Sergx22

So I recently bought my car, and I noticed it had these scratches on the black interior, and I was wondering if anyone has had these and found a way to deal with them? Is there a dye or paint you can buy? or is there a professional service that takes care of this?

NissanZguy

Yikes D If I were you I would have never bought the car in the first place if I saw that kind of abuse. Abuse in one area means there's abuse else where. Have you had the Z looked at by a mechanic since you bought it? How many miles on her?

That interior needs some TLC asap! Seriously dude go to the auto store and get some interior cleaner/protectants. Everything looks faded and dull.

OP I seriously hope you get her looking right. GL

Sergx22

These scratches would not be a factor for my purchase whether they are there or not, but seriously, how the hell did they even happen? lol. It has 116k. I haven't got it checked out by a "mechanic" but I test drove and thoroughly inspected it before I bought it. But yeah, I just got the car and haven't registered it since I bought it on a Friday and DMV is closed today. Once I do ill get it up to spec, give it a good clean all around, change spark plugs, oil, alignment, etc.

NissanZguy

I have 107k miles on my Z and my interior looks nearly new. A car was either taken care of by its owners or it wasn't.

IMO when I see abuse like that I don't touch it with a 10 foot pole because it shows it wasn't cared for properly. If it wasn't cared for in one area then it was neglected in other area's as well. That's just common sense.

GL You'll probably need a respray of center console and IDK what you can do about the gauge cluster. Edit: Jcity has best solution so far. http://www.thezstore.com

JCITY

iTrader: (2)

OUCH!!
What is your expertise?
Are you a DIY guy?
Whats your budget?
A combo of CF covers,possibly a dash kit will fix your interior.
There is a gauge pod cover that goes over the tach/speedo
made of CF that would fix that area in minutes.The Z Store
sells e'm.Prolly made by EVO-R

TunnyZ

iTrader: (3)

You could always cf wrap them for a cheaper alternative. It's pretty easy just as long as you have time to kill.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/3M-1080-Gloss-Black-Carbon-Fiber-Vinyl-Vehicle-Wrap-Sheet-Roll-60-x12-CF12-/121120742037?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1c335bda95&vxp=mtr
you can also buy it at metrostyling.com search for scotchprint 1080.

Sergx22

That is probably what im gonna end up doing for the cluster and storage thing, theres a few local shops around here that do it.

yogipower

iTrader: (16)

i paint them on mine.

labelworkshop75

iTrader: (13)

Sand primer paint done. I did my switch covers and ac vents. Looks better than new. Center console is next for me. Just take your time sanding. It is by far the most tedious part.

TunnyZ

iTrader: (3)

For what its worth you can do it yourself, I just did mine with no experience last week. Just have to take your time. Save you some money if you do it yourself.

justin428

Hey man

I just took care of this exact problem. Let me show you what to do.

First, read this thread. I had questions but I figured it all out.
https://my350z.com/forum/body-interi...by-guages.html

You've got a little bit of work ahead of you. Can you pay somebody to do this? Maybe but it probably wont look as good as if you did it yourself. Nobody cares about our cars like us.

The instrument cluster cover and center stack:
I replaced mine with new from dealer. $40. But let me tell you putting that cluster back together was harder than I expected. It seems to me it was never meant to be taken apart and put back together. But hey, thats my opinion. Optionally, you can repaint it with the same paint you use on your center stack (from pods down to gear shift surround) I used, as the link states, dulpicolor flat black vinyl and interior paint. Its going to be a perfect match. It will take you several coats but it works. You will have to smooth it out with a wet t shirt after you paint. Nobody told me that I learned the hard way.

let me show you my befores and afters.





AFTER




The lines you may see are just an effect from the pixels and the photo size. It's perfectly smooth and even.


You may want to modify the door while you're in there.






RADIO:
Well, I just replaced mine. Added in dash GPS. love it. I'm not sure, but you *might* be able to replace the face of it and the buttons. But I dont know for sure. You need to do something because it's not going to look right afterwards when the rest is all painted up nice.

Door opener areas:
Weird man. Mine (2006) didnt have the crap paint in that area. Would it just be cheaper/easier to replace with a model years thats just black plastic? I would.

If you have any questions, I'd be glad to help. PM me. I JUST GOT DONE doing all this crap so it's fresh on my mind. I remember every screw!

Sergx22

Amazing job man, looks great! Thanks for the awesome information and illustrations, really cleared up lots of doubts that I had! Thanks Justin!

qbcsvt

Paint, wrap, dip, cf covers, or the jy for replacing the parts. Lots of options to get everything back to looking good. GL w the car hopefully all mechanical was treated a lot better then the interior.

bstingZ

Somebody should do a youtube video.

qbcsvt

I dont think there is much to see in a video. This is just like painting, wrapping, reupholstering, etc any other trim part. Personally I would paint the majority of the interior so things wont start mismatching.

justin428

Checking in. How did this turn out? Mine is still holding up perfectly.

sfdrummer

That is such an eye sore with my 06 roadster. I plan to either replace it or paint it. The Cubby Door seems sticky, might be a problem to paint.

WYZIWYG

Mine center cubby still looks decent even though it's an '05 but my door sills look like ***. Just had a talk with my stereo install guy and he say's he can cover my center and the door sills in 3M Di-Noc for a few pesos.
Just my opinion I think it looks better than paint and seems like a more permanent solution.

mad-arrow

Dear Fellow Forum-ers, This abuse/wear is directly related to the choices made at the Nissan factory and have been well documented. The pictures show normal wear areas that the factory thought they could save money by using an inferior, low-wear paint and thus the scratches. This went on for a few years in our beloved line until enough people started to complain about the fact that you could gently scrape the paint off your ($30K+) sport car interior w/ your fingernail. The obvious choice wouldve been to select a base dark grey or black of the injectable plastic to form the parts other than the light grey and then paint, or paint then gel coat w a clear coat epoxy hardener.....but alas that was NOT done. I speak to this tragedy because I have a phenomenal little roadster w these issues and have painstakingly fixed w/ primer then paint and clear coat.
That is not to say that the repliers in this thread are incorrect, I also believe that quite a bit can be deduced from the look of wear and tear on a car as to the love and care it had by the owner. Its just a factory choice where the engineers mistakingly believed that no one would actually use these beautiful cars but would put them in museums and gaze lovingly from the outside the genius of their design.
I am thinking of re-doing my car w a CF wrap later this year after I bring my girl out of winter storage....cheers.

Sunset350ZR

iTrader: (6)

I plan to plastidip my door handles and then clear plastidip. What grit sand are you using on your doors to prepare for painting.