When using any car, upholstery materials gradually lose their original appearance, fray and become covered with stains that cannot be cleaned. Light-colored interiors are especially susceptible to this problem, when after some time from the moment of purchasing a car, reupholstering the interior becomes almost necessary.
Of course, you can resolve the issue by contacting a specialized workshop, whose workers will completely replace the upholstery of the interior and seats, but you can also try to do it yourself, thus saving a significant amount of money. You will also make the car more elegant and unique.
How to reupholster the interior: choice of materials
Everyone will agree with us that leather interior trim is the best option for any car, but this pleasure is not cheap and not everyone can afford it.
Today there are other high-quality materials with which you can restore the interior. These include:
- Carpet. It is the cheapest and most accessible of all. Its non-woven base is often covered with a pile decorative layer. The main advantages of the material include a simple installation process and a wide selection of colors.
- Alcantara. This material is based on fine-fiber threads. The material is produced using technologies from the textile and chemical industries. It has excellent characteristics of durability and strength, and is distinguished by its softness, silky surface and dirt-repellent properties.
- Leatherette. Attractive and inexpensive material with an impressive list of shortcomings. These include an unpleasant odor that persists in the car interior for a long time, high elasticity properties, low resistance to mechanical stress and the ability to absorb unpleasant odors.
When purchasing material for reupholstering a car interior with your own hands, you need to pay attention to the quality of the product offered to you. Check the homogeneity of the material structures. If you choose Alcantara, keep in mind that the direction of the grain can play a major role when cutting. It may turn out that on one seat all the details will have different shades.
Preparing tools
Since the process of reupholstering a car interior with any material is carried out according to a certain algorithm, you will need certain tools that are sold in stores. So, you will need the following:
- sewing machine;
- scissors;
- several tubes of glue;
- soundproofing materials if desired;
- a set of keys and screwdrivers for disassembling the interior.
Let's start work
It is important to consider that depending on the car model, the sequence of replacing the interior trim may be different. In general terms, the action plan is as follows:
- All fasteners and fittings are dismantled: handles, visors, decorative elements, etc.
- The electrical wiring in the car is disconnected, decorative elements are unfastened, old upholstery is dismantled, and connectors are removed.
- When disassembly is completed, the surface is cleaned of dirt.
- All plastic and metal parts must be degreased.
- The parts of the future upholstery are cut out. To do this, the old parts are applied to a cardboard sheet and cut out. It is recommended to transfer finished patterns to the prepared material when you are sure that everything was done correctly.
- After preparing the new parts, you need to begin installing them, having previously coated the surfaces with an adhesive mixture.
- If necessary, use a hair dryer to smooth out any creases. In addition to steaming, you can lightly beat the seams, giving the products a beautiful, neat look.
- Finally, everything needs to be installed in its place, namely the fasteners.
Do-it-yourself interior trim is not an easy task, but if you do everything according to technology and follow certain tips, you will not have any problems.
Seats
If you decide to replace the seat upholstery instead of buying covers, you first need to rip out the old upholstery at the seams and make a pattern using it. After preparing the individual elements with a sewing machine, everything needs to be assembled into one whole.
Doors
It is very important to clean all dirt when replacing upholstery. When creating patterns, keep in mind that you need to leave a centimeter allowance on all sides of the part. Carefully make holes for the door handle or window crank. At those points where the upholstery fits tightly to the door, coat it with glue.
Ceiling
To replace the headliner, you must first completely dismantle the following elements:
- plugs;
- backlight lamps;
- pens;
- decorative overlays for pillars.
This will allow you to carefully replace the headliner. If you are using leatherette, warm it up before installation, giving the material elasticity. This will allow you to easily cover any surface with material.
Armrests
To reupholster the armrests, you must first dismantle them, and then make patterns using the old parts, always leaving some reserves of material around the edges. After this, you need to glue the product over the entire area, carefully secure the edges and treat it with a hairdryer.
