Painting Interior Pieces Guide (hopefully)

[tnlkurth]

What Is A Fair Price To Have Some One Smooth And Paint A Dash For Me?

[empirez32]

oh eyah

[VortecZ]

I smoothed and painted the dash in my '04 Avalanche about a year and a half ago. I decided to try something different than what everyone else is doing and it worked great.

1. Clean, clean, clean with plastic cleaner from automotive paint store.
2. Scuff with scotchbright pad (red)
3. Clean again with plastic cleaner.
4. Light coat of plastic adhesion promotor from automotive paint store.
5. Three coats of a good clearcoat (PPG)
6. Wait a couple weeks to cure out really well.
7. Wet sand with 1000 grit to perfectly smooth.
8. Three coats of PPG basecoat.
9. Two coats of PPG clearcoat.

The idea is to get the dash really smooth and paint it like you would any other body panel. My theory is that clearcoat is more flexible than primer is and does the same job of filling in texture and imperfections in the plastic. A year and a half of daily driving in central Indiana and it still looks perfect. The biggest problem is the glare on the windshield but you get used to it pretty quick. Another thing to mention is that it shows dust way more than flat finishes do so you have to keep it clean all the time.

[chevyboy69]

Hi when sanding the pieces, do you want to sand really hard, or soft? ANd when do you know its sanded enough?

[casualboy]

I just painted a few of my interior pieces, and all i did was clean them with concentrated Simple Green, spray a few coats of adhesion promoter, then sprayed about 4 coats of black paint. I didn't sand them because i wanted to retain the oem bumpy texture. The original color was tan and it doesn't show through at all.

[lifted2x4chevy]

On the 96 - 98 dashes there is a groove between the outer shell and the area that goes around the gauges. Has anyone filled this area in before they painted it. What would i use to fill it in. Pic. of the groove filled and painted would be great thanks.

[Jake06]

I'm in the process of painting my dash Excepet i added a little twist to mine. I used bondo to fill the line that goes around the headlight switch and all around the rest of the dash ill get pictures as soon as i get my camera back to let ya'll see what im talking about. i have it primered and i just need to wet sand and paint -Jake

[Gitusum]

Ive done alot of classic car restorations mainly 67-69 camaro's. Ive found that a product called bulldog is the greatest thing ever for interior painting no matter if you are smoothing it or leaving the rough texture look.clean the piece thats to be painted apply a thin coat of bulldog let stand for a minute then apply a 2nd coat let it get tacky and then apply whatever kind of paint you choose.no primer needed. the can has exact instruckions and the stuff is hard to beat IMO. try it on a old piece you dont need and see for yourself.ive used cheap spray paint all the way up to ppg base clear on the parts and they all worked great.no cracking or pealing.

[phxmark123]

As I was a union painter for 17 years let me asure you the key to any good paint job is prep (usually about 70%)and a good primer. Ive painted glass, ceramic tiles, plastic and just about every surface. You can sand or use chemicals to etch a surfce for adhesion. Make sure you have a clean surface and apply multiple thin coats. The difference between thin coats and thick is if you hit one with a hammer it will dent the other will crack and chip. Just some professional advice.

[g-rat]

Originally Posted by hca

i havent witnessed any scratches on my truck Or my friends truck. He went from tan to black in his bronco and I went from maroon to black in my silverado. All we did was clean with wax and grease remover, and go straight to painting with DupliColor Vinyl and Fabric spray paint. That is some good *** paint. Mine has been done for months, same as his. It doesnt scratch off or rub off or anything, not even with armor all. I highly recommend that paint. and for harder plastic things use krylon fusion paint.

yeah man
a friend of mine painted the inside of his nova with that
and it came out damn good
he said the same thing
i didnt see any scratches in it and he painted it over a year ago
i was thinking of using it on mine
cuz it says no sanding neccessary, but im still a little bit skeptical
ive used krylon fusion many times and 9 out of 10 times it will crack and peel off
i wanna go black w/ red accents in my chevy 1500
should i take the time and sand it if i use the vinyl and fabric paint?

