Interior Paint Cheap?

[bcsintegra]

Is that interior paint i see in magazines and junk cheap in quality? How in the hell do those guys in the magazines and shit get their dashes and door panels to look so good with those bright colors. Do they die it, paint it or just replace the whole thing?

[sparq]

They get it rewrapped...

Note that you do not want "bright colors" on your dash, as the light will get reflected back onto your windsheild making it very hard to see.

[kicker1_solo]

I recently did this in my accord


the stuff went on perfect, and looks great. It looks kinda bright cause it was really sunny out when I took the pic.
I've tried the expensive stuff, tried this one stuff, $8 a can, worked like crap. It didn't go on smooth and just looked really bad. I went to K-mart and found this other stuff, decided that I would try it. About $3 a can, and it works great. That's what I did my interior with, the stuff in the pics. I'm not sure what it's called, the cans are in my g/f's garage right now.

[ci5ic]

For plastic pieces:

PAINTING INTERIOR PIECES:

Here's the exact process that I used, and my interior came out looking proffessional. Hope it helps.

Materials/Tools required:
-- Primer.
-- Krylon Interior/Exterior paint
-- Clear Enamel
-- 320 grit sand-paper
-- Rubbing alcohol and Q-tips and/or cotton balls
-- Masking tape (also good to have masking tape with attached drop-cloth)
-- Various sockets/screw-drivers, etc. for removing pieces

A few words about technique/safety:
-- When spraying your primer, paint, or clear-coat, be sure to keep the tip of your finger out of the spray. Having your finger in the way will cause paint mist to build up on your fingertip, and the airflow will blow the built-up paint off your finger in the form of little droplets of paint. If these drops land on the piece you're working on, you might as well start over, cuz they look like crap. The same thing happens if you use a plastic pistol-grip attachment on your spray cans.
-- I can't say enough how important patience is. If you rush, you are going to make mistakes, and if you don't fix the mistakes (which is a huge hassle), you'll have a horrible looking interior. So it's best to just do it right the first time. Do whatever you can to avoid over-spraying the pieces. Personally, I smoked A LOT of cigarettes and drank A LOT of beer between applications, just to keep myself from using too much paint all at once.
-- I made the mistake of painting all my trim outside on my back deck. For some reason, bugs were really attracted to my paint and clear-coat, and kept landing on the pieces. They'd get stuck in the wet paint, and some of them are still visible in the finished pieces. If you have access to a well ventilated garage or paint-booth, I would highly recommend using it.
-- If you follow these steps, you'll end up with a durable, professional looking painted interior.
-- If you plan on painting your entire dash, or your gauge cluster cover, a really light color like white or bright yellow, be aware that on sunny days, it will be reflected onto your windshield, and in my opinion is a bit distracting, and can make it difficult to see sometimes.
-- Always spray paint in a well ventilated area.
-- This process is only meant to be used on plastic pieces. I have no experience painting vinyl-covered surfaces.

The Process:
Remove each piece that you want to paint (consult manual if unsure how to remove pieces).
Use the following process on each piece you want to paint:
-- Wash with soapy water to remove built-up dirt and grease.
-- Sand each surface you wish to paint with 320 grit sandpaper.
-- Swab each piece with rubbing alcohol to remove any left-over Armoral, finger grease, etc.
-- Wash again with soapy water to remove rubbing alcohol residue.
* at this point, be sure hold the pieces by the edges, or by surfaces that won't be visible. This is to avoid getting greasy finger-prints on the prepped surfaces.
-- Mask off any areas that you do not want to get paint on.
-- Apply 2 coats of primer. I used Rustoleum Primer.
* When I refer to "coats" I actually mean LOTS of really light applications of primer/paint. remember to take your time, spray a little bit, give it a few minutes, spray again, etc. Do whatever you have to in order to avoid soaking the pieces. You'll just get runs and sags like crazy.
-- Primer dries pretty quickly.
-- Once each coat dries, it's a good idea to lightly sand the primer with 320 grit paper. And sand after the 2nd coat as well.
-- After sanding each time, wash the piece again with soapy water to remove sanding dust.
-- Apply 3-4 coats of paint. I used Krylon Interior/Exterior paint from the local parts supply chain.
* Again, remember to take your time applying the paint. The Krylon takes a lot longer to dry than the primer does, so give it a bunch more time.
-- Once the paint has completely dried (I would give it at least 24 hours to be on the safe side), apply 2-3 coats of clear enamel. I used Rustoleum Crystal Clear Enamel for this.
* Same process as with the primer and paint steps.
-- Let the pieces dry again for at least 24 hours before handling. It's the most frustrating thing to spend all this time and energy on painting the pieces, only to put a fingerprint in them or scratch them with a screw-driver trying to install them while they're still a little soft. BE PATIENT!

[TheBum]

This is a picture of my dashboard half way complete. The glove box on the right has about 3-4 coats on it, I used 8-9 total coats to finish. The part in the middle is the stock color.

I bought the paint at Napa Auto parts, it was reccomended by a professional. I wanted to pay this guy like $600 dollars to re-do my interior, and he told me to stop being a pussy and do it myself with this 8 dollar a bottle stuff, and it works well.

I think the paint is SEM paint, it was in a black bottle.

Before painting, I used this other spray called platic prep, and vinal prep. It was very easy to apply. This prep dries out the plastic so the paint goes on smoothly. I would spray this on heavily and it would get the plastic (or vinal) wet, and then wipe it down using some strength and the plastic would dry fairly quickly. I could visually see it drying the plastic, as the color faded just a little bit.

THE KEY TO SUCCESS: Take your time, and do every coat very lightly. By lightly, i mean your first coat should just be a bunch of dots, barely touching the surface. Only allow your spray can to spit out small dots onto the surface, NEVER allow it to simply coat the surface at once, or else it begins to run.