Let's sum it up
In the event that there is a need or desire, before the final installation of the upholstery, foam rubber or insulating material can be laid under the parts.
As you understand, reupholstering the interior yourself is a completely feasible task. Naturally, it requires some investment and time, but the result is worth it. You can be proud of the work you've done, even if it's your first time doing something like this.
When choosing a new car, everyone noted for themselves that cars with identical characteristics can differ significantly in price only in the quality of the upholstery. In this case, a car with leather trim turns out to be more expensive. In order to bring your current vehicle to such a presentable appearance, you will need to reupholster the interior with leather yourself.
Motorists often call the interior leather, even if the trim with this material is present only on the seats. Although reupholstering parts such as the ceiling, doors, steering wheel or instrument panel as a whole would raise the car to a higher level of prestige.
Do-it-yourself car interior reupholstery with leather
In addition to the aesthetic benefits, leather upholstery inside the car increases sound insulation, making every trip more relaxing. Squeaks and friction of plastic are also eliminated, since the material serves as a high-quality seal.
Leather car interior
The necessary materials for reupholstery are sufficient upholstery fabric, glue and an industrial hair dryer. The color of the interior should be in harmony with its exterior paint. However, you should not choose an interior of the same color for a blue car. If the external color is muted, then the inside should not be colorful.
When reupholstering a car interior, you can use “Moment” leather glue, but for a higher budget it is advisable to choose a two-component Forestali shoe glue. It leaves no odor after drying and effectively fixes the material to the base.
The main stages of the process are:
- Initially the shape is modeled from the pattern. To give elasticity to the material, it must be soaked in warm water 40-45 C. A hotter liquid will have the opposite effect and the material will not stretch, but will shrink. The procedure takes up to 3 hours.
- The steamed pattern element is applied to the desired area, for example, on the dashboard and stretch over the selected area. An assistant will be needed for this procedure. After all, one person should stretch, and the second should dry using an industrial hair dryer. After drying, remove the workpiece.
- The skin will shrink slightly in area. This is normal. Now it's on the inside coat with glue, as well as the interior detail on which the skin is supposed to be fixed. After gluing, you also need to blow the outside with hot air. This operation will correctly distribute the glue over the surface and ensure greater penetration into the mating materials.
Examples of leather upholstery of chairs
Upholstering the car interior with leather in this way will give a good tension, preventing the appearance of bubbles, pulling or sagging on the surface.
With this type of car tuning, it is important to pay attention to detail. Before performing work, it is important to think through and select options for giving the car individuality and elegance. To do this, not only high-quality material is selected, but also threads, options for combining and using seams, and decoration with inscriptions, emblems or drawings.
Brown leather interior 
Black leather interior 
White leather interior
You need to know that to redo the sheathing you need to use no more than two color options. More shades may look tasteless.
Sports style lovers can use the interior large pitch seams and thick thread. The color of the thread can be chosen to be more contrasting. For business class cars, the color of the material is selected to be discreet, the thread is thin, pastel shades, seams are small, frequent.
An important element of individuality are the patterns on the upholstery. To cover the interior with leather and preserve various emblems, there are two options available for leather: apply embroidery to the prepared pattern using a special sewing machine or carry out an embossing operation. The second option is more expensive, but if done well, it looks impressive and stylish.
For embossing you will need to make a special metal matrix. To leave a mark on the skin, it is heated to a given temperature and such a pattern is applied using a press. The convenience of the method lies in the fact that exactly such a stamp can be applied to a large number of surfaces.
Step 1. Degrease and sand the surface 
Step 2. Glue the surfaces to form a pattern 
Step 3. Transfer the pattern to the material 
Step 4. Sew the pieces 
Step 5. Glue the base of the material 
Step 6. Apply glue to the surface 
Step 7. Glue and dry 
Step 8. Installation in the interior 
Step 9. Attach the plastic decor in place
When covering the steering wheel, you must be aware of the possibility of the airbag triggering. It is necessary to work with the steering wheel very carefully, leaving the possibility of opening the airbag at a given time. To do this, the seams should be stitched with a thread with low tensile strength. In this case, it is advisable to trim the places from which the safety element must come out for quick operation.
