michaels'max

I'm thinking as a quick project I would like to paint the those plastic borders (sorry I can't remember what they are called) on all the stuff on my dash. You know, there's one that surrounds the stereo system and the ac controls, and so on. Anyway, I was wondering if you guys have any suggestions on paints. Would any spray paint work? Or should I go for a certain type of paint?

Nick93SE

im not an expert on this, but i do believe that you will have to sand down the pieces before you paint. After you do that, im sure spray paint will work.( take it out of the car first though )

kcidmil

actually you have 2 ways to do this. 1, you can get a primer spray paint, and regular. (i'd also recommend some clear coat)

And that will come out pretty decent looking. Plus you don't worry about chipping as much. I've done a lot of interior projects like that.

if you sand it... make sure to use a fine paper grit. I use 3000 grit myself. it's an extremely fine paper. but you don't need to take that much off. This just allows the paint to stick better. But using a good primer can elimante this.

btw... it's called console trim pieces. or dash trim. Depends upon who you ask.

goon9

iTrader: (13)

When I did mine I sanded it at 150, glazed it, 150 sand, 220 sand, high build primer, sand with 400 and then painted with a spray can. Can out real hot for a few weeks, still in great shape. Xcept for the fact I just hacked it all up for another project. Secret.

Pervis Anathema

iTrader: (8)

You might want to e-mail awsm66. Not sure what he charges but it will look factory once he is done with it. The guy is a magician with this stuff.

michaels'max

Thanks a lot, I think I may try the primer and regular spray paint myself. I'm gonna do the dash trim a metalic silver color, Eventually I would like to do the rest of the dash black. It's brown right now. But, I will have to take off the door panels to paint those as well, cause' the brown from the dash flows into the door panels which is brown as well, I think you all know what I mean. I'm pretty sure the door panels will be a sinch cause' those come out easily, however I'm not sure about the dash. Using a spray paint while leaving the dash in the car sort of seems like a bad Idea. Would using a brush paint come out okay, and is there a certain way of doing that? Or is it best to take the whole dash out? I'm not sure how much of a pain that would be, but I gather it is going to suck tremendously.

Thank you all for your help.

Michael

iTrader: (21)

first off dont paint anything without sanding...primer or not. The primer has to have something to grip to the plastic.

Here is a step by step.

This is just for painting the plastic and not getting rid of the texture like I did (check my 92 site if you want to see what I did...I used real automotive paint thats used on the outside of the car though...not rattle can paint).

First take the piece off and wash it with warm water and dawn and dry it.

Next wipe it down with a wax and grease remover being sure to wipe the remover off before it dries or it will leave the contaminents on the plastic.

Then sand the piece with minimum 400 (max 180 if you are going to put several coats of primer and sand reprime like goon did) if you are going to prime. If you are going to go straight to paint then use 600 or 800 grit...lighter colors show scratch marks worse...especially metalics.

after sanding use the wax and grease remover again.

then spray an adhesive promoter on the plastic following the directions on it for dry time and amount of coats (it varies from product to product).

spray at least 2 coats of primer (if you are priming it for a slick finish) then wet sand with 800 grit (if you are going straight to paint and not re applying primer).

wipe clean and spray light coats of paint using several coats because spray can stuff is pretty thin. You want to use light coats so you dont run it...metalics are easy to run.

after it dries enough then you can clear coat for a better finish but its not required since you will be spraying a single stage paint anyway.

good luck

carabuser

iTrader: (4)

I would take out the dash piece for the simple fact that it's gonna stink like hell if you paint it inside the car. And of course, you'll have fewer things to mess up if you do it outside.

Trevmister1610

takeing the pices out are a must, when they are out they are 1000 times easyer to sand and u dont have to tape anyting off when u spray paint, also its kinds hard to clean the pice when its still in the car.

michaels'max

So then, how hard is it to take out the dash piece? And about how much time would it take? I'm thinkin' it may not be worth it to do so. Maybe I'll just paint the other pieces, and leave the dash alone.

Michael

iTrader: (21)

wait...what dash pieces were you going to paint? You werent seriously going to attempt to paint them inside the car were you? Huge