New Sun Visors

[meg4x]

I saw an old thread about how someone here re-covered their sun visors in black vinyl, and so I decided to give it a try. Turns out it was a tiny bit harder than I imagined to make and sew it the way I wanted to (using the vinyl), so I gave up on that and remade the entire visor instead (except for the metal hinge and frame).

Here are some pics as to how it turned out:











I still have the other one to finish, but I wanted to test fit it to see what it looked like. It feels significantly more solid than the original foam (which was very warped and curved anyway), yet soft because of the headliner+foam fabric.

A small side effect to adding the mirror is that the added weight makes the visor hang down at an angle a little bit since there's no support for it in the middle near the rear-view mirror. I haven't decided yet if it's worth trying to come up with some sort of clip to put above it so that the visor can be supported when up.

What do you guys think?

[KingFish]

This is why I'm so excited to get a garage. I have so many ideas for the interior,

Despite the droop, that looks great.

[DriverOne]

Re: New Sun Visors

I say add a clip. That looks good.

[meg4x]

Thanks! I'm a broke college student and can only afford an apartment, so I use my dining room as a "garage" lol.

I'm just doing one small interior project at a time and hoping it'll all come together the way I want it to without too much trouble

There's definitely a space for a clip where the headliner clip is at, so I just need to come up with something that doesn't get in the way when it turns up and down, but can support it when it's up.

[Movin]

I had built several vw engines before college but during college
one winter I traveled by 10 speed and hauled books and engine
parts in my back pack. The resulting Baja was worth it and all
the card board and newspaper kept my kitchen table looking good
while using it for my work bench! Studio..I could reach almost
anything from one place.
Trade for stuff..odd jobs..enjoy the times!!

[Twistiva]

Looks pretty danged nice!

My only comment would be see if you can sweet-talk a girlfriend, mom, etc into sewing it on a sewing machine in matching thread so your stitches don't show. (Unless, that is, you wanted it that way.)

Again, nice job. Doing it yourself brings satisfaction. I'm working on refurbishing a female front seatbelt and my wife thinks I'm nuts how I'll look at what I've done and just smile...

[DriverOne]

Re: New Sun Visors

Meg, if you can stop by a junkyard, just have a look at the interiors of the vehicles you find. I'm sure you'll find something.

[meg4x]

Twistiva, I actually have tried the sewing machine approach on vinyl (after weeks of carefully coaxing my mom into doing it), and it turned out to be more frustrating to get it on right, since you would have to hand-stitch one of the long sides anyway.

The way I made them involved gluing the fabric to cardboard, then folding the cardboard over the frame, folding the excess material inward, then finally stitching the ends closed. I'm not sure if it would be possible to use a sewing machine without bending the cardboard and messing up its structure. I chose to cross-stitch it in thread that is red-black for stylistic reasons (I wanted it to stick out, but not too much!) Though, my mom did say it would look really good in black thread since it would be invisible...

I am actually really proud of how it came out, it exceeded my expectations. It did take me days to do one, though....

DriverOne, before I decided to redo the Festiva ones, I actually grabbed a pair of visors from an Aspire at a junkyard, so I still have the clips from it that I'll likely use.

[bravekozak]

The only time I hand sewed the end like that was on an exact fit white pique bow tie for my tails.

I had always wanted to install invisible visors.
But installed hard Mini Cooper visors instead.

[bravekozak]

In hindsight, for all those who can live without lighted vanity mirrors, I bet the Suzuki Esteem visors would work in conjunction with a Smart rear view mirror. I can't verify that since I trashed my Suzuki visors. The Suzuki visors have clips for extra support and telescope out when swung to the side window.

[meg4x]

I saw an Esteem at a junkyard after seeing a thread where you posted about fitting those visors in and thought about doing the swap, but I decided to just stick as close to stock as I can and just make improvements on it since I figured it would be the easier route. I don't really see myself ever needing a lighted mirror, so I just grabbed non-lighted ones from the car I was nearest to in the yard, which was a late 90's Dodge Intrepid.