[92 sierra slx]

92 black gmc looked like he had just removed the top dash pad and left most the low panels attached is upper pad seperate from entire dash? and how hard is it to take apart

[Black92GMC]

Originally Posted by g-rat

ive used krylon fusion many times and 9 out of 10 times it will crack and peel off
i wanna go black w/ red accents in my chevy 1500
should i take the time and sand it if i use the vinyl and fabric paint?

My Krylon fusion black paint hasnt even had one scratch yet! maybe you need better prep. You don't sand but you be sure to clean with water let dry and clean with windex and let dry.. the windex helps rid of any water on surface.

[92 sierra slx]

heres what ive done inside so far i started by just sanding with some 320 to smooth it then coat it once to three coats with just auto paint from autozone

[Thascarface]

Wow this is some nice advice here!

[lukeeep]

Originally Posted by 97OKCZ71

Hi all,

I have seen a lot of questions lately asking how to paint dashes and the interior pieces of their trucks. I also got a few messages from people asking if I knew or could do a write up on it. I first wanted to preface all this with the fact that we have done it here at my shop before, but I have never done much of the work personally since I am more on the custom leather side of the business. This hopefully will give a somewhat general explaination of what you should be using when you actually repaint your dash. I will also post pictures of one of the show trucks for Leatherseats.com that is quite well-known over in the Knoxville/Tennesse area.

The first thing you want to do is of course remove your dash. This process is slightly different for each of the Chevy trucks and is basically one of those things where you start with the bezel and work your way threw it. The other option here which is perfered in most cases is buying a whole new dash from a junkyard. It can even be cracked if you know how to use a little fiberglass or bondo hair (bondo/fiberglass combo).

Once you have the dash out you get to the hard part of any paint job... the prep work. You basically will start with getting rid of all the bumps and "texturing" on the dash itself. You want a fairly smooth surface to start with. Any bumps or texturing left on the dash will show threw on the paint. You will want to start with Sand-paper somewhere in the 100-200 grit area. You can start with 50, but just for a little while. You will want to move up the grit line with finer and finer grit until you end up with a semi-smooth surface.

After you have completed this portion you are basically ready for the paint part. Lots of people assume that paint is paint, but it is completely false. You will want to use automotive paint and depending on your money you will want to get the nicest stuff possible. Dupont has some of the best paints in the business, but expensive especially for any screw ups. Chromabase is also a good paint to use and a bit less expensive. You should check with your local automotive paint supply shop (not Home Depot). You can bring in the color you want and discuss with them the brands of paints available and so forth. Once you decided they should be able to mix up the exact color you want for you.

Now that you have the paint you have to begin the spray process. This is where the normal do-it-yourselfer might not be able to handle it. There isnt really an alternative to this step besides prepping everything and taking it to a professional painter for him to do the painting (which will cut down the costs of painting significantly). If you have an air compressor then you are half-way there though. You need to get a paint spray gun and a mask from your local paint shop also. With these you are ready to go. You need to find a way to hang your dash and you will want to do it in a clean room with very little air movement. If there is too much air movement then small particles will get into the paint. You will basically evenly spray the dash back and forth without too much overlap. Make sure to keep the gun at an equal distance from the dash and at a 90 degree angle the whole time. If you move angles or distance then they paint when completed will show the imperfections. Let your base coat set and dry. After it has set and dryed take a good look at it from all angles. If there are bumps or particles in the paint you need to wet sand them back out but use a VERY high grit sand paper with water. I would recommend somewhere around 2000 grit with a cup of water. Gently try to pull the imperfections out and when that is complete let it dry then spray again. You will want to do this only for a couple coats. If you coat it too much then the paint will easily crack and pop off.

