Painting Interior Panels

Brutalcookies

New Member
I wanted to replace my door trims but could never find the right material and colour so I decided to paint them. This is a good method because if you want to revert back to a material all you have to do is remove the paint and glue it back on again.

Once you remove the fabric you're left with this horrible gluey old gunk. I tried to remove this before with different bits and pieces, but only 'Goof off' worked for me. WARNING, I didn't purposely spray Goof off on the surround plastic but around the edges it seemed to bleach and dry out the plastic, I recommend masking the door when applying it.



Like it tells you, it is really a miracle remover. Rust-Oleum is the paint I used for only the doors. The remaining interior was painted with the cheapest spray paint at Bunnings, Fiddly Bits



You can see I little piece I removed simply by spraying it on and rubbing the area with a cloth.

Next I masked the doors, washed them and sanded them down.



I applied 4 reasonably light coats then the next day I applied 3 coats of Clear Gloss to protect the paint.



Next was the interior. I removed the panel around the AC controls, centre console and the AC vents on both sides of the dash board. This is pretty simple the Panel around the AC controls and vents where just clipped in along with the panel where your stereo sits. A flat head screw driver helps but be careful not to break them. The centre console is held in by 6 screws plus four that hold the Gear boot in.

First remove the back half which is held in by two screws located in the back compartment.
Once you remove that piece there are two screws at the start of the next piece and two more on the side above where your feet sit.
Lift the piece up and remove the four screws that hold the gear stick boot to the centre console.

Clean and mask them up.



^Pro masking ;)

The paint wasn't the best quality but came out amazing

The trick was really really light first coat, like really light. Extremely light. This gave the paint something to stick to. Next a I applied 3-4 coats plus 2-3 coat of clear. Which is extremely important was it waterproofs and protects the paint from getting damaged. But most importantly it give I nice smooth touch finish.



I left the pieces over night to dry and put them back in the next day.

Tip: Remove your masking around the edges before the paint dries. On the pieces that I removed the masking when it was dry it took some of the paint away from the place I didn't want it to.

The result

Messy car



Clean Car



You might notice my panel aren't aligned. Thats because I haven't screwed them in as I'm putting some LED's in within the next week and need the access.



The Cost

Goof-Off: $10-15 (depending on can size)
Rust O-Oleum: around $10 (depending on whether you get 2x paint + primer or just the paint.
Fiddly Bits: $3.80 per can. I brought 3, the second can become faulty and splattered everywhere so I only got to use half of the can.
Clear Coat: $8-15 depending on the brand, I used Duplex Clear Gloss. I recommend if you paint the dash itself to get matte clear coat or something to reduce the glare.
 
There is plastic paint available from Masters for $15ish per can. Quality stuff for interior jobs. Also want acrylic clearcoat for interior pieces because it dries hard and fast. For things like doors and dash you want Dupli-Colour Vinyl paint for roughly $15 per can.

If you can't find plastic paint, use plastic primer then acrylic colours as they adhere well to the primer surface, but not the plastic itself.

If this is your first interior painting job, it's not bad, so good work, but can definitely tell you cheaped out on the correct paint. As long as it lasts i guess it's ok, and as long as you are happy with it, that's all that matters. Good job.
 
Yeah, I was unsure how the paint would turn out at first. The doors where done with a higher quality paint. I did consider buying the plastic primer. I tested out the paint on small panel first. 4 Coats + The clear coats. I let it sit for a few days, sitting in my car with the heat and sun on it. There were not cracks and the paint didn't get damaged when I bent it, so I guess only time will tell. If the paint starts be peel or crack I can just remove it and use the plastic primer.

But I'm happy with the finish, the paint is all even, no runs and fells smooth.
 
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