A large number of photos of car interior leather upholstery can be found on different pages. All of them have only one thing in common – individual execution. Each resulting option is unique. After all, having invested your work and money, you always want to get the maximum return.
In the process of reupholstering car interiors, we use high-quality automotive leather with high frost resistance, vapor and water resistance, which is resistant to abrasion and bending and will serve you for many years and tens of thousands of kilometers. By the way, our words have been confirmed by experience since 2007 (more than 10 years). At your service are premium eco-leather, genuine Italian leather, original Alcantara, artificial suede, as well as fabric for upholstery of the ceiling. All the materials we use belong exclusively to premium lines and have nothing to do with fakes, replicas, or other second-rate raw materials. We have extensive experience in reupholstering ceilings and pillars with Alcantara and ceiling fabric (most often clients choose a black ceiling), embroidering or engraving on leather interiors, reupholstering a steering wheel or sewing any non-standard item, such as a leather laptop case, for example, or a leather office chair :). Our work is covered by the Auto-Loker brand guarantee, so you don’t have to worry about being abandoned when leaving the gates of our studio. When reupholstering the interior with leather, we will advise you to make the right choice both in terms of colors and in terms of additional stitching, so that your interior looks high-quality and elegant, based on our extensive experience. During our work, we have reupholstered several thousand leather interiors, ceilings, steering wheels, and some of the most interesting ones, we invite you to look at our catalog by brand and make sure that the quality of our tailoring work is at its best!
MATERIALS USED
In our work we use only time-tested premium materials. No fakes, replicas, or other Chinese raw materials of unknown origin. In our catalogs, the main players when upholstering the interior are: premium eco-leather, original real Alcantara, ceiling fabric, as well as genuine Dakota or Nappa leather from Italian and German manufacturers. Most often we use eco-leather for upholstery of interiors. Eco-leather is artificial leather, specially designed for use in car showrooms. By eye, and even by touch, it is very difficult to distinguish modern eco-leather from natural leather (if we are talking about high-quality premium eco-leather, which we use). We have already remodeled thousands of car interiors for more than 10 years, so you can safely entrust us with your favorite car, the interior of which will not lose its presentation for many years. Eco-leather is very technologically advanced and, at an affordable price, has outstanding characteristics. By the way, companies such as Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Ford, Toyota, Hyundai and many others have been using eco-leather interiors in their cars for a long time. To be convinced of these words, come to us and touch the eco-leather catalogue. We are sure you will be impressed!
COST OF INTERIOR UPHOLSTERING
WHAT ELSE CAN YOU THROW WITH LEATHER?
It is known that a real upholstery master can tighten anything with leather! And this is about us! We constantly receive orders for reupholstering kitchen corners, interiors of boats and yachts. Office and kitchen chairs are also often in demand. We make stylish cases for phones, tablets and laptops according to individual customer requirements with engraving or embroidery. In the end, a relaxing pillow or car document cover made in the style of the interior of your favorite car will be a stylish addition to your interior. The most important thing is imagination! and don’t borrow it from our dear clients :-)
WARRANTY FOR UPGRADING
Hundreds of showrooms pass through the caring hands of our fitters, cutters and seamstresses every year, and the close integration of the sewing shop with the soundproofing shop allows us to assemble and disassemble the car interior in full compliance with factory requirements. We give you a guarantee not only that the stitching of your seats will not fray, the leather will not crack or fade, but also that after our intervention you will not have any cracks, gaps, snags on the plastic, or broken fasteners. All this is guaranteed not only by our more than 10 years of experience, but also by our conscientious attitude towards your favorite cars. Of course, after the work has been completed, we issue the necessary closing documents, as well as a copy of the certificate of conformity of our services. We accept all types of payments: cash, cards, as well as non-cash payments from legal entities.
