Trying to Spiff Up the Blue Interior...

The blue interior in Maxi is in OK condition, but various areas have faded to various shades of blue.  I had tried a few over-the-counter interior paints, but none were quite the right color.  So this past Fall when I found an auto parts store that will custom mix SEM interior paint/dye and put it in a spray can, I HAD to give it a go.

I drove Maxi out to the store, and they let me use their color charts to try and match the dash of the car.  I figured that was one part I was not going to try and paint, so I should match that.  I narrowed it down to 2 shades of blue, then took a chance and chose one.  The man took my order and said it should be ready the next day.

When I got my can, I decided to try and paint the simplist parts to remove, the window pillars.  Below is a photo of one after washing and before paint:



I took the parts and bent a wire clothes hanger into a part-hanger.  Thankfully, my father still had up his tomato poles, and they made a nice drying rack!

The paint goes on real nice.  Not sure if a gray primer would be needed if I was spraying over black parts.  The paint also dries quick.  I was so happy with the results on the pillar parts, I decided when I had time I would try some more bits. 

When the day came, I managed to only paint a few parts.  Two of them were the plastic things that cover the seatbelts in the back seat.  Those were simple to remove, but when I tried to remove the large seatbelt bolts, I couldn't budge them.  So I couldn't spray the inner rear sail panels.  I also had issues taking the plastic bits out from around the rear window.  Since the car has a rear defogger, I couldn't simply remove the rear package tray.  I did get the plastic bits out, but found they were rather "dusty".  A light fingernail scrape would result in plastic dust, and a mark.  I sprayed them anyway, making a mental note about having to get some replacements in the future.

While all of this was going on, the rear seat bottom was out of the car.  I got to see how the rear floor looks.  It seems OK.  Below is a shot of the progress (or LACK of progress, depending on how you look at it). 

I ran out of paint, and that was probably a good thing since I was starting to worry that I couldn't figure out how to remove parts without damage.  I hope to order some more cans this spring... but to a little research before trying to remove more parts!