Restoring seat back question

[usraptr]

The previous owner had new seat covers installed on my '70 'Cuda but didn't restore the seat backs, tracks, etc.  I'm in the process of doing that now and have a question regarding the seat backs.  Apparently the previous owners friends had big feet or liked to kick the back of the seat forward to exit the car.  The driver's side plastic seat back has several scratches and gouges in the plastic.  I got most of them out with 400 W/D sandpaper without adversely affecting the texture of the plastic.  However, a few required more sanding that resulted in removing the texture in the plastic.  A few of the gouges will also require being filled.  I'm going to get some of that plastic repair stuff to fill the deep gouges and then gently sand smooth.  However, my question is has anybody come up with a way to restore the texture to the plastic?  If it was drywall I would know how to do that, but this is obviously a different ball game.  My passenger side door panel is also severely gouged and will require a similar repair when I get to it.  I don't really want to buy repo pieces as one; it's not in the budget right now and two I'm trying to use as much as the OEM parts as I can during the restoration and would prefer to repair the OEM parts if possible.
 

[DocMel]

Ive run into the same exact situation and problem.  Im not sure of way to restore the grain, and I am super big into restoring original parts.  Thats one finish I haven been able to reproduce   Anyone else?  (Seatbacks sure are big bucks if you buy a new set!)

[burdar]

This is my suggestion...

Don't worry about the scratches and paint them with SEM products. The reason the scratches show up, is because they are lighter then the surrounding plastic. Once they are painted, they will blend in and be very hard to see. My kick panels had a couple wide scratches. You can't even see them anymore. The seat backs aren't very visible. 

[filmsurgeon]

Check out the links below to the following sites.  I did some research a while back because I need to restore my '70 Challenger convertible rear interior panels (since Metro will NEVER reproduce them).  I bought Metro's door and seat back panels, and I have a pair of white interior rear panels, but they need the same kind of restoration it sounds like you want to do tho your seat backs.  I will eventually make the attempt at filling gouges and scratches, and retexturing using a "grain pad" that I will make from a good original panel.  I figure it's worth a shot.  Regards.

http://www.docstotalpackage.net/vinyl-dash-plastic-repairproducts

http://theinteriorguyllc.com/2008/automotive-interior-repair-texturizing

Hard plastic repair with texture coating

[usraptr]

Burdar, I did what you suggested with some other interior pieces that had light scratches in them and you are correct, they virtually disappeared after being painted with SEM paint.  However, the driver's seat back was so bad I tried to fix it by filling and then sanding and painting. Now the scratches gouges don't show, but it is very obvious where the repairs were made due to the lack of texture.  Don't know which is worse.

Filmsurgeon,  good links.  Thanks.  I've going to try something and if that doesn't work I'll try one of those two links.  That's a great idea.  Thanks.

[Fern]

I repaired a hole in my leather seats in a truck I had by buying a vinyl repair kit. It had diferent colors which you spread out and then also came with texture paper which when an iron was applied to the back side it imprinted the texture onto the seat. It dried the supplied paint and converted it to vinyl. I think it might work, and maybe worth a try.

It's something like this
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Permatex-PRO-Vinyl-and-Leather-Car-Repair-Detail-Restoration-Kit-/201033956693?pt=Automotive_Services&hash=item2ece8ebd55&vxp=mtr

You should be able to find it at a local parts dept.

[usraptr]

Good idea fern.  Thanks for the suggestion.