Thread: How To: Remanufacture A Sun Visor

Let's face it... Our visors are crap. So I got a wild hair up my butt, and decided to make new and better ones.
What you will need:
Your old visors
1 yard of the fabric of your choice
I chose a gray suede

A 20 x 30 piece of illustration board. This can be bought at an art supply store or a bigger craft store.
A very sharp knife or an exacto

Spray adhesive. Make sure it is suitable for fabric! If you have any doubt, use this exact product!

A drill
1 mm leather cordage. (2) 3 yard pieces. Also bought at any craft store.

Some sort of roller

An awl
First, you must disassemble your old visor by using your knife to separate the cloth from the frame.

Be careful not to damage the original cloth and cardboard because you will need it for a pattern! You will be left with the frame.

Next, you will take the old cloth off of the flimsy cardboard that nissan used and make a stencil on your illustration board.

Using your knife, very carefully cut out your stencil. I will repeat this often: TAKE YOUR TIME! You will be left with this.

Now you need to score your new piece so that it will fold over the frame. Use the factory piece for placement. It's pretty easy. Remember to only score....not cut through!


Since the illustration board is thick, you will not be able to sew through it, and will need to drill some holes. Put the board on the frame so your holes will be lined up. Using a 5/32 drill bit, make holes all the way around the visor. TAKE YOUR TIME!

I had it up on a cardboard box so I could drill straight through. Roll the outside holes as flat as you can for good cloth adhesion.
Now comes the fun part! Lay your pattern down on your cloth and cut it while keeping enough on the sides to fold it over.

Spray both the back of the cloth and the board and let it "tack" for about one minute. Put the two pieces together and roll thoroughly. Give it a few minutes to dry before moving to the next step.
Starting with the hole in the center, cut an x, and repeat adhesion steps.

Fold the fabric over all the way around making small cuts where necessary to get this.

Roll it all down and let dry for a few minutes. Next you will need to use your awl to poke holes through the fabric. TAKE YOUR TIME! Feel for the holes and poke though all of them.

Almost done!
Take the leather cordage and start on one end with a fisherman's knot and start stitching. Some of the holes will need to be persuaded with the awl. TAKE YOUR TIME! Keep all the stitches tight and finish with another fisherman's knot. If you listened to me and took your time, you should be looking at this!

very nice . ive been thinking of redoing my visors . thanks for the write up

Interesting. Personally I would have done more smaller holes. But other than that... I'm sold. Good freaking job.

I really would have liked that too but the problem is getting cordage that small that is also strong enough for the task. Even at just 1 mm, the stuff I used is just strong enough to keep it all together. Thank you for the compliment! This was my first go at it, and I am pretty pleased with the outcome. I may do it again one day if I can find a smaller cord to use. My mom is using the left over fabric to make a matching shift boot for me.

Well there are there are tons of thread out there. But a sharp punch might have worked better for tightness of holes to start. But still a good job. My mom taught me about all this stuff growing up. Lol

Now was the material you used for replacement the same thickness?

No and neither was the base. What nissan put the fabric on was pretty much gift box material which is pretty flimsy. I used suede for the fabric and between that and the leather chord, there is actually not much more room to get anything through. Believe me... I tried using the excess illustration board and some of the scrap fabric to experiment with and that was the smallest I could make those holes. I promise you that simple thread would not work with this method which is why I used leather. It was hard enough tracking down the passenger side visor that I needed at a junk yard but I go quote often. I want to get a couple more to experiment with, but these are not getting dismantled. I will update if I can get some more to play with.

Awesome... I have a winter project now.