How I Purged 25 Years of Neglect from the Interior of My Imported Subaru WRX

Importing a car sight-unseen from Japanis risky business. The condition sheets posted with the auctions provide a scant few lines of information that’s vetted and accurate, and a lot is usually left to the imagination. A pessimist will give themselves an ulcer reading too much into any allusion to something unsavory in the car’s past. An optimist is likely to get themselves into even worse trouble by ignoring references to glaring issues represented with typical Japanese modesty and politeness.

When importing my dream car, a 1998 Subaru WRX STI Type R Version 4 Spec V Limited, I probably leaned a little too far into the latter category. As we saw in my last report on the car, some significant paint issues needed rectifying.

With that sorted, it was time to move on to the interior. While in better shape than the outside, the inside of my World Rally Blue coupe needed some serious attention before it would be as welcoming as I wanted it to be. That process would take much longer than anticipated thanks to an unexpectedly infuriating problem sourcing new seats.

But we got there in the end, and here are some of the highlights of how I got the inside of my STI looking as good as the exterior.

Steering Wheel Wrap

The wheel on my Subaru was crusty and gross, sun-baked and cracking, and just awful to touch. I’ve had good success with steering wheel wrap kits, so I ordered one from East Detailing and started lacing.

Sadly, it didn’t quite fit, a few millimeters too thin around the spokes, which resulted in some ugly threading. I’m not fully happy with it, but it’s such a huge upgrade over the original, tired finish that I’m leaving it for now.

Here are a few pro tips for you if you’re going the wrap route yourself.

First off, while you can install these without removing the steering wheel, you should definitely remove the steering wheel if you know how to safely remove the airbag. It’s nerve-wracking, but you’ll hate your life if you try to lace this thing while it’s attached.

Second, throw out the cheap thread that comes with these kits. It’s flimsy and absolutely loves to spin itself into knots. I got 800 yards of thicker, UV-resistant nylon thread for $12.99 on Amazon. It made the process infinitely easier.

Finally, take your time, and if something looks wrong, stop and adjust. It’ll be much easier to fix while you’re in the process than after you get the wheel remounted. 

Dashboard Bubble

For a 25-year-old Subaru that clearly spent a lot of time baking in the sun, the vinyl dashboard of my STI was generally in generally good condition. But, there were a few glaring spots that really bugged me, the first being a bubble that had formed just to the right of the gauge cluster.

It looks like something was stuck on the dash there at some point because there was a circular impression of adhesive there when I got the car. That, plus some other marks elsewhere, took some work to remove. WD-40 didn’t do it, but stepping up to Goo Gone did the job. I applied some via cloth and let it sit for a few minutes, and then some serious elbow grease got the marks to come up. After that I hit the spots with some 3D All Purpose Cleaner, diluted 10:1, to help get rid of the residue.

One note: I’ve heard of Goo Gone pulling dye out of some vinyl surfaces, so make sure you test somewhere inconspicuous to be safe.

The bubble was a bigger issue. I started by heating it with a heat gun, going slowly and carefully until it was tacky and pliable, then piercing the bubble with a syringe to let the air out. 

Sadly, that didn’t stick. Literally, the bubble was a little floppier but returned to its previous prominence. So, I stepped up my game and filled the syringe with vinyl adhesive (from the back, you’ll never get that stuck to suck in through the front) and injected it into the hole. I then put a sack full of ball bearings on the top while the glue cured. The result isn’t exactly factory-perfect, but my dash wart is now barely visible.

Vinyl Scratches and Scrapes

Though the dash is generally in good condition, there are a few scratches and scuffs in the harder plastics here and there, most noticeable in the center console. I was tempted to try a vinyl repair kit but I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to get a good color match and would just make them look more obvious.

I again tried with a heat gun to soften and release the scuffs, and the initial results were positive, but when the plastic cooled again, they looked much as they did before. The best result, I found, was simply giving these areas a liberal coating of Meguiar’s Hyper Dressing. The outrageous shine is perhaps a bit much for this car, but it actually does a fair job of minimizing the scratches. It smells nice, too.

Window Stabilizers

While the scratches in the plastic were annoying, a more significant issue was the window stabilizers. These little bits of felt-covered plastic live behind the door cards and keep the glass from flopping around when rolled down inside the door.

Sadly, in time the felt wears away from these things, and it picks up dirt and grime, resulting in an abrasive surface that will drag scratches into the glass. You can see those beginning to appear on my coupe. To keep these from getting worse, I ordered a new set of pads. They’re a bit fiddly to install, requiring the removal of the door card and the finessing of some ancient plastic clips.

Pro tip: Enlist the help of someone with tiny, steady hands. Getting big fingers into the opening is a real challenge, and if you drop one down into the internals of the door, you’ve just made a frustrating job an awful lot harder. 

Also, while I was in there, I noticed that some of the hidden metal brackets were quite corroded. While I’ll probably never see them again, I couldn’t leave them be. So, I sent them through my tumbler with some walnut media, then coated them with some corrosion inhibitor before reinstalling. Much better.

