Fu Manchu
We’ll get together. Have a few laughs.
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2006
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- WA.
- Members Ride
- VZ Crewman, VZ Cross 8, & ya mum.
So. These fricken B-pillar trims.
With factory fabric, this is an easy retrim. With a low quality macro suede, easy (but it won’t hold up well to UV). This fabric has a degree of stretch but only so much. It’s also “thicker than a bowl of oatmeal”.
I’ve done quite a few of these over the years. So to get a slight bit of of wrinkling is a master stroke.
I completely buggered one B-pillar trim by doing a different corner first. Pushed it to the end. Then came to my senses and ripped it off with some effort and started again with a new bit of fabric.
So I’ll show how I did it, and hopefully that helps someone else trying it.
First. Same deal, laid out the fabric and worked it over the trim. “Oh yeah baby. You like that? Yeah, you like that, B-pillar trim. Yeah.”
I figured the lesser corner would be the go. So on went the adhesive on the trim and onto the fabric. Just that corner. Wait till it’s really tacky. Press it in and work it gently into the corner with your thumb.
Then the middle section at the top. Don’t apply it to the corner yet.
Then into the remaining corner. Again wait until both surfaces are really tacky. Not wet. (That’s what she said)
Just stretch it into the corner. Don’t fold it over. I had to make some careful relief cuts (with a scalpel) out from the edge. Remember, not from the exact edge. Always 5mm or so out.
At this point I trimmed up the top half ready. A fair bit of tension is on the various parts of the trim in this area so folding over the edges helps.
The remaining section is easy enough. You might need to get some flex and tension into the fabric to get any wrinkles out. A few lifts and retack but only a couple of chances to do this and you have to reapply adhesive and wait, so as long as you are aware that needs attention, you should avoid any problems. I used a scalpel along the bottom edge for where it fits up under the bottom B-Pillar trim.
Where the seat belt adjuster is, I cut a relief into the centre. Then a narrow section close to the sides, just enough to fold over, but not into the slide.
The end result is not perfect, but with this fabric you'd need to sew it and that is beyond my skills. This is good enough, and once in the car, not many would ever notice the imperfection.
*Any glue stuck onto the facing side can mostly be gently worked off with an eraser/rubber.
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