OchoShinka

So the silver sides to my center console are pretty scratched up(thanks to the previous owner). I haven't pulled the console apart yet to see how difficult it would be to remove them and paint them but the thought has crossed my mind. While playing on the web I also found this: http://www.rx7store.net/Mazdaspeed_C...sea-64-32z.htm Now CF is hot, but the price turns me off. While $365 is a better deal than the $450 Mazda dealers want for it. Just doesn't seem reasonable to me. Back to painting, which is a lot more work, but will cost a whole lot less. My color choices would either be, WWP to match the exterior, or gloss black to match the door panels, radio bezel, ashtray cover etc. My concern with painting is that it will be pretty sensative and prone to stratching. Has anyone painted their Console yet? Any thoughts on this?

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laythor

people have painted it and used overlays on it... they both can look really good when done right.

boarderjosh10

The silver pieces are not that difficult to get off to paint them. The nice thing is that you can always re-repaint them if they get beat up again, but I guess you could paint the CF ones if they get beat up too. I think you should only paint them if you trust your painting skills because I think it would look horrible if painted improperly though.

yiksing

Why not try using vinyl or cf stickers

OchoShinka

Vinyl might not be too bad, stickers wouldn't be good if you ask me.

I've painted a few body kits and a Supra in the past. I actually have a project lined up for July so I am going to paint as much as possible in that time. However, most the objects I plan to paint are fairly large and I have the standard size HVLP guns. I would probably look to pick up a touch up gun to shoot the interior parts with to prevent over spray. I haven't looked at paint guns in a long time, might be time to do some homework.

yiksing

There's a thread somewhere with cf sticker, u could at least remove those panels using that as a guide and get it painted instead of investing in a touch up gun

Spin9k

Looks like it would be easy to paint, the silver parts separate it would seem and so no overspray problems.

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nuke0907

i did an overlay on mine. it looks awesome. its not the ugly stickers either.

Vlaze

DIY: Dry CF console side plate wrap

This is my DIY on how to do it for around $50. Still to this day looks spanking new, and great.

nuke0907

thats what i have on mine too Vlaze.

OchoShinka

Wow...those DIY C/F wrap kits actually look pretty nice. I wonder if I have the patience for it though. Seems very time consuming and challenging. I noticed the site to order from also has silver c/f I think that would probably look better in my car than the standard black C/F. I think what I am going to do is look around for a spare center console that I can play with in my garage rather than redoing mine. This way I can take my sweet time and if I don't like something I can always change it. Truth is my center cup holder cover(for the front two cup holders) broke on me the other day. I got my headphones for my phone stuck in them and forced it open not realized I was breaking it. Genius on my behalf I know. It still works, just not as nice as it did before :-(

Regardless I need to pick up a touch up gun though. I do a bit of paint work from time to time and have just skimped on buying a touch up gun in the past b/c I have been too cheap. It would really come in handy now when I do smaller projects. I actually have my step fathers fender in my garage I need to paint. It's not very big so a touch up gun would be ideal for it. With a touch up gun I would most likely be apt to painting a lot more interior peices as well for fun. My other guns are just too big for interior painting.

timeforthrottle

For me I want to do this myself because I like the satisfaction of completing a project on my car. However, I also want it to look good and I have ZERO experience with painting plastic pieces. So I was thinking of getting a quote from a local shop.

BJP

As far as paint guns go, look into SATA spray guns! yes they are expensive but they will last forever. I am a production painter by trade and i've had the same spray gun for seven years now. I do three paint jobs a day and it will take the abuse.
I know for a fact that they make a touch up gun and it's called "mini-jet" It is probably upwards of $400 but it does a terrific job at small stuff. It will probably come with a 1.0 mm tip and that's good all around touch up gun.

Good luck on your painting in the future.

OchoShinka

sata guns!

I have followed the Sata guns on and off for a little while. I was obsessed with getting one of their digital guns when they game out.

Those guys are just a little out of my price range :-( I told myself when my guns are retired I will upgrade to the Sata line :-)

I tried a few random brands when starting out, mostly cheap stuff to no name brand stuff. The Dr. My mother works for is a hardcore DIY guy. Restored a Stingray vette and Shelby GT350. Now he has a 67 Mustang for a road race car. He does all his own painting on his babies. He gave me a lot of pointers and mentioned trying some cheap guns first. Some of the worst/best advice I ever had. Most the cheap guns I bought leaked or broke on the first paint attempts. I hate them. I did some homework and bought the DevilBiss starter-line kit(let's you know how old they are, DevilBiss has been with their "Finishline" kit for several years now, I haven't seen the"starterline kits" in over 5 years now). 2 guns, 1.2, 1.5 and 1.8mm tips with caps. 2 large cups( 32oz I believe). Cleaning kit, carrying case. Was shy of $200 after shipping. I have taken good care of these and cleaned them thoroughly after each use, they have been very loyal to me. If anything, I would like to find a matching Devilbiss gun to add to the family :-) Of course, switching to waterborne paints would also be nice, my guns can't handle it so I would need to buy all new guns for this.

Back to the topic,

After looking at a few cars with the C/F wrap, and being fixated with painting. I am going to do a combination of both, I have not shot pearl paints before, I do know they are bit intricate to do. I have been really anxious to try on a worthy project. I am going to take some time to find a spare conslole to use and also pick up a touch up gun. They way I have it envisioned in my head, this should look pretty sweet when it's finished.