ColesAircraft

iTrader: (1)

I'm scared. I have an idea, but I don't want my fate to be that of the poor bloke who asked about painting racing stripes on his G (Which was just, just terrible - both the idea and the responses the idea provoked). But, here goes:

I have red as trim on the exterior of my G37. I loved the colored "M" stitching on the otherwise black leather interior of my old M3. I'm thinking about changing the gray stock stitching on my G's seats and steering wheel to red stitching.

I'm hip to my taste being my taste and if I like it that's all that matters - but I do value the input of my G-owning peers.

What do you think? Red stitching / black leather. Be nice.

surfjax87

Go for it. I like the contrast between the black leather and white stitching on the sport seats, red would be a nice change. I think I've seen red stitching on someone's steering wheel on here and liked it.

WPPJR30

iTrader: (13)

Some owners here are using a magic marker/fabric pen to change the color of their stitching. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it - I don't know much about these markers (I know Crayola makes one, which may be all you need to know), but it seems like a pretty simple way to get your desired result.

WPPJR30

iTrader: (13)

Link to thread with some information: Here.

Black Betty

iTrader: (60)

Yes, this idea is much better. Post results if you are able to pull it off successfully.

Graspod

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, try and and throw up some pictures and tell us how it goes. Very interested about this

yevi

Gee, I didn't think I would get that trampled over the strip idea. I knew it was frowned upon, but its been on my mind since my friend got his stripe on a mustang redone. It was just a thought, perhaps a bad one but still sheeeesh... I do like this idea better though.

ColesAircraft

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for that link, and I'm glad that I'm not the first person that thought of this. I just tried it on the passenger's seat side bolster. I used a Sharpie first and didn't expect much. Sure enough a marker doesn't have the opacity to do anything but turn the light gray stitching a very dark and dull red that looks almost black. I tried a fine red paint marker next and "pop" - it looks great! The paint naturally doesn't want to stick to the leather, so when dry it flakes right off, but stays well stuck to the thread.

I plan to alternate the color on the seats, which have three lines of parallel stitching: a red line of stitching, then leave the light gray, then another line of red. More subtle, and the contrast should be appealing.

Thanks!

TwoThree

iTrader: (4)

Pics????

ColesAircraft

iTrader: (1)

I'll post some pictures tomorrow. I was just now completing the right side passenger seat, but whenever I make a noise - the dog barks upstairs! It's late and my wife is asleep so . . . the project has to wait.

Looks like it's working, though! The long dried area I did before seems very resilient.

TwoThree

iTrader: (4)

Awesome man! If I like the way this looks, I just may give it a shot? Maybe....

Black Betty

iTrader: (60)

Since you have an extremely talented artists' touch I'm interested to see your results. When you get it done be sure to get some good photos where we can see what it actually looks like. Also, did you consider coloring the gray stitching with a brighter silver that would "pop" more on the dark charcoal gray seats? When you've completed them it would be nice if you could post exactly what you used and where you found it.

Trininav

iTrader: (5)

Hmm.. interesting.. good find..

ColesAircraft

iTrader: (1)

Here's one seat done:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/colesaircraft/7630284630/http://www.flickr.com/photos/colesaircraft/7630284630/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/colesaircraft/, on Flickr

The work is a little tedious. You have to literally paint each stitch, but touch up is simple in the event that you get some paint on the leather - it scratches right off without damaging the material. The red on the stitching is pretty tough as it uses capillary action to spread into the thread and dries hard. I can't get it to scratch or flake off. Worst case: touch up might be required on high use areas at some point. No big deal.

I like the results!

Can'tGme

iTrader: (1)

^^ Looks pretty good actually. Nice job.