MilitaryMedic

My high school 2000 mitsubishi eclipse has finally died after 7 years of owning it. Repair costs were way above the car's value so I decided to upgrade to a G37. I'm an active duty E-4 so I'm not making a whole ton of money so I had to settle with an 08 G37S with a handful of cosmetic issues but it's mechanically perfect. There are a few eye sores I really want to get rid of but I'd like to keep these repairs as cheap as possible.
1) I'll need either a new steering wheel and shift **** or maybe just covers for both.


2) There are two deep scratches on the drivers side, probably from the previous owner's unpleasant girlfriend. I rather not dish out a few grand for a paint job so I'm hoping there's a cheaper way to fill and conceal these scratches just to make them not pop out as much.



3) The fake leather around the dashboard, radio, and above the glove box is cracking and chipping. I was thinking maybe there's a way to fill in the cracks and paint/glue them together. Another option is if there's a way to take out all the fake leather and replace it all with a different one. There's an 08 g37 with black interior being parted out about 3 hours away from me. No idea if it's possible to make this kind of switch or not though.


4) Need to find new fog lamp covers and the bottom grille piece since they're missing. Cheapest I could find is $90 per fog lamp and $80 for the center grille plus shipping. The car mentioned above that is being parted out has a smashed front end so can't steal those.
Anyways, these are my big eye sores. Anyone know of any cheap fixes for them? I don't need it to look perfect, just don't want all these blemishes to pop out so much.

blnewt

iTrader: (13)

Welcome to the site, glad you found us!
The pebbled hard plastic will need to be replaced, no real way to cover that up.
The bright colored inner trim and that steering wheel can be vinyl wrapped, many choices there. Here's just an example that I did w/ mine~
https://www.myg37.com/forums/g37-sed...m-project.html
As far as the deep door scratches, might let a body shop give you a quote and also consider a vinyl exterior wrap for the whole car, there's even a newer method using an industrial form of plastidip. Google "Dip your ride" for more info.

dwb993

1. Vinyl wrap or replace with OEM. I understand the 2013+ units have different plastic that will not deteriorate as quickly. The steering wheel leather can be replaced, as well. Refinished wheels will be thicker and you have a choice of materials. Clean those buttons, man!
2. Scratches that catch your fingernail are normally through the clearcoat. A good buff with a Porter Cable type buffer may lessen the appearance. A good detailer or body shop may also recommend a wet sanding. Again, its tough to diagnose based on a single pic, so have a pro look at it in detail.
3. Those pieces have to be replaced.
4. Some pieces you just have to buy OEM and replace.

Good luck!

MilitaryMedic

Thanks for the welcoming. I've been a stalker on here for quite some time and was initially going to buy a G35 to save some cash but finally gave in and paid for the extra ponies.
I'm trying to find that larger piece of the dash that goes around the center console but I haven't been able to find any on ebay or other sites. Rather not have to go to the dealer to get it replaced... There's not even a way to vinyl wrap the entire thing? As cover all the fake leather with some 3M carbon fiber or something?
Would I have to remove the steering wheel and shift **** in order to vinyl wrap them? And if so, any good places to learn how to safely remove them?
And I've looked into plastidipping and while the results look good, I'm still weary of doing it. Have people on here had good luck with "dipping" their G37's?
Sorry for all the questions. Gotta make the car look half decent before I jump in with all the performance upgrades.

blnewt

iTrader: (13)

There's been a few that have "dipped their ride" but haven't seen them around in a while, the pics look good but not having seen one firsthand it's hard to say.

I suppose you could wrap the pebbled plastics but having cracks underneath and not having a solid flat surface may create bubbling and poor adhesion. You could try some 3m primer or another adhesion promoter spray but hard to predict how well it will look or hold up over time.
I've seen a few posts of ones that have wrapped both those items (shifter & wheel trim) without removing them, probably have to give it a coupe tries to get it right, but at least vinyl is cheap & forgiving