Dash Painting Tips?

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RustyDusty

RustyDusty

Rabid Cross-eyed Opossum!
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Does anyone have tips for painting the dash? I want it mostly black. I just want to make sure that how I paint it will hold up to the abuse of the sun, knees, keys etc. I don't want it to start chipping and scratching just a few days after putting it in!

Thanks!
Drake
 
Remove the dash frame, sand as you would any bodywork, prime, sand and paint. I used rattle-can paint from Totally Auto to get the factory black color. Outstanding paint BTW! Here is a link with some images for my dash if your interested...

http://www.dilley340.com/id27.html
 
Thanks! Are you talking about painting the dash frame? Or the actual plastic dash?
 
I didnt take my dash down to bare metal just a good scuff wipe and away with the new paint
 
Any tips on painting the plastic parts of the dash? I want to lose the wood grain it looks like crap.
 
I seen a thread awhile back where someone painted over the wood grain with black and you could still see the grain characteristic. It looked pretty good. You would want to use a plastic adhesion promoter first before spraying the color on.
 
Thanks greendart! I appreciate that. That's exactly what I needed to know. Cheers! Is there any certain type of paint that I should buy? I see a few plastic paints that claim to need no prep? Is this true? Also, did he use flat or gloss?
 
I painted some plastic parts in my dart with Duplicolor plastic paint I bought at NAPA and they came out nice looking. I'm not sure what he used. I think I'd try a satin finish.
 
Thanks. And that was without prep? I want to do the accents on the dash sublime green. Would the TESTORS sublime green model paint stand up to the task?
 
I used duplicolor plastic on my parts in my swinger and they still look great I just cleaned the plastic parts with soap and water let them air dry wipped them down and shot them no prep other then wats stated above
 
I wouldn't use rattle can paint on dash,which is exposed to sun and will fade, I'm sure many will disagree, but I believe in doing things right the first time, also anything that gets painted must be prepped,scuffed,cleaned e.t.c. prior application of any paint .

OP, if you're painting plastic, I strongly suggest using adhesion promoter,there are many on the market, even in aerosol cans like Bulldog, this is a product made for professionals, so you'd have to pick it up at body shop supply store.As for what kind of paint, anything that is catalized,it can be a single stage paint with catalyst flat or gloss or basecoat/clearcoat,which can also be gloss or flat,you can adjust the gloss/sheen with simply adding flattening agent.Catalized paint will be the most durable finish
 
I cleaned all my door panels and plastic parts with soap and water then used adhesion promoter before painting them. Four years later they still look good.
The metal part of my dash I sprayed body color except for the part between the dash pad and the windshield. That is sprayed satin black to cut down on reflection back on the windshield.
 
all of the stuff I have sprayed on my dart I have never used a promoter and all my junk still looks good
 
Are there any tricks to painting the raised lettering and areas around the gauges to where you only paint the raised part?
 
Welp heres my start. Im doing the green with a little piece of cardboard

47963_463196262847_529437847_6484989_1814296_n.jpg
 
Im not sure what exactly you have planned ,but what I did with mine is I stripped down to bare plastic letting it soak in oven cleaner,scuffed it with a gray scotch pad and primered it.I painted the inside (the gauge face) the best wood like brown color I could find,let it dry,and while it was drying,I polished the lenses.Then I masked off the gauge face(the brown)and painted the surrounding area satin black again.masked off the satin black and painted the trim area a rattle can chrome silver paint(i know im cheap,lol)then I took a fine brush,sprayed some of the rattle can chrome into a cup and brushed the raised areas around the gauges,then used a brush and some white and painted the lettering.It was pretty tedious to say the least,lol.I was going to put some carbon fiber film on it,but decided not to.Good luck
 
The picture above your post is what I'm going for. Your post just put a lump in my throat though... I didn't remove the old paint. I just sprayed adhesion promoter on it and away I went. I'll strip the other 2 panels before painting them. I didn't even think of stripping them, it makes total sense though. I'm tempted to go remove all the paint I just did and start over.
 
RustyDusty said:
The picture above your post is what I'm going for. Your post just put a lump in my throat though... I didn't remove the old paint. I just sprayed adhesion promoter on it and away I went. I'll strip the other 2 panels before painting them. I didn't even think of stripping them, it makes total sense though. I'm tempted to go remove all the paint I just did and start over.
Click to expand...
oh,if you used adhesion promoter,then it might be ok.Sorry,I didnt mean to panic you.The reason I had to strip mine is because the black and the woodgrain areas were flaking off.I couldnt really see the bottom pic of your dash because its kinda dark,but looks good.I saw your wanted post.Did you break your lenses or are they scratched up?
 
Ah, the brightness on this computer is really high. So probably when I corrected the brightness of the photo I made it too dark. Mine wasn't flaking so hopefully she stays good! The plastic has what looks to be little hair line cracks in it from age. It's not actually cracked all the way through. It sort of looks like a spider web is on the plastic. Is it possible to polish that off or use some sort of repair compound?

Cheers!
Drake
 
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