Of course, the most important quality of any car. However, for the aesthetic pleasure of the driver and passengers, it is simply necessary that the interior of the vehicle be. The new car has everything in order. But over time, the colors of the upholstery fade, and during use, stains and abrasions appear that dry cleaning can no longer cope with. Light-colored car interiors are especially susceptible to contamination.
The simplest solution to the problem is to contact a car service center, where specialists will completely replace the upholstery of the interior and seats. However, it will be much cheaper to perform this procedure yourself. You can sew or buy covers for the seats and choose a material to match them for the new headliner, doors, armrests, rear shelves, dashboard and other parts. New car interior trim can completely change the entire appearance of the interior and give it elegance and attractiveness.
Material selection
Of course, a leather interior in a car is simply an ideal option. But this pleasure is very expensive and not every car owner can afford it. Let's consider what other materials (the price of which is affordable) can be used to update the interior design of a vehicle.
The most popular and frequently used materials for car interior trim are:
- Carpet. This is a fairly accessible and cheapest material, which is a non-woven base, on top of which a “decorative” layer of pile is applied. The advantage of this material is the presence of a large number of shades and the simplest installation possible.
- Alcantara. Unlike the first option, Alcantara consists of a woven base made from fine fiber threads. Manufacturing involves both textile and chemical processes. It is worth noting that this is a more durable and durable material, with silkiness, softness and dirt-repellent properties.
- Leatherette. This is an inexpensive option for interior trim, which, in addition to cost and attractive appearance, has only disadvantages. The main disadvantages of this material are (for quite a long time), increased elasticity, excessive susceptibility to mechanical damage and the absorption of odors (sometimes quite unpleasant).
When purchasing material for new interior trim, it is very important to pay attention to the quality of the product. Check that the structure of the fabric or leather is uniform. If Alcantara is chosen, then when cutting out it is necessary to take into account the direction of the pile. Otherwise, it may turn out that the details of one chair will have different shades.
Required Tools
Upholstery of the interior with leather, velor, Alcantara, carpet or leatherette must be done in a certain sequence. To do this, you will need the following tools, which you may have to buy:
- scissors and linoleum knife;
- screwdriver;
- glue;
- a set of keys;
- materials (if desired);
- sewing machine (if you plan to replace the seat upholstery).
Work algorithm
It should be understood that depending on what model of car you have, the process of upholstery of the car interior may differ slightly. But in general, the operating algorithm looks like this:
- Initially, it is necessary to remove all fittings and all fastening elements. These are plugs, handles and visors.
- Next, you should turn off all electrical equipment inside the cabin and pull out the connectors.
- Then unfasten the decorative trim panels and remove the old trim.
- After dismantling, it is important to clean all surfaces from dirt, dust and rust.
- Next, you need to degrease all plastic and metal parts.
- Then it is important to correctly cut the new material. It is best to attach the old parts to the cardboard and cut them. And only after you are sure that everything is done correctly, transfer the pattern to the selected material.
- After this, install new sheathing elements, coating the surfaces well with glue.
- If necessary, steam the new elements with a hairdryer to prevent wrinkles from forming. In addition to steaming, you can also lightly beat the seams of the upholstery to make everything look more fitted and neat.
- The conclusion will be the installation of fittings and fastening parts in their place.
In the video - interior reupholstery:
Seats. In the event that the car owner plans to replace the seat upholstery, and not, he will most likely have to divide the old upholstery into separate parts (rip it apart at the seams) and cut out a new product from them. Then you will have to use a sewing machine to stitch everything together. It is much easier to purchase covers, especially since auto parts stores offer a large selection of different variations.
