Vinyl Repair

[lenore]

B) Well last weekend my wife had the GPS clipped on the passenger window and rolled the window down to put a sunshade up. yep, wiped out the vinyl trim on the top of the door. The clip tore a 1 and 1/4 inch slit into the vinyl cover. Best quote i got was $100. and no guarantee of visability. Well I figured if they can do it I can. Went to autozone and bought the permatex kit for vinyl and leather repair. A little scarey but I practiced on a sheet of paper for mixing the color. Their tip is to smear some on the area near the tear and match the color and then wipe off. You start with a clear vinyl repair glue and let dry for 4 hours, then do the color with a texture paper and heat iron (supplied in the kit) Well I did it last night on my wifes RX300 (grey interior) and her eyes coulnt believe it. Completely gone. color was a dead on match with mixing black with white until you get the right grey. sounds hard, but I am very happy and so is my wife. Cost ???? $15 for the kit. And enough to do at lot of vinyl and leather repairs on any color. Never done it before and the results were fantastic. Just takes a brave soul to melt that vinyl on the existing fabric. Good luck to all, highly recommend the Permatex kit.

[smooth1]

Good Job lenore! glad to hear that. Really. It amazes me how many people are afraid of things like that. I sorta wished you had taken and posted some before and after pics too.

[afpj]

Hi lenore.

Thanks for the post. I'm curious if the torn pieces were able to be placed back together without a gap? I have a tear but a small, perhaps 1/8 inch square piece of vinyl is missing. Based on your now expert experience, will this kit fill in a small gap? Sorry if it's a stupid question, but just don't know how much of a repair that kit can do. Thanks for any insight,

regards

[lenore]

Yes the instructions in the kit tell you how. they provide a fabric backing for the initial glueing when there is a large gap. Good luck.

[saabkyle04]

Yes the instructions in the kit tell you how. they provide a fabric backing for the initial glueing when there is a large gap. Good luck.

Hey lenore, I was referred to you by Smooth1 for a leather tear in the door panel in my 2007 ES350. I wanted to get it replaced but by what you say it sounds like the kit is much better to go with! I have included pics of the damage, do you think this would work out good? I am really nervous about doing such a thing because I don't want to make it worse CAn you give me some tips to make it unnoticeable? Any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated! I actually have an auto zone about 5 min away too if needed haha!

[lenore]

should work out fine...just follow the kit instructions carefully....and read this post... note if you dont feel comfortable the going rate is around $100 to fix it... and they use basically the same kit.... by the way the tear I had was just as bad.... the GPS clip buried itself in the upper door panel....