Interior Painting/ Vinyl

Yes, I have a 91 Civic HB and i was wondering what was the best way to paint the interior of my car. I was wondering if you were able to sand vinyl or if you had to wet sand it. Any infromation would help and a step by step process would help too. Thanks (do you paint the plastic pieces such as the vents the same way as the vinyl ??)

i really hate the look of painted vinyl. previous owner of mine spraypainted speaker grilles, center console, door handles, etc white. problem was that after that being just a year or so old, it started to look dirty and grey or stained in spots, especially parts that you touched regularly.

i've heard that there's something called Vinyl dye. i imagine it only works well if you go from a light to a dark color, though. i imagine this would be the best route to go, though, being that it's a dye, not a topical shell of paint (that will chip off and look bad)

if your heart is set on painting, make sure it's some kind of oil based gloss or semi gloss. it's harder to clean up mistakes, at times, but the paint will probably bond a little better and last a bit longer. and depending on the paint, it won't feel so much like a "shell" over the vinyl.

looking at mine, i doubt you'd wanna sand it. i'd personally just clean it with alcohol or something to make sure there's no armorall or anything on it, and then spray multiple thin coats letting them dry fully inbetween, this way the paint won't begin to run, and won't look thick and bulky.

just my two cents. i'm sure there are people here with more experience painting vinyl. i have mainly only painted houses, interior and exterior, oil and latex paint, wood, plastic, metal, textured sheetrock surfaces.

i did paint the front to my old (read: circa 1996) computer case black. i sanded it first, but in retrospect i shouldn't have. it basically took away the plastic's natural texture, and the marks i made by sanding showed through the paint if you looked closely. anyway, the oil-based paint i chose bonded well, has not ever chipped or scuffed, and if i hadn't sanded it, would convincingly look like the case's original color.

at any rate, find yourself some similar material and test it out before you committ to painting the entire interior.

dont paint the inside of ur car it will not last and it looks better stock then painted up

well when i paitned my interior i painted my dash white and used about a half a can of clear coat on my dash alone and its ALWAYS shiny like theres always armor all on it, BUT as soon as you scratch it really bad it will chip a little(eventually u will mess it up) bit and when theres a little scratch.....it starts to drive you CRAZY!!! ( a white dash with a 1/2" scratch of black dash showing.....i REAALLY regret ever doing it, im consitoring buying used intorior pieces from ebay/salvage yard soon.

i highly suggest you do not do it, its not worth...just my :2cents:

You can use vinyl die but its only available in limited colors and doesnt work all that great in particular but works better than spray paint. Krylon has a brand under the name of FUSION that works really well on plastic, its kinda a hybrid of dye and paint. But if you want it to last and look good for the life of your car take it to a body/paint shop and have them spray it in urathane. Its catalized paint that is extreamly durable, how ever it is not cheep.

You can use vinyl die but its only available in limited colors and doesnt work all that great in particular but works better than spray paint. Krylon has a brand under the name of FUSION that works really well on plastic, its kinda a hybrid of dye and paint. But if you want it to last and look good for the life of your car take it to a body/paint shop and have them spray it in urathane. Its catalized paint that is extreamly durable, how ever it is not cheep.

yea i agree if you want your interior a differnt color take it to a shop

yeh, it's not the cheapest way to go but the job will usually get done right and last the life of the car

I was going to paint my interior, even got some fusion stuff, but i painted one spare fuse panel i had white, and the stuff chips off so easy if you put any pressure on it. I now enjoy the stock look, and soon it'll have a touch of carbon fiber look with SC's new console : P

The only color I would spray mine is black.. I have the Si with the slight faded-gray color.... After sitting in the sun for a couple years, I'm sure you'd fade too!

if you want it to last and look good for the life of your car take it to a body/paint shop and have them spray it in urathane. Its catalized paint that is extreamly durable, how ever it is not cheap.

I also have that two-tone gray vinyl in my car, and i wan't a entire black interior.

how much does that cost ???

Depending on the shop and what brand paint they use, $200-450 probably. I'd say away from ones that give you a quote of like 50 bucks because its going to be bad quality paint.

Depending on the shop and what brand paint they use, $200-450 probably. I'd say away from ones that give you a quote of like 50 bucks because its going to be bad quality paint.


can just about any good paint shop pull this off??

Yeah.

Yea dont paint the inside of your car that is the best way to make your car look like shit and its not fun buying all new peices if you wanna go back to stock just buy a dash kit or something have the stuff vinyled or something beside the cheap way of painting it..

if your going to do it yourself then what you need to do is take the dash out of the car...ive seen people trying to paint it while its in the car still...anyway after that get some fine sandpaper and do a little sanding. then do two or three GOOD layers of primer. sand the primer with a very fine grit sandpaper, u want that stuff babysmooth. after that u need to have paint. krylon fusion is the best u can get spray wise. if u have an airbrush you can get the urethane paint and do it that way. i used the krylon spray and put about three layers on. after that i did two covers of clear coat. the key in this process is to have a relatively stable environment and to take your time. i did mine in two days. then it got put back into the civic which sat in the sun most summer while i was driving my work truck most the time. after all the sun and months it still shines.

if you want to change the color of your interior, there is nothing better than wrapping it in new material. vinyl, suede, and tweed arent hard to work with, and leather is even easier than vinyl because it stretches easier. i wrapped my civic's interior with smooth texture black vinyl and red suede, and it wasnt extremely difficult in most places. just have patience

if you cant afford material to rewrap, or you like the texture of your original material, then get a product called SEM interior dye. DO NOT USE ANY OF THE STUFF AT AUTO PARTS STORES. i ordered SEM dye through a local interior shop. they have done cars for people like lenny kravitz and the guy who started pizza hut. i trusted their advice, and so far its paid off.

i used SEM dye to change the entire interior of a MKIII supra from light gray to black. so far, not a single spot on the vinyl has scratched off. we even tested the stuff out on a scrap piece of brown vinyl, and even when cut in half and sliced open with a knife, the brown didnt show through.

SEM claims that you can also use the dye on plastic with a special primer, but i figured that at 15 bucks a can, it was too expensive to be basically painting plastic with. so instead we just cleaned, primered, and painted the plastic with black high temperature engine paint.

none of it has scratched or faded, and the supra sat in the driveway with no car cover or tinted windows for 3 years without moving.