Greddy Illumination

My Subaru came with a perfectly ostentatious set of period white-faced Greddy gauges for oil temp, oil pressure, and turbo pressure, matching the Subaru’s own gauges. They’re wired to light up, but only the latter two gauges actually did so. After ensuring the gauge was getting power, I determined the issue was two blown bulbs. 

It took a fair bit of searching to determine that they use a neo wedge bulb, specifically a size T4.2. While these bulbs are easy to find, finding good quality ones is a nightmare. I ordered a pack of 10 from Amazon for $11. I only needed two per gauge, six total, but I was thankful for ordering extra because four of the bulbs were DOA.

After replacing all the dated incandescent bulbs, the result is a set of gauges that look bright and clean, without being too blinding. 

Odor

I could see some cigarette burns in the upholstery in the auction pics of my car, which left me deathly afraid that the thing was going to smell like a Japanese pachinko parlor. I was pleasantly surprised to find no hint of tobacco in the car, but after a few days of driving around, I decided it didn’t quite smell right, either.

That impression was reinforced when I pulled the rear seat to install some coilovers and discovered a sandwich wrapper someone had tucked under there decades before. The used toothpicks lurking under the floor mats made me all the more inclined for a complete olfactory refresh of the interior.

I started by purging the interior air intake with Ozium, which has a strong but pleasant minty smell. I ran the HVAC fan on high and sprayed the stuff liberally into the vent just ahead of the windshield. This left my HVAC smelling fresh and clean.

After that, I deployed a Meguiar’s Whole Car Air Refresher inside. To do this, you set the can towards the middle of the interior, open the locking nozzle, and then run for cover, hopefully remembering to close the car door behind you. I suggest letting this settle for a good, long time before getting back in the car (at least overnight) and then leaving the car open to air out for another few hours before going for a drive.

These have some nasty VOCs you don’t want in your lungs. But, after the initial pungency had cleared, I was left with a fresh-smelling interior.

While I had the rear seats out, I soaked the foam backing with Febreze Auto, which has a very mild scent but proved quite effective at removing any lingering traces of the wrapper left behind after some ancient 7-11 sando run. 

Upholstery

I’m saving the biggest for last because it didn’t require much skill or effort. What it did need, however, was patience. 

As mentioned above, the front seats in the car were not in good shape. The cigarette burns were actually minor compared to the wear and holes in the driver’s side bolster. The seat covers are unfortunately thin and, even more unfortunate, they’re glued to the foam, which is itself breaking down. After consulting with a few Subaru experts, I was told that reupholstering them is not an option for those on a budget.

So I started looking for other seats, and while I was dearly tempted by several colorful aftermarket options from the ’90s, the safety-conscious side of me thought I’d be better off getting something a bit more modern. I plan to drive this thing a lot, after all.

I fell in love with Recaro Sportsters after spending a week driving a NISMO 370Z around Japan. So, I warmed up my credit card and ordered a set. 

And then the problems began. Recaro started by delaying my order for months. When two big boxes finally did arrive, I was dismayed to learn that the company had shipped me two right seats.

The return process took another month, and then my order for a replacement dragged on for months and months, unfulfilled.

And then Recaro went bankrupt. I pretty much gave up all hope of getting a matching seat for the left side of the car.

Finally, eight months after I placed my initial order, the replacement seat finally arrived. It got to me in a box that had clearly been kicked around the factory floor a few times before being shipped, the seat inside unprotected and filthy and scuffed up. I wanted to return this one, too, but after all that nonsense I decided to cut my losses and just install the damn thing. (Shout-out to Andrew at MAPerformance, where I ordered the seats, for helping me through this unnecessarily painful process and making sure I got what I ordered.)

I installed the seats on a set of Planted Technology seat brackets, and though the Recaro sliders are terrible (sliding is, curiously, the last thing you want them to do), the seats themselves fit perfectly. They’re comfortable and snug, and I’m thrilled with how they feel.

I do, though, wish they had more color. Unlike the stock seats, these can be easily reupholstered, and I’m already getting bad ideas about having them redone in Recaro’s ’90s Crayola pattern. 

Odds and Ends

The sun shades had a weird deposit of something black on them. It might have been something smoking-related. Regardless of source, it was gross, and it was pretty well stuck on there. A thorough soaking with 3D All Purpose Cleaner finally exorcized it. 

While the seats were out, I took the time to vacuum the carpets and power wash the floor mats to get the worst of the grime out of them. Invisible Glass got all the glass looking like new, and a coating of Hyper Detailer gave all the plastic surfaces a final shine. 

After all that, the interior is still not perfect, but I have to be realistic that this is a now 26-year-old Subaru that didn’t exactly have a posh interior to begin with. The plastics are not great, even by late ’90s standards, but everything is holding up reasonably well. 

The eyesores that bugged me from behind the wheel are gone. And, now that I finally have my seats in place, I can simply do the thing I want to do the most: Drive the wheels off of this thing.