Hey i was just wondering about all the people who wave painted their dash area around the aircon controls and that stuff, any ways i bought a second hand interior and sprayed it wif that $3 paint from auto barn followed by clear gloss....and the crap just kept scratchin off :S so my question is....."those of you who hav sucessfully painted it, what paint did you use???" thanks

Did you clean the pieces properly and primer it first before giving the paint a coat and a second coat later before adding your clear coat?

Note:Tried $3.00 clear coat is lousy! spoils everything.

I am thinking going for Hobby Tamiya spray paint but not cheap.:confused:

I used a can of High gloss white from "Septone" was bit more expensive than the other stuff but it was good stuff.

I finished that can and went to buy another can but there wasnt nemore left so u used the cheaper stuff and it went all bubbly after cleaning it with prepsol.

So id say if ur gonna do it do it right and buy some decent paint, even if it does cost a lil bit more.

Don't do it at all!

Looks extremely tacky and will be a trajic eyesore that you will most certainly regret in a few months time!

You are never going to get an exact match for the exterior colour anyway so it will end up looking really cheap and nasty... Besides, colour coding your interior is sssoooo early 90's man...

Unless you are going to swathe everything in carbon fibre or polished aluminium (which in itself would look strange gracing the insides of a Magna), don't do anything!!! Trust me!

You do know that some of us do have extra panels and have absolutely nothing else to do.:D

The thing is his question was on quality of paint not whether or not to do it.

Go for decent spary cans not the cheap ones. they spoil everything and may even eat into the plastic.

[QUOTE=Nexus]

The thing is his question was on quality of paint not whether or not to do it.

QUOTE]

Yes fine - I am aware of that - quality of paint is such a pressing issue nowadays...

I just wanted to ensure that he didn't let his apparent boredom interfere with common sense leading to the garish and senseless destruction of yet another Magna interior...rendering the entire vehicle unfit for any impending future sale...

I was looking at a Sports for sale here a little while ago that looked great on the outside but then had the hideous interior mank painted dash... PLUS the foul looking re-covered matching vynil door trims!!! :shock: :redface: :cry:

"The mighty arm of boredom wielding it's explosively destructive power yet again on an unsuspecting family vehicle" it would seem! :nuts:

[QUOTE=Nexus]

The thing is his question was on quality of paint not whether or not to do it.

QUOTE]

Yes fine - I am aware of that - quality of paint is such a pressing issue nowadays...

I just wanted to ensure that he didn't let his apparent boredom interfere with common sense leading to the garish and senseless destruction of yet another Magna interior...rendering the entire vehicle unfit for any impending future sale...

I was looking at a Sports for sale here a little while ago that looked great on the outside but then had the hideous interior mank painted dash... PLUS the foul looking re-covered matching vynil door trims!!! :shock: :redface: :cry:

"The mighty arm of boredom wielding it's explosively destructive power yet again on an unsuspecting family vehicle" it would seem! :nuts:

I know what you mean, is very subjective to taste. In which they better know what they are doing. A wrong choice of colour can easily turn other people off. Is better to have spare panels before this is being attempted but again some people will just do it to their liking.

I am intending to redo the look of the instrument cluster and I am still making plans. However I have a spare one just in case I screw up.

Ive done mine and it looks nice as, and ive done the door cards aswell.

And everyone that gets in my car loves it too, and it hasnt matterd if they are 16 or 61, everyone loves it.

And when it does come the day to sell it, if the person interested doesnt like it then i can just get 2nd hand peices or respray it black or something.

So b4 you go and have a go at ppl for modding their car, read the first post and post an answer to that.

well u need the right paint to start with . its plastic bumper and trim paint(vinyl also) its about $18 bucks a can for an auto store. what u need is sum grades of wet and dry sandpaper, 220,400,800 grit. now cut em to the size u need and soak em in a bucket of water for at least 20 mins to get the most out of them. now sand it down with the 220 first, go over it a few times now go to 400 and do the same and finally do it over with the 800 grit and now it should be almost there. now take sum grease and wax remover and clean it a few times over to make sure any dirt or grease thats there stopping the paint from sticking is off. no dry it off with a lint free cloth or compressed air, then hang it up in a cool NON-windy place and give it a light coat wait for a couple of mins and do a few more light coats till ur happy with it. now the reason for the bumper and trim paint is cause its flexible which means it'll stick to plastic and vinlt without rubbing odd. good luck

nahhh, i beg to differ bentley :P

but who cares anyway, this guy wants to paint his dash so let him do so in peace :)

Buy prepsol, make sure environment is dust free, buy a can of plastic primer, colour of choice in spray can...and maybe 2000grit wet&dry. Obviously if you have an air compressor than use that!

