If you decide to do something to your car because you saw it here, please give me credit where it is due! (link to my page w/ my name or something) Thanks.

Interior and Exterior Painting, Page Updated January 27, 2008

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Project is Ongoing, Started in Summer 2007

On this page, I describe how I took the entire interior apart to paint it. This is the paint I used (from Walmart).

When I painted, I did not sand or use a clear coat on all of the pieces. However, I did use primer and I cleaned the pieces really well with Windex, and the paint seems to be holding up just fine.

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One of the things I did was paint all of my door jams black with the plastic paint. I also painted the black window surrounds on the outside of the car. Now, there is no more old gold color in my doors! Before, the outside black pieces were all faded and scratched. And now, it is nice, dark and shiny.

I also painted the inside of my trunk lid black, including the lid carpet. I also painted the rear windshield weather stripping while I was at it. And as always, you can never use too much tape and newspaper!

lol and you can see the two "subs" I used to have in my trunk- super ghetto! Those are extra subs I had lying around from home stereo systems that I wired to the rear speakers. It is not much, but it did add some bass! And for free, they weren't that bad.

I also painted the inside of the gas door area black. Before and after.

I also had to paint the inside of my wheel wells black, since lots of blue paint had gotten inside. I also painted the wheels while I was at it. I was going to paint the tires black, too, but I didn't feel like it (yet).

I also painted the inside of my sunroof black. It looks much better now, and now I can have it looking good with the sunroof open. Before/After.

I haven't painted the under the hood or the windshield weather stripping and windshield wiper area yet.

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Now to the inside. Most of the pieces were easy to remove. They all have clips or screws that need to be removed, and then the piece just comes out with enough force. However, the main dash piece was very hard to remove, and I never got it off all the way. This piece has all of the wires and stuff on it, so do not remove this piece yourself. And the airbag- if you disconnect it, you must disconnect the battery first, or the airbag light will turn on, and the airbag will not work. I did not do this, and I had to have the system reset ($$$). However, they showed me how to do it, and they gave me a diagram. So if you need your airbag light reset due to a passenger airbag problem, just let me know!!! And if you have any questions regarding removing interior pieces, juts ask me! Now, here are some pics of the pieces getting painted.

First, a before picture.

Door panels:

Before. They are easy to remove. Just pull off the armrest and remove the screws. Then, remove the screw from the door handle and slide it off. Then, the panel just pops out, and you can take off the power window controls and slide them off.

During.

After. I put a chrome sticker around the rear window control.

Steering Wheel (just remove some screws):

Rear Window Speaker Carpet before and after (remove the third brake light and pull the carpet out):

Dash (don't try to take this out, I did, and I couldn't even do it):

These are the knobs for the sliders all taken apart. I painted the black pieces black, so now they are darker and glossy.

Finished! I put chrome stickers around the shifter and on the piece with the cup holder, ashtray, and lighter.

I also painted the floor carpets and every other part of the inside.

My other interior mods are the pedals (easy to install), the chrome gauge surround/bezel for the speedometer, the overlay on my heater controls, the floor mats, the seat covers, and the chrome dash kit.

See page 26 for all of the stuff I did to light up everything with LEDs!

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Don't forget that if you have any help, advice, comments, criticisms, or questions about my car and future mods, please sign my Guest book!

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Table of Contents

My Corolla Today
Page 1: Current Exterior
Page 2: Current Interior
Page 3: Current Engine
Page 4: Current Audio

Corolla Time Lines
Page 5: Phase Time Line
Page 6: Detailed Time Line

Other Stuff
Page 7: Photoshop
Page 8: Look at this page before you buy replacement LED bulbs
Page 9: Details on my current and future mods
Page 10: For Sale!

DIYs and Project Write-ups
Page 11: Bumper light LED retrofit 1
Page 12: Third Brake light LED retrofit
Page 13: Diablo Mirror LED replacement
Page 14: Taillight LED Retrofit 1
Page 15: High Beam DRL Mod
Page 16: Bumper Light LED Retrofit 2, PLUS detailed description of how I do LED mods
Page 17: Painting preparation (details on my fenders, grille, trunk, and Bondo)
Page 18: Side marker LED retrofit and installation
Page 19: HID fog lights and headlights
Page 20: Interior painting, modifications, and exterior trim painting
Page 21: Installing Halo/LED/Projector headlights
Page 22: Mirror cover LED replacement
Page 23: Installing a new stereo and speakers
Page 24: Body kit installation, front end conversion, and other body work for round 2
Page 25: Retrofitting LEDs into my third mirrors and front turn signals
Page 26: Putting interior LEDs behind the dash and in all the buttons and all over the interior
Page 27: LED tail light retrofit 2 and baking your lights in the oven to remove the lens