I thought I saw somewhere on the web that someone had painted their interior trim panels (plastic things around the hatch and back seat arm rests). I am thinking about doing it and had a couple of questions:

1) Are there any tricks to color matching? I don't want to change the color, just make them look new. They are pretty faded and scuffed.

2) Are the any techniques that I should know about?

3) What kind of paint should I use?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Granted I changed my interior color over to Graphite since I installed interior from a 99 into my car, but I used a product made by SEM, it was a 4 step process. First washed all the parts with soap and water, then sprayed the first can of cleaner onto all surfaces-this gets all the grease, wax, release agent off the top of the plastic, the next step was the second can of plastic prep, which opens the poors of the plastic and gives it some tact, let it tact up for 15min., then sprayed on the color. I put on 3 coats for a good finish and durability, looked better than new once it was all done, and has passed my expectations of durability, sinceeverytime I get out of my car the harness off my 5 point hits the inside trim panel that screws to the rocker panel-has'nt scratched, flaked, or anything of that nature. Everybody thought I was nuts when I spent $150 for all this stuff to do it the most right way possible without actually dying it, and once it was done, it sold everybody. They've all used that cheap assed duplicolor garbage vinyl paint and everyone of them has flaking interior peices. Like about anything else, ya get what ya pay for, plus the prep work is a big part also. If your gouges are'nt that deep, I'd scuff them with some sand paper and feather them out into the good plastic, if they're deep, clean the part well, and use some lightweight bondo to fill these bigger deeper wounds. I got all my stuff at the local automotive paint supply store-not a parts store!!

 

Duplicolor makes a vinyl paint thats worked pretty good for me. Painted my center console with it and it turned out fine.

 

hey IHI, did the products you used from SEM come in a set or did you buy them individually? could you give me the part #'s if you still have them. thanks

 

The SEM products I used were in a display case in the front of the store where you could pick up whatever can of stuff you needed, they also make the paint for painting the trim around your hatch, exterior door handles, locks, etc...just make sure you get the right stuff-plastic plastic or metal paint depending what your doing. Sorry no part numbers, but I'm sure if you have a good paint supply store, they'll know exactly what your talking about-you can also buy the stuff buy the quart/gallon just like automotive paint if ya got a HUGE job.

 

ok cool, right now i just need to do the repaint the interior trim panels because they are really faded. thanks alot.

Mike

 

Thanks for the info about SEM. I searched the web and came up with the following info:

http://www.thepontiactransampage.com/index20.html

http://www.semproducts.com/

http://www.levineautoparts.com/semvinandpla.html

http://www.capitolcitycorvetteclub.c...20interior.htm

I also went to the local parts store and asked about Duplicolor vinyl paint. They said what ever the colors they have is the options. I want to try to come as close as original as possible. I will take a trip to the local auto paint store soon.

Thanks for the help!

 

Krylon just came out with a plastic paint called "Fusion" no priming, sanding ect. Here's the link:

http://www.krylon.com/product/gp_pro....asp?sgID=GP07


azcamaro

 

I just used the duplicolor stuff to dye everything and it came out looking great, but it flakes off and if I put some tape or something on it and pull it off it rips the crap right off. I've heard other people had good results, but I spent a week prepping all the parts just to make sure they were good and clean, I dunno what happened. I wish I would have known about this SEM stuff beforehand, or used something else besides the duplicolor.

 

That sucks dude, im sorry if it was my reference that led you astray. Maybe I just got lucky when I used it.

 

I used regular dupli color heres the door panels i think i should have used more of a grey but they look good.


Door sorry they're kinda blurry the batts. were almost dead

 

I havent done the big panels in the back i'm leaving mine grey but heres what i did with the guages and shift plate it made a huge difference in the interior looks. Next on the list is black carpet and seats.

 

I used red SEM for some of my leather parts, like the shifter and steering wheel.