I didn't sand mine coz i cbf'ed sanding it all. I didnt use a clear coat either, and its been 2 years+ and everything looks as if it was painted last week.

clean with prepsol, make sure its clean and dust free, apply very light coats of primer. make sure its even (also read instructions). You can choose to sand or not between coats. Once you're sure its all evenly covered with primer, start spraying the paint on. Again, reaad instructions, make sure its light even coats, and sand in between if you want. Once its all painted to your liking. you're done. You can choose to sand it one last time, then go over it with some car polish. I went over it with polish, even though i didn't do a clear coat but i sprayed mine in a kinda shiney sliver colour.

now for a pretty piccy (yea i'm bored...and bentley, stay out of it :P)
http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/3156/dsc033579zb.jpg

i did the console insert, radio surround insert, and the surround for the heater controls in my second gen with mitsubishi dove silver, in a holts dupli colour can, primed it first,(same brand undercoat) and cleared it afterwards wif... u guessed it, holts clearcoat, hand buffed it wif some brasso and then waxed it and it looks ssssswwwwweeeet...total cost....about $30, oh and i also did the instrument cluster surround..... hhhhhhhmmmmmmggggh silver trim:)

hey...thanx to a call from TJ Sports, i went and got some car touch up paint from repco....the result looks sweet as. i will post pics later tonight. thanx

i originally did mine with $2 Primer, $8 can of touch up paint and then $2 clear....well stupid me didn't know not to apply enamel over arcrylic...

So i wetsanded it down with 600 then used K&H primer, wetsanded that smooth, then used a 250g can of custom mix touch up paint, followed by a coat of K&H Clear......results are friggin awesome....so its definatly better to spend the extra bit of money and get the proper stuff

Custom mix Paint - $25
Primer - $11
Clear Coat - $11

i used 1500 wet/dry paper
then wiped over with metho and wiped off ,i did this 5 times as the area is covered in oil from your hands
applied a coad od ESP easy prep serface $10 from Bunnings
then sprayed with acrylic paint in a can (dupli colour i think) from auto barn
then acrylic clear coat

had it on a year now and not one bit has scratched off
and i have twin boys :D

This is how i did mine:
1. Wiped down console pieces with metho.....leave to dry completely.
2. Sprayed several lightish layers (approx 4) of $8 "Diamond White" paint from Super Cheap Auto. Didn't sand inbetween layers or prime it before spraying with paint but upto the individual really.
3. After leaving it overnight to dry, sprayed several coats (approx 4) of clear coat which was also purchased from Super Cheap Auto and left it to dry overnight also.
Then had fun trying to put it all back 2getha. Mine turned out ok. I'll give u a tip....don't paint the cup holders. Its a pain in the a$$ trying to get an even layer and coat it all, thats the only bad part about mine!
Here is a pic of mine done....but i have also done the part that is infront of the plastic covering the speedo but havn't got an updated pic of it all done!
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/6015/p22702316mh.th.jpg (http://img148.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p22702316mh.jpg)

hey well its done now...but it could use a good clean :D thanx 4 all ya help guys :)

so what process did you do mate? and what did you use?

has anybody else had a problem with not being able to get the right hand side of the air vent surround back in properly? coz mine just wont go in and i dont see why not its just the right hand side of it sticks out just a little bit like not completely out just a bulge about 1cm out from where it should sit flush

yea most i've seen painted are like that, i think it comes down to the extra thickness of the layers of paint!! not normally 1cm of gap, but not fitting back completely.

i'm going to get mine red-done, but this time sanded WAAAY back, and sprayed professionally.

hey, to paint mine all i did was clean it wif metho and then prime it wif plastic primer, then spray 3 light coates of silver.... it doesnt scratch like the cheap ****:D

USE ACRYLIC PAINT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah it costs more but hey the stuff lasts.

I took my interior out and degreased it, then plastic primed it, 3 coats of colour, 2 coats of clear.

I did mine metallic black, looks schmiko, I think the days of silver are over. Goto the dark side.

has anybody else had a problem with not being able to get the right hand side of the air vent surround back in properly? coz mine just wont go in and i dont see why not its just the right hand side of it sticks out just a little bit like not completely out just a bulge about 1cm out from where it should sit flush
I have the same problem.... i tried alot of things to get it to sit back in flush but it just didn't work so i've just left it overhanging a bit. Has anyone else had this problem but actually fixed it? If so, how?

When I did mine a while ago (and still going strong) I just used exterior paint (for a car), the can was about $14.

I couldn't be bothered with priming or clear coating, so I simply cleaned the surface well and sprayed about 5 very thin layers in total. The first 2-3 layers are the most important, I made sure I sprayed the 1st coat very fine and evenly to act as a base (for future coats to stick to). If you start by applying thicker coat from first go, you will find it will wear off allot quicker as the paint doesn't stick as well. :P

USE ACRYLIC PAINT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah it costs more but hey the stuff lasts.

I took my interior out and degreased it, then plastic primed it, 3 coats of colour, 2 coats of clear.

I did mine metallic black, looks schmiko, I think the days of silver are over. Goto the dark side.

Dont say that, i only painted miune silver today, ahha. ahh well, anyone else have extreme trouble taping off the cup holders?? I nearly threw it at the wall haha.