Painting You Dash

[Fr3ak+--]

A quick little how to on painting you dash and other interior plastics

now there are a few different ways to do it, i am just going to explain the method i used.

Supplies:
Wax And Grease Remover
Big Can of Plastic Primer
Big Can of touch up paint
Big Can of clear coat

if they only have the little cans get 2 or you will be going back for more half way through

I picked up all these things at autobarn for the amount of around $55




1. Remove the plastics you want to paint from your car



2. Tape up areas that you don't want to get paint on



3. Now it need a clean, this is very important if you use things like armourall. the best way to clean it is with a can of wax and grease remover. give it a really good scrub all over to get rid of all the crap on it



4. Next it's time to prime it. now i used a can of holt's plastic primer but most plastic primer's will do the trick. now if you haven't done this before please read the instruction on the back of the can (THEY DO HELP) now give it a even coat and let it dry for 20 mins. then apply a second coat a let that dry.
when its dry the plastic should now be a bit rough.. if you don't think that it is you can always do a third coat it wont hurt



5. Now its time for the color.

When ever people ask what to spray a dash with a lot of people tend to say vinyl dye. Now i did not used vinyl die and with this method you don't have to. I used touch up paint.
The best thing about this way is there is a lot more color's to choose from as vinyl dye only has 10 color's where as i used touch up paint which you can pretty much get in any color you want

after the primer is dry start to paint.

i gave mine 3 coats but its up to you how many you give it.



6. After the paint is dry it is time for the clear coat..

now with the clear coat you determine how shiny you want it. if you only put on a coat of 2 its a bit more of a matte look as appose to a gloss.

but remember the more clear coat you put on the less likely of it getting chipped. i have had a few mates do this without the clear coat and it is destroyed in a few months. i put on 3 coats and i have only had 2 chip's in a year.



7. now after this is dry it is time to replace the parts. just be very careful when doing so. you would hate to scratch it putting it back in


Before





After

[kicker12]

that looks awesome!

well done mate, looks clean

[STEALTHY™]

Top thread mate.


Rated for you

[UNKNOWN]

Nice write up mate.

[taskmaster]

not to doubt you but why does your before pic have a carsales.com tag on it?

btw it looks good

[TA 91 WA]

Also the different stereos.

Probably forgot to take a before picture.

Nice write up dude. I need to redo mine.

[STEALTHY™]

As said, the pic is probably just for comparison. I always forget the before pics.

[boomnvn]

this is killer... i'm so goin to autobarn this morning to pick up some paint to takle this tomorrow!!

[ragrim]

just to add a few tips.

Clear coat works best when its warm (so im told) leave the piece you want to paint in the sun for a bit to warm up and also leave the can in the sun, if clear coat is cold it can turn white or not give you a gloss finish, i learnt this the hard way.

allow it to dry before attempting to reinstall, if you try to install you bits when the paint is only touch dry you will make a mess off it, leave it in the sun for a couple hours and let it harden, nothing worse than being impatiant and installing it too early and scratching it.

good write up

[Nevyn]

good write up mate .....very handy & timely given I'm about to dye my dash pad and all the plastics.

[Scream]

Nice write up mate, it helped me immensley. Thought i'd give it go and ended up with a reasonble finish. Made a couple of fundamental errors but i'm not to worried as i will buy the parts from the wreckers a little further down the track and do the job properly. Here's the results ....















First post here to, so be gentle with me.

[50LTRv8]

There is nothing wrong with that for a first post

Good stuff

[Fr3ak+--]

As said, the pic is probably just for comparison. I always forget the before pics.

that it is lol

[Dayvo]

just to add a few tips.

Clear coat works best when its warm (so im told) leave the piece you want to paint in the sun for a bit to warm up and also leave the can in the sun, if clear coat is cold it can turn white or not give you a gloss finish, i learnt this the hard way.

allow it to dry before attempting to reinstall, if you try to install you bits when the paint is only touch dry you will make a mess off it, leave it in the sun for a couple hours and let it harden, nothing worse than being impatiant and installing it too early and scratching it.

good write up

Yes , good write up . You can also sit the can in a bucket of hot water to give the clear more shine ,just don't forget to wipe it dry or you might end up with water drips on the newly painted dash .

[dale1389]

Will try this soon for sure, going to paint VR commodore dash white !

[Nevyn]

Will try this soon for sure, going to paint VR commodore dash white !

make sure u never loose ya sunglasses...I had the dash in me VC white and even on a overcast day it could be blinding at times....sunny days were a paint....but it did look good

[dipdip]

top right up..
going to try and do mine now..
cheerss

[Razor-]

how much paint will i need to paint the part around the guage cluster and the part around the gear selector?
i want to do it silver but to get the paint i need to go out of town so i want to make sure i get enough,

how many mls of colour and how manyy mls of clear?

[vxcalais_01]

I tried cleaning up my power window controls. No issue with contact cleaner, but when i hit some hard sticky areas with throttle cleaner, the colour is coming off. So even the standard grey on the interior plastic of the VX 01 Calais etc is painted on ??? I know its a charcoal grey colour, how would i go about repainting it ?

[Poms308]

nice write up mate, ive got car paint left over from a respray a while ago and want to do my dash with it would it finish and look the same way my paint job would?

[iRiot]

i have just done this to my vp now i have opp'ed for the green i have a blue car BUT i intend on painting the car black or green i am not quiet sure yet anyways i will get some pics tomorrow when i put it in the car...

[iRiot]

I just finished on my Vp it looks awesome here are some pictures









What do you all think ??

[Lance2560]

I just finished on my Vp it looks awesome here are some pictures









What do you all think ??

good stuff mate well done, looks good ,im about to do the same thing

[iRiot]

just remember to hit everywhere with the plastic primer or you will and bad spots do be stingy on the spray :P

[holdendude]

@LOasVR

Not bad of a job you did check out mine