Painting Interior Plastic Pieces
 

So I decided to paint some stuff. Currently I have the seat rotor garnish, stereo garnish, air vent bezels, and the dash gauge bezels painted. I plan on painting the center console garnish, shift boot ring, HVAC control knobs, rear pass through, and finally with the most pain (because of taping the red triangles) the hazard button. I stripped the stock aluminum paint off the plastic, cleaned the plastic, sanded it down with some fine grit paper, cleaned it again, primed it, then painted it using high quality acrylic model paint. Gun Metal with flakes, a shade lighter than black, a shade darker than my exterior color, Ti Gray.

What do you think so far? Sorry no pics installed yet, but they look good! Tomorrow when I clean my car and I have good lighting, I'll try to get some quick installed pics of what I have. Also, please excuse the quality of the photos... iPhone...

Pictures
http://photos-e-3.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._1874809_n.jpg
http://photos-d-3.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._4979579_n.jpg

Can't really tell a difference in this picture. Maybe once you put them back in.

Put them on something flat so we can see them. So tell me, how did you got the dash cluster and the radio surround pieces off with out taking the dash apart. Or did you?.

Cool, better pics please.

Alex: There def is a difference! The pictures are crummy. I'll try to get better shots tomorrow.

Easy: I will do my best to take better ones tomorrow with a camera. They will be installed though; I've had the pieces back in for two days now. The dash cluster bezels are very easy to remove, just slide a knife between the aluminum colored cluster bezels and the black housing. Be VERY careful because if you yank or tug too hard, you'll snap the plastic tabs off. It's just as easy as remove the air vent bezels. The radio surround pieces were a little trickier, but it's still very easy. The black piano plate that has "Power" on it pops right out. Get a knife and just pop it out. Also, the blank black piano plate below the volume dial also pops out easily. Pop them out and it will be apparent how to very easily remove the surround pieces. I still haven't figured out how to remove the control knobs or the hazard button. I think I will have to take off the whole radio face plate to figure that out. I know the knobs might be tricky because they have LEDs in them. I need to get more paint, either way.

9k: will do.

Alex: There def is a difference! The pictures are crummy. I'll try to get better shots tomorrow.

Easy: I will do my best to take better ones tomorrow with a camera. They will be installed though; I've had the pieces back in for two days now. The dash cluster bezels are very easy to remove, just slide a knife between the aluminum colored cluster bezels and the black housing. Be VERY careful because if you yank or tug too hard, you'll snap the plastic tabs off. It's just as easy as remove the air vent bezels. The radio surround pieces were a little trickier, but it's still very easy. The black piano plate that has "Power" on it pops right out. Get a knife and just pop it out. Also, the blank black piano plate below the volume dial also pops out easily. Pop them out and it will be apparent how to very easily remove the surround pieces. I still haven't figured out how to remove the control knobs or the hazard button. I think I will have to take off the whole radio face plate to figure that out. I know the knobs might be tricky because they have LEDs in them. I need to get more paint, either way.

9k: will do.

Are you going to clear coat it? I want to do the glossy black pieces on my door a silver satin to match the stock silver trim (and my exterior) and I was thinking something like Krylon Fusion but I can never find an appropriate color....however there'll be a much better variety in model paints...for some reason that never occurred to me.

jds

PS: Interesting use of the Budweiser...

nice project you got going

here is mine:
https://www.rx8club.com/showpost.php...38&postcount=1

i'd like to see someone figure out how to paint the plastic backs of the gt front seats from the 04 - 05 models...

Thanks for the info.
Ive painted all but the radio surround 2 pieces.

Are you talking about the fan speed knob and the temp control ? If you are they just pull right out. No problem.

Haha, I was wondering when someone would comment on the cans. I forgot to mention I did clear coat it with two thin coats. I didn't want the paint to be too glossy. I think it came out pretty nice, perfectly subtle. Be careful when you buy model paint, make sure you get a good plastic paint, not a crummy one. Japanese paints are usually better. Also, little aerosol cans will be expensive. If you have a model air gun... you should consider using that as little bottles of mixed paint will be cheaper.

Oh wow. I was thinking about painting the door handle bezel and window switch plate, but I think I will go and buy the Mazdaspeed CF accents to match my hood and other pieces. Oh but yours came out really nice. Especially that back pass