I had my T25 captain's seats retrimmed recently in a custom design using Westy plaid for inserts, but with a biscuit vinyl for most of the seat. I wanted to keep the hollow headrests but have them trimmed to match. When I spoke to the trimmer he said trimming them in the vinyl would be tricky and end up with a zip round the outside and one round the inside, which wouldn't look great. He suggested I get them painted in Vinylkote. I called up the company, who are in Birmingham and they were really helpful. They recommended spraying the headrests with white first, to kill the original black colour. They also advised not to bother with their special cleaner, given the surface area was small. I sent them a sample of the material and they colour matched the paint to it. Three days later I had a tin of colour matched paint, an aerosol of white and some Vinylprep surface prep wipe (which is properly nasty - it dissolves solvent proof gloves!). I just got the headrests back and I'm really chuffed with them. The colour match is perfect and the finish is smooth and factory looking. The painter said it went on very easily and he just built it up in a lot of thin coats, but it dries almost instantly, so it didn't take long. Here are the results: I also used the white aerosol to paint the little plastic end caps on the top of the white rubber strip behind the cab dors, as these had discoloured badly. It worked really well, though needs several light coats as it's very thin. So, good product, good service, couldn't be happier. Not cheap, but comparable to the cost of decent car paint.
Looks good . I'm surprised that Vinylkote is still around and not been swallowed up years ago. Think I last used them in the early 60s and they were good then.
Great product on vinyl...shocking product on leather (despite recommendation by manufacturer). I did my door cards with it and was delighted with it.....did my seats which were leather and entered into months of pain trying to get it off as it kept cracking.
Thanks for the positive comments, glad you like them. Moons: I wonder whether that was because they were leather or just because of how much flexing a seat has to do compared to a door panel. I'm hoping that as headrests don't have to flex that much it should last, but obviously I don't know yet! If the back of my hair has blonde highlights in a few weeks I'll let you know ...
It's mega on vinyl...I do wonder if it was drying before it was hitting the leather and not soaking in maybe..but I painted the door cards in the same conditions. I used dye in the end on my seats from the furniture warehouse...really pleased with it but its tens of very thin coats rather than four or five coats with vinyl coat..
Good to know about the vinylkote, I have exactly the same seats that i also need to get recovered. I now know what to do about the head rests.
