5. Tint. This is both an exterior and interior thing but you can't deny that being in a tinted car feels much better than not. Not only do you have more privacy but it keeps your car cooler because the sun isn't hitting you. A tinted sun roof is a must.
Don't forget you can get a light tint on your windshield which makes a difference. You can also tint your headlights to black or yellow, for example. Changing the color of your headlights is huge visually, but I'm starting to veer outside.
This suede has been permanently installed on this dash.
4. Suede Dash or Dash Covers. I may do a tutorial on how to cover your dash or any panel in your car in suede. It's not particularly hard but it is pretty much permanent. You would use a 3M automotive adhesive which, if you ever tried to take it all off, I don't think you would have very good luck. If you can't dedicate to a purple velvet (you can use other fabrics) dashboard, you can use a cover.
This is a cover that you can take off any time.
A cover is actually the favorite of the two choices for me. It looks almost as good or better in the right set-up. Yes, it can look better depending on your car. Look at the two pictures above and see which one you like.
Covers are good protection against cracks on your dashboard. If you live in a hot climate, your car can easily develop these ugly cracks where the material just splits. They form when the material dries out so badly that it is no longer pliable at all and eventually it rips open.
The sun is the culprit so protect it with a cover. Another way to protect your dash from cracking is something StereoRob told me. Tip: Mildly wax your dash with something like McGuire's wax. I asked him if hair and stuff sticks to it and he said not as long as you wipe it down after you rub it in. His dashboard was softer than mine because of this.
Your can also create your own dashboard cover if you're up for some DIY. It's simple; make a stencil and cut it out. Just make sure it looks good if you use it. Although I think a custom cover for your car is only maybe $40-50.
Lexi II with a new steering wheel cover, shifter, and seat covers.
3. Shifter and Wheel Cover. To me, the car seat cover I pictured above is temporary until I get new seats that aren't ripped or I can get them reupholstered. Tip: Get all of these things at the junkyard. The seat covers I have came out of another LS400 that had custom-fitted ones. I think I paid $8.00? At the store, you're going to pay $50.00 for crap. In that case, order them online so they at least fit. But yeah, the one on the driver's seat looks a little weird in the picture but normally they tend to stay.
Here's a better shot of that. Note the LED lights.
Now the steering wheel cover and shifter, as a combo, made a big difference. My steering wheel was worn out. No woodgrain to see. My shifter had bits falling off of it. Again, I went to the junkyard and got an almost-new shifter from a Nissan Maxima and the steering wheel cover came from a Honda. It's small details like that that made a big difference in the end.
If you have a 1990-94 where the shifter has a button, it's going to be harder for you to change it out. The shifters on the later years simply unscrew. To line up a new shifter properly, begin screwing it on with the shifter facing exactly 180 degrees backwards. The way the thread is, it will come to rest facing forward.
2. Vinyl Paint for Color Change. I used vinyl paint to paint the seat covers you see above that were originally all black but I bring it up because it has a huge number of uses.
Vinyl paint will adhere to almost every material found in your interior. Matter of fact, you can spray paint your interior a whole different color. It will paint carpet, moulding, any other rubber, plastic, fabric, pleather, leather, and more than I'm not remembering.
A good use for this stuff is to restore the color to your floormatts, for example. They will look brand new. Found some blue ones like I did but your interior is beige? Well, look.
These were originally blue as I'm sure you gathered from reading this article.
1. LEDs. Actually it was my friend and reader who bought a kit for me on eBay. I am still grateful to this day because it set the tone for all the lights I've done since. They're super bright and changed the whole feel of the inside.
You can find them on the website I just mentioned for about $25.00. You will get an LED bulb to replace every interior bulb in your car and also your backup light and trunk light. You can get them in plain white or blue. I'm glad I chose blue because later on, I found a set of blue fog lights that match perfectly and even more recently, I ordered blue Lexus logo LEDs that install in your doors. They're in the mail as I write this. You open the door and it projects the Lexus logo on the ground. Pretty cool.
When it comes to the interior, there are so many things you can do to make it yours that it's crazy. Check out how I hid the wires for the fog light button...
I would be ridiculed if I said that was my idea but it works great and I like the look. It may not be for a VIP car but otherwise, if the theme is right, it can complement everything else. I usually see them being used for shifters in manual cars.
There are people doing whole interior swaps. I'm okay with that right now but I hope I opened your eyes or gave you some ideas. Don't be afraid of what people will think. You should have a good idea of what looks good and what doesn't but you have to be honest with yourself.
For example, I thought about putting one of those ram bars that you see on police cars and trucks on my car and I immediately knew that was a very, very crappy idea. (Although I do want a Mad Max LS400 with a light bar and a gunner on the top...)
You can contact me on Instagram as @rokask1 and you can email me at norgin@gmail.com. As always, I hope you di... I mean I hope you got something out of this rant and that you share with your friends.
Deuces.
- Rokas Kirvelis
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