Interior Painting

[Foss]

Just wrote this up in a PM for a member who wanted to know how I went about refinishing my centre console plastics from the standard flat metallic silver to high gloss metallic black, and figured I'd throw it up here as well for the benefit of anybody else wanting to attack theirs.

Supplies:

Paint

High gloss acrylic clearcoat (I use the 3M brand pressure packs)

Plastic flexi primer

2000 grit wet&dry sandpaper

Scotchbrite

Prepwash

02B polish (I use the Autoglym 'Bodyshop' brand)

Your favourite car wax

Bucket

Washing up detergent

Rags & polishing pads/cloths

Steps:

1. Put some washing up detergent in your bucket then fill with cold water. This will be your sanding/rubbing solution. The detergent helps to lubricate the surface as your rub, reduces the chance of your pad cutting in or gripping.

2. Wet your scotchbrite and squeeze out excess water. You want it wet, but not so much that its dripping all over the floor. Rub your parts with the scotchbrite to scratch up the surface to allow the paint to adhere better. Be firm, but be careful not to tear. You want it lightly scratched, not deeply gouged - deep gouges and imperfections will show through your finish, which means more work in the final steps.

3. Get some prepwash on a rag and wipe down all your parts. This cleans any grease and contaminants off your parts so theres nothing to counter the paint. Be sure to try this on the back of one of your parts first, because prepwash is a solvent and can melt some plastics. Mine survived unharmed, but your particular brand of prepwash might not be so kind, so better to be safe than sorry because those silver panels are expensive as hell! Once you wipe down each part, wipe them dry with a clean rag. Allow a good 10 minutes for any excess to evaporate/dry.

4. Spray on your plastic primer. Apply in 2 to 3 light coats. Ensure full coverage, as your next layers won't stick as well to unprimed spots. Different brands recommend different times to let dry before applying your color coat, but I find its best to leave it at least half hour, even if the can recommends less.

5. Apply color coat. Start by applying 2 or 3 coats around all your edges. Once those flash off, you can paint the rest. Again, several light coats, and ensure full coverage. 3 or 4 coats should be enough, sometime you might need and extra one if you have any bare bits. Allow to dry for at least an hour before applying clearcoat.

6. Apply clearcoat. I do about 5 or 6 coats, gives me plenty of thickness for sanding. Apply each coat thicker than with your color coats, but not so thick it runs. Best to let dry for at least 48 hours now before sanding.

7. Make up a fresh bucket of soapy water. Cut off small pieces from your sheet of 2000 wet&dry, wet this in your bucket, and carefully sand your clearcoat smooth. It will go dull and scratchy, don't stress, polishing will shine it up nicely again. Avoid sanding edges, because it doesn't take much to sand right through the paint on the edges.

8. Grab a polishing cloth and your 02B polish and buff the buggery out of them by hand until they come up nice and shiney and you can hardly see any scratches anymore.

9. Apply your favourite car polish and wax, and maintain it just as you would your exterior paint.

Thats about all there is to it. Just be careful and take your time. The key to a good finish is mostly in the preparation, so having a surface well prepped for painting can save you a lot of work in the end.

Once finished, if done well, it will look like this:

Good luck, and happy painting.

[Andrew357]

what the hell?

That looks fantastic. Job well done

[dutchie101]

Beautiful piano black finish. Well done!

[1stKill]

Come up a treat mate excellent job and i like the no bullsh!t write up you did,kept it simple...might have to have a crack at this myself.

Cheers

Lee

[DJKOR]

Good effort mate. What surprises me more is that what you posted was originally a writeup for a PM. I don't think even I would put that much effort into a PM writeup

[DemonRolla]

that looks sooo good, awesome job!, i wonder what it would look like on a zze122 centre console...might give it a go.

[Kenshin X]

my turn...

couldn't get all the orange peel off but i knew if i tried i would have sanded it back to the silver again!

i'll put up the rest when i get them all done lol... :P

[Unbound]

yours turned out nicely :)

well i have done a little bit more than just a panel in my '06 Corolla...and i did it all before i found this thread. Still did the main steps though (except for polishing and waxing at the end, didnt actually think of that)

Here's how mine turned out ;)

http://imageshack.us/f/526/03012012205.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/f/546/03012012204.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/f/833/03012012202.jpg/

[Kenshin X]

looks really nice mate! well done :)

well this is mine until i decided to get to my panel beater to hit it for me :P

did the drivers side power window switch housing too

the pressure can sparkle was getting too much for me so i just thought to give it to my panel beater to hit it with jet black no sparkle hehe... :P

[Foss]

Fellas those look top notch. Job well done. I love the red on those door panels!

[Foss]

Oh also, a bit of an update on how mine's holding up 18 months after the fact. Still good, but only with a lot of upkeep (even more than your exterior paint). Roughly once a month I have to go through the original polishing process (02B, Scratch/Swirl remover, polish, wax) as it starts to dull, especially the parts that regularly catch direct sunlight. Its also more susceptible to marks and swirls. I noticed this morning, too, that there appears to be some random marks that look like they may not polish out. Not sure if they're scratches from where people have bumped it with jewellery, bags, etc, or if its cracking from heat expansion/contraction of the plastic. More on this when I've had a closer look and had a chance to attack the area with some polish and elbow grease.

Honestly, if I had my time over again, I'd give it to a good auto-body painter and do it in 2pak. 2pak is a hardened finish, so is more durable and less susceptible to damage, but the trade off is there's almost no margin for error. Unless you're appropriately equiped and can lay down a top notch 2pak finish, this guide still stands as the best way to paint it yourself. But if you don't mind dropping the cash, go see a professional for the best results.