Although the majority of people would drive around in a fabulous new car if their funds permitted many more people live in the real world and have to make do with budget motors. San Bernardino Nissan has some terrific motors all sparkling and clean but not everyone can afford or even want to swap their motors every year or two so have to make do with the same old set of tired wheels.
One advantage of buying a $2000 motor is that the price is pretty fixed and, unless you ram it into a brick wall or blow it up the value remains more or less the same. Here are a few cheap, effective ways that you can spruce up the interior of your motor without causing a hole in your bank balance.
Torn seats – there are a couple of options here. You can either splash enough cash to buy a set of car seat covers which are available in a wide variety of colors and designs to suit every personality. Another, much cheaper alternative is to spend around $10 (probably less) on a curved, strong upholstery needle with some super strong thread in a color to correspond with your seats. You can either sew up the tear if possible or add a contrasting patch to create your own design. It just takes a little time and patience and a very, very small amount of skill.
Door panels – can get very tired and saggy looking, the foam can deteriorate and spoil the interior of the whole car. Check out your local fabric store for something which matches the interior – it doesn’t have to be a perfect match just a similar hue. Corduroy makes a good, durable alternative to the regular fabrics used. All you have to do is to pull off the panels, scrape off any residual foam and glue your new material in position using 3M adhesive spray. Spray the glue onto the fabric and the door panel; let it dry a little then fix them together smoothing over with a credit card or similar.
Carpets – the carpets can get extremely grubby and grimy, particularly in the driving seat just below the pedals. Giving this area a good clean can make a big difference to your motor. Take a stiff nylon brush and some carpet cleaner to loosen the dirt, wipe off any excess liquid using an old rag and then use a steam cleaner or shop vac. You might have to go over it a few times in extreme cases.
Floor mats – remnants from carpet shops make ideal floor mats, all you have to do is to trim them to size and be sure that they don’t interfere with the pedals. Using a zip-tie to fix floor mats to the seat frame can prevent them from moving around and causing problems.
Center Consoles – can be a real eye-sore in the front of the car sprouting with old wires and toggle switches dangling loose, the remnants of an ancient acoustic equalizer or similar. All it takes is a piece of tough plastic for a switch panel secured across any unsightly holes using sheet metal screws. You may need to do a little scrubbing or painting to finish it off or alternatively glue in some drawer liner or similar.
It is possible to improve the interior of your car without splashing out on expensive re-fits or even affordable seat covers. Alternatively you could check out the motors at metronissanredlands.com which probably won’t need any attention at all.