It seems every parts store has a fix for most any '88-'98 Chevy sheetmetal, drivetrain, or sound system woes. Other than slip-over zebra-print seat covers and floor mats, you won't find a fix for the torn-up interior in your truck. You can clean the interior, but we haven't found a cleaner that will make a rip, tear, or seam separation look any better.
Our '97 Chevy Tahoe was the poster child for the mommy SUV. It had food stains ground into the back carpet area, shoe marks on the backs of the front seats, and all the notorious damage from two child safety chairs that obviously never had the food, juice, or puke cleaned from under them. According to the carpet under the driver-side drink holder, our mommy was a coffee drinker, as well-mother's little helper.
After Cost of New Interior...
After
Cost of New Interior
Upholstery: $759
Carpet: $168
Stitchcraft: $500
Total: $1,427
We asked the folks at C/K Resto what they had to cure our interior woes to find they have carpet and upholstery kits for all your Chevy C/K needs. We had them send us their upholstery kit made by Distinctive Industries. Since we were going to go through the motions of a complete fabric change, we decided why not add a little color to the all gray interior? Black interior would look funky sitting on gray carpet, so we also had C/K Resto send out one of their molded carpet kits in black.
Installing the C/K Resto interior sure eliminated all our used interior issues, and the color change added the custom touch we wanted. We must say though, if you complain of Carpal Tunnel, get a headache from the smell of fumes, or are afraid of handling sharp objects, then you should just as well forget about a career in the automotive interior business. Here's how the installation went down.