:29:58 PM »
Quote from: Eurospec;98638
Awesome indeed. Has me thinking about doing mine. I assume you used the method as the OP?


I did. Took me three cans though.
-Scott-
\'91 318i 5spd

longtallsally

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Black Carpet... made easy
« Reply #12 on: November 14, 2010, 02:06:03 AM »
Quote from: YetiX;98639
I did. Took me three cans though.


How did I know you were going to post here?  :D

I hear a lot about degreasing and the like.  I'm not sure on mine if I can get all the gunk out.  I'm thinking I'll just be power washing mine and letting it dry for a couple weeks (since flippin' winter is here).  I'll just be painting over all the stains methinks.

YetiX

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« Reply #13 on: November 14, 2010, 08:30:57 AM »
Quote from: longtallsally;98644
How did I know you were going to post here?  :D

I hear a lot about degreasing and the like.  I'm not sure on mine if I can get all the gunk out.  I'm thinking I'll just be power washing mine and letting it dry for a couple weeks (since flippin' winter is here).  I'll just be painting over all the stains methinks.

LOL!! :D

In my case, it looked like the PO was a mechanic or somebody who walked through oily shit all day and who didn't believe in floor mats.  It was really greasy and grimy in the driver's footwell and I was concerned that the dye/paint wouldn't stick.   I wish I had a before picture.  The 'before' picture above doesn't show what it looked like when I was done either because it was practically white in that area.

For the coke, chocolate milkshake (I hope :eek:), and bubble gum I just cleaned as well as I could and the paint covered those stains just fine.
-Scott-
\'91 318i 5spd

longtallsally

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Black Carpet... made easy
« Reply #14 on: November 14, 2010, 11:27:49 AM »
Quote from: YetiX;98646
LOL!! :D

In my case, it looked like the PO was a mechanic or somebody who walked through oily shit all day and who didn't believe in floor mats.  It was really greasy and grimy in the driver's footwell and I was concerned that the dye/paint wouldn't stick.   I wish I had a before picture.  The 'before' picture above doesn't show what it looked like when I was done either because it was practically white in that area.

For the coke, chocolate milkshake (I hope :eek:), and bubble gum I just cleaned as well as I could and the paint covered those stains just fine.


And I forget, did you just use the spray stuff to do the do the vinyl areas?