Once you have gotten the paint as smooth as you want it then you will want to start with the Clear Coating. Clear Coating is the bling bling of paint. This is what makes it sparkle and shine and really look good in the vehicle. This process is the same as the paint process except that Clear Coat you have to pre-mix (some paints require this too). The pre-mix instructions should be available on the can or from the shop you got the paint from. Spray it evenly... wait for it to dry. Wet sand it down to get any imperfections out and then spray again.

Once this is all done your dash is basically done and needs to be reinstalled. This process is good for all PLASTIC pieces in your truck. Vinyl dashes or doors go threw a little different process.

The doors on most vehicles (all Chevy's I believe) are vinyl and with those you will have to rip off the vinyl. Many times this will leave the door weakened and here is where the fiberglass comes in. You will probably want to add a layer of fiberglass all along the door panel and if you want to get really artistic you can make shapes in the door by layering the fiberglass into flames or into custom speaker enclosures and so forth. Once the fiberglass is done you start with prep work and go threw the process again.

When people talk about glassing their interior they basically are removing that first step of preping the actual dash itself and instead laying a surface of fiberglass. After that takes place they still have to do prep work, but quite a bit less then preping the dash itself. This is how people get the custom pod mounts and so forth in their dash. I hope this helps out some. If there are any comments or questions please feel free to add those in. Like I said... I know the basic process and some specifics, but dont mess with it all that much myself.

Oh yeah... the other way to do your dash is to buy vinyl dye spray from SEM and remove your dash and spray it down. This can turn out really well also, but doesnt look quite as smooth and will need touch-up on a regular basis.

Jeremy
www.leatherseats.com

**** I didnt really want to go back and proof read all this so there might be mistakes in wording and spelling. ****

This is before we put in the custom blue and white leather and finished the door panels and a few other plastic pieces out.

Yes this is the basic method of painting your dash, but you left out a few very key steps to painting your dash.
First, you do not have to get out all of the grain in the dash, get out as much of it that you can, next one of the mose important things is clean it with some good degreaser, and use latex gloves when doing this, so you won't get any oils on the plastic. Next you'll want to spray the dash down with some good addhesive promotor, bulldog makes a good product. After that, spray your dash down with some high build filler primer and spray until it fills in all of the grain, the sand with 400 grit sand paper. Clean with some degreaser and paint, then clear coat like was previously said. If there is any imperfections wet sand with some 1500,2000 and buff out with some rubbing compound, i promise you if you follow these steps correctly you will get that perfect professional finish.

[lukeeep]

also, if you want to smooth your interior, do not fiberglass unless there is cracks, this process is much harder, more expensive, and more time consuming. But if you want to know how to do it pm me.

[down4bmx]

Originally Posted by lifted2x4chevy

On the 96 - 98 dashes there is a groove between the outer shell and the area that goes around the gauges. Has anyone filled this area in before they painted it. What would i use to fill it in. Pic. of the groove filled and painted would be great thanks.

Yeh I did fill in my line on the dash around the gauge on my 98. After I sanded them all down I hit the grove with some 36 grit and around it and fill with pastic repair. It work really well then primer the peices... heres a couple pictures....





Going back together

[92 sierra slx]

thats a good looking interior

[down4bmx]

Originally Posted by 92 sierra slx

thats a good looking interior

Thanks, I did it to match the outside of the truck all the lift components were blue and chromed... To bad not even 1-2 month after I spent 4 month doing my interior I traded the truck in for a 08 crew cab duramax! now that my project!

[HOTMotorsports]

OK
well no insult intended but the origional Faq was really good but it left out a few key steps. First anytime you are painting plastics, especially interior pieces they need to be seriously cleaned after being de-texturized. Armor all and other interior dressings can cause major problems with painting. and the other steps i noticed that were left out were that the paint and primer and clearcoats all need an adhesion promoter and a flex promoter or else the paint will just chip off and crack as soon as you tru to put it back on. Basically if you want your ride to look like a cover truck take it to an experienced painter who is well versed in custom painting and pay a little extra money.