I know I'm kind of a junior member of this website, but I've been around car websites for years and I think I've learned a few things. So here it is, if somebody decides to make this into a Howto then go for it, if not here's my take on painting interior pieces. I had written this for my site www.lafayettegearheads.com which I just opened up, so if somebody finds it usefull then good. Peace!
There are a lot of people out there that I've seen just randomly spray painting parts of their interior to make it a bright vibrant color. Well here we're going to learn the proper way to do it. There are two sections to this thread.
Painting Vinyl:
If you have something like your dash, door panels, or something along those lines to paint this is a good start.
What you will need:
Part to paint
A can of vinyl paint (dye, not coating)
Wax & Grease remover (or rubbing alchohol at the least)
Vinyl dye comes only in normal colors, unless you order it special. Which can be a problem for some, but my suggestion is that you make sure that you never buy anything that calls itself "Vinyl Coating", because that stuff is crap and will peal off in no time. Make sure you get actual vinyl paint (dye) in a spray can. The reason for this is because vinyl coating only coats the outside of the part, but vinyl paint/dye actually bonds with the part at a molecular level and won't scratch off nearly as easily. Now the first thing you should do is spend a good time cleaning the part to be painted off really well with Wax & Grease remover, or any kind of paint preparation solvent, although rubbing alchohol will work in a pinch, but I don't recommend it. The reason this step is so important is because your interior parts no doubt have tons of ArmorAll all over them. This will cause the paint to not stick properly and you will end up with a mess and have to replace your parts.
Tape off everything that you don't want painted, and always make sure to lay newspaper or something over everything else around (if you're painting it still in the car) to make sure no overspray gets on anything. Now you're ready to paint. Just remember to use even "brush strokes". This means that you start spraying right before you actually get to the part (so the little "spit" from when the can first starts spraying) and let off of the spray button once you pass the part up. Just continue to do this and remember that very light, thin coats, will look so much better than thick coats. Try to shoot for about 4 thin coats. Allowing a few minutes (5-10) between coats. Also try to make sure that dust and particles of trash won't get blown onto your part while it's still wet.
If you've followed these directions well you should end up with a nicely re-colored part.
Painting Plastic
Now painting plastic is a little different, and much more tricky to get it to look right.
What you will need:
Part to paint
Some kind of plastic paint (Krylon Fusion and similar)
Wax & Grease Remover (or something similar)
Extra fine sandpaper
A can of "adhesion promoter"
First off remember that painting plastic is more art than science, it can be extremely difficult and if you aren't careful you'll end up with what's called "fisheye". Which is when there is a small spot where the paint refuses to bond to the surface and it looks horrible. Even one small "fisheye" can make your part look like crap.
Now obviously the first thing you want to do is remove the part from your car and bring it inside where there is little humidity, for instance a room or shed with air conditioning. This will help the paint dry much faster and bond much better. Also a good temperature for painting is right around 70 degress farenheit.
The first thing you should do is wipe your part down really well with the Wax & Grease remover, or whatever preparation solvent you have. Do it several times, and be quite vigorous about it. Then you're going to want to take your extra fine sandpaper and give it a quick sanding, nothing too crazy, just enough to scuff it up a little and smooth out any bumps or anything else crazy like that. Try to achieve a super-smooth surface, run your fingers over it feeling for any imperfection, because when you paint that imperfection will be amplified 10x and you will notice it.
Now as a last measure you will want to wipe it down really good with the preparation solvent one more time to get all of the dust and grime off of it. Now wipe it down one more time with a lint-free cloth to make sure all of the dust and particles are off of the part. From this point on you want to make sure that your hands never come directly in contact with the part. The oil from your fingers can cause some ugly blemishes.
Once you're ready spray the part down with a very thin but even coat of adhesion promoter. This will help the paint stick to the part. Then once that has dried for a little while you're ready to paint. Just remember to paint in a brush-stroke manner, using thin coats to achieve what you're looking for. Finally as a last measure you may want to spray one thin coat of clearcoat over what you've just painted, just make sure it's a clearcoat that's ok to go over the paint you just used or else the clearcoat could end up messing up your nice new paintjob.
Some quick notes
1.) Just remember that more is not always better. Anything can be overdone, especially interior accents. Try to keep them to a minimum, and only in places that they will really look good.
2.) Some colors just don't work, sorry. If you're car has a burgundy interior you can't go around spraying bright blue/green/red everywhere, it will look like ASS. What colors go with burgundy? Well nothing bright goes with burgundy. So if you happen to have a burgundy interior use subtle colors like black or silver. The same goes for an interior that is tan, or any color other than black or grey. Ever heard of neutral colors? Well bright red looks stupid with tan, burgundy, or dark blue interiors, it just does. Black and silver are about your only options. As far as neutral color interiors like black or grey, you can get a little more wild, but please, keep it in check.
3.) If you want an idea of what can look good, but not rediculous check out some interior pics of cars like the Honda S2000, the Nissan 350Z, or the Volkswagen Golf GTi.
4.) A nice little tip, if your tape-off job fails you and you end up with a little bit of your color where it's not supposed to be go to the auto parts store and pick up some white, black, or silver pinstriping. You can use it to make a border between what is supposed to be painted and what is not, and it looks very good if you take your time and lay it out nice and straight.
5.) The key is taking your time, you could slap it together, but it won't look right. Or you could take your time, do it right, and you're friends won't believe that it wasn't done at a professional shop.
That's about it for my little writeup on interior painting, just remember to keep it tastefull and nobody will ever make fun of you for it. Hope you guys enjoyed this little tutorial. Hope to see what it's helped you create!
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