Interior color change and updates

tcrote5516

Junior Member
Messages
86
Well I'm not sure how you all will take to someone making significant cosmetic changes to their Maserati but I had to do it. I loved everything about the car when I bought it last week EXCEPT the blue interior. A little blue is fine but this was A LOT of blue. I started by dying the leather dash top and bottom pieces to break it up a bit and leave the center stack area as a blue accent. I ran out of dye so the door panels and seats will have to wait. The doors will be dyed to match leaving just the side impact airbag section blue. The seats will have the center section left blue and I will be restoring the bolsters and changing them to grey.

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The rear section really looked terrible. It was all blue and badly faded so this made a huge difference. I added a touch of carbon fiber on the storage compartment door to help update the look of the car with the top down.

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The shift paddles had not worn well so I wrapped them in carbon fiber which was a pain in the butt to do but they came out great.

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I also wrapped the door handle bezels (which was an even bigger pain in the butt due to the convex shape) and the metal inserts which will eventually look better when I get the rest of the dye in to finish the doors.

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Well that's it so far. I'm very pleased with the progress and no longer want to punch a smurf in the face when I get inside the car. I'll keep updating this as I make progress if anyone is interested.
 

redsonnylee

Member
Messages
1,540
My interior is all blue which is my favourite colour by far, same colour as my footie team. I would have left Blue myself :). All that matters is you are happy with it now.

Very impressed with your work, don't think I could do that without it looking a mess.
 

davy83

Member
Messages
2,809
i like it, i think you have done a nice job and you have a unique car now, well done (coming from a guy with a strong green and cream interior :) yes i have a green steering wheel! )
 

RJ237

Member
Messages
107
My spyder had a ivory interior, including the dash top. Reflection in sunlight made vision difficult so I changed it to black. I agree with your dislike of the all blue interior. What dye product are you using?
 

tcrote5516

Junior Member
Messages
86
Thank you for the positive comments!

In reference to the carbon fiber wrap: It's not what I would call easy to work with but it's not terrible either. The biggest problem I had was managing the heat needed to get it flexible enough to do what I needed it to do. The melting point of my fingers was about 10 degrees lower than the heat needed to make it soft as chewing gum. Gloves would be great but you really need full dexterity so it's a bit of fun to get it perfect. This was my first time working with it so with practice I'm sure I'll get better.

In reference to the dye I'm using ColorBond 330. I tried a water based dye first and it just wasn't soaking into the finished leather on these cars. The color bond, when applied correctly is really an amazing product.
 

Navcorr

Member
Messages
3,839
Hi - sorry to read about your hood problems on your other thread. Couldn't help notice the interesting looking screen though - could I ask what you've installed there? Think I can make out a separate controller in the first picture. No rush at all for an update as rightly so you've your mind on other matters. Looks very nice by the way. Thanks in advance.
 

tcrote5516

Junior Member
Messages
86
Hi - sorry to read about your hood problems on your other thread. Couldn't help notice the interesting looking screen though - could I ask what you've installed there? Think I can make out a separate controller in the first picture. No rush at all for an update as rightly so you've your mind on other matters. Looks very nice by the way. Thanks in advance.

Sure thing, it's an Alpine Vehicle Hub Pro. The main unit is located under the center console towards the rear. A 7" touch screen is mounted in the dash and yes, you can see the hand controller is mounted to a custom fiberglass piece that was made by building on the original plastic piece from the old NIT unit.

Here's a link to the system though it has been discontinued and Alpine, to my knowledge, does not make anything like it anymore.
 

Navcorr

Member
Messages
3,839
Hi there - thanks for getting back to me. Great news about the hood. I thought it might've been the Alpine system - looks great. Have seen a few posts on ML about it. Also a similar Kenwood hub based system predating still further. I think you're right about availability. Have been playing about with a few ideas for a future install to a yet to be purchased Spyder. Fingers crossed it will work but will involve a lot of cabling and an awful lot of soldering. If not then I'll be hunting around for a few parts :)
 

tcrote5516

Junior Member
Messages
86
No problem. To be honest, a good audio shop can set you up with a better system. The issue with both mine and the Kenwood system is they are severely outdated. Granted they are better than the stock system but not by much. At some point I will pull this out and buy a standard touchscreen double din headunit that I can modify to remove the screen so it fits but this works for now.