Doors. Important when replacing trim on car doors after dismantling the old material. When cutting out a pattern, it is worth considering that allowances are needed (approximately 10 mm). Very carefully you need to cut out the holes for the window handle and door handle. Where the trim comes into direct contact with the door, glue should be applied.
Ceiling. To replace the headliner in the car's interior, it is important to completely dismantle all handles, plugs, backlights and decorative trims of the pillars. This is necessary in order to install the new ceiling as accurately as possible. It is worth noting that if the ceiling is reupholstered with leatherette, then it should be slightly heated before work. Thanks to this, the material will become more elastic, lighter and easier to install.
Armrest. To reupholster the armrest, it must first be removed. Then use the old elements to make patterns from new material, leaving allowances for hems. Then glue the products around the entire perimeter and secure the edges. In order to avoid wrinkles, you can use a hairdryer to gently steam the material.
In the video - reupholstering the ceiling of a car interior:
If you want to provide additional sound insulation, then before installing the parts you can lay either a layer of foam rubber or a layer of special insulating material under them.
To sum up all of the above, we can conclude that changing the interior design of your car. Such a procedure, of course, will require financial costs and time from the vehicle owner. But after putting in the effort, the car owner will be able to be proud that he replaced the car’s interior trim with his own hands and changed its design.
There are many ways to reupholster a car interior with your own hands. It all depends on the quality and properties of the material you will use and on the type and properties of the glue. I'll show you with examples:
- How to upholster the interior using the traditional method using ordinary Moment glue and cheap leatherette.
- How to professionally upholster a car interior with your own hands
The easiest way to cover the plastic interior of a car
In this case, everything is extremely simple, the plastic is removed from the car interior and thoroughly cleaned and degreased (for example, with White Spirit). Then, using a brush, apply Moment glue to both surfaces and let it dry slightly.Because The smell from Moment glue is strong, so work should be carried out in well-ventilated areas (for example, on a balcony).
We apply the material and, using tension in all directions, carefully glue it.
In places where the material needs to be stretched more strongly, you need to heat it with a hairdryer. Be careful not to burn the material.
The rest of the plastic decorative elements of the interior are re-tightened in the same way.
To retighten the VAZ 2110 tunnel I had to try, so I advise you to leave this element of the interior for the last minute.
Comparison of standard plastic and after reupholstery, so you can feel the difference.
Unfortunately, I installed plastic in the interior along with re-tightened door trims and a dashboard, so these are the final photo results.
Video of car interior reupholstery (easy method) 
Let's summarize: to cover the plastic elements of the interior It took about 3 cans of Moment glue (750ml/285r).
After 2 years, the interior plastic looks exactly the same as on the day of work, nothing has come off.
Reupholstering car interior plastic with two-component glue
Thanks to Razorrr (Eduard) for the material provided.The material (automotive leatherette) comes with numbers and its price tag is about 700 - 1000 rubles/m.p. (width 1.5 m.). It stretches very well.
The studio uses professional thermoplastic, two-component shoe adhesive for reupholstering the interior. It is diluted with acetone and has a strong odor. After drying it has no smell. Dries very quickly. Information.
Unlike the simple method, the process begins with sanding the plastic (with sandpaper No. 80). We pay special attention to depressions, internal corners and bending of the material. 
Apply glue in 3 layers to the plastic and the material. In order for the layers to dry thoroughly, you should wait at least 30 minutes. 
After the last layer, dry for another 30 minutes and then just apply the material to the part. We heat a small patch (about 10x10cm) with a hairdryer and smooth it with our hand and glue it. The point is that the temperature melts the glue and glues the material tightly to the plastic. The mistake is unacceptable - it is impossible to tear it off, you just have to sand it down. We push out the main plane without tension, then we begin to tension and glue the corners. The material stretches very well and there were no problems, everything worked out the first time. 
An example of a steering column casing retightened with the same glue and material in the studio. 
Video of car interior upholstery.