Made some progress and got the doors dyed so all that's left is to two tone the seats and the interior is DONE!

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Navcorr

Member
Messages
3,839
No problem. To be honest, a good audio shop can set you up with a better system. The issue with both mine and the Kenwood system is they are severely outdated. Granted they are better than the stock system but not by much. At some point I will pull this out and buy a standard touchscreen double din headunit that I can modify to remove the screen so it fits but this works for now.

Made some progress and got the doors dyed so all that's left is to two tone the seats and the interior is DONE!

Your re-styling is coming together nicely. Re: the stereo plan - I've something similar in mind. Remote faceplate mounting is the way to go for anything modern and worth the effort. How best to implement though is another matter. Had been playing about with an old head unit on the bench but not over any great distance. Further than a couple of feet and you will experience voltage drop outs. My thought though has been to mount the "box" in the boot but this will be quite a long run. Then a while ago I stumbled across this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p49HKTsfLGs

This is easily a 7-8 ft run using what appears to be 9pin serial cables. Most likely AWG 24. Perhaps harsh to criticise but this is a little clumsy and the connectors will introduce additional resistance. Have been picking up various stereo components and a load of 1mm2 cable - this is equivalent to AWG 18. The greater the cross sectional area the lower the cable resistance and the further a given voltage will travel. That's the theory but haven't had time recently to sit down and test it.

Have always had Kenwood in my cars. The chap who runs the service centre here is a top bloke and has helped out with a couple of spare parts. Extra connectors will allow a removable faceplate and should give a professional finish. Something I plan on doing myself rather than trusting an audio shop. Plus while the interior is stripped out a few extra jobs can be attended to - heater matrix, etc.
 

BennyD

Sea Urchin Pate
Messages
14,994
I'm interested in a new infotainment screen as well. When you get round to doing it, are you going to post your conversion on here or would it be better to come down to yours and see it in action?
 

Navcorr

Member
Messages
3,839
I'm interested in a new infotainment screen as well. When you get round to doing it, are you going to post your conversion on here or would it be better to come down to yours and see it in action?

Had planned on putting together a picture document detailing the various stages. Maybe of interest to others - being mindful though of comments recently on a GT thread. Saying anything non-standard will impact value. For those with no intention of selling however an "upgrade" has to be worth it.

I've picked up a new-ish Kenwood 7" with satnav to replace the existing system. I say replace - everything I've read indicates the NIT & screen need to be retained. With the screen being moved - usually behind the dash somewhere. This gives the option to retain the original infotainment info. and display it on the new screen.

I may experiment with bypassing it - some in the US have claimed it's possible but don't say how. Will also try to move the NIT to the boot - freeing up space in the arm rest. Which would be nice :)

[video=youtube;XOhZgAPn_CU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOhZgAPn_CU[/video]
 

tcrote5516

Junior Member
Messages
86
All done. I know it may not be everyone's cup of tea but I'm very happy with how the two tone turned out. Through the process I was able to fix some of the damaged seat bolsters and the wear on the steering wheel. They look like new.

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Vampyrebat

Member
Messages
3,117
I love it!!..........A one off and breaks the blue up very well and it looks like a very professional job. Well done!
 

Rwc13

Member
Messages
1,668
I agree, I love two tone interiors. And I'm also not anti-grey and so I think the grey and blue works well with the car. Didn't realise that changing the colour of the leather could be done so effectively.

Do you have experience of how well it will wear?
 

safrane

Member
Messages
16,746
Noticed that the parts that have been coloured are the synthetic trim bits (only the seat face, T piece on the dash and handles are leather on the 4200 range. Is the product designed for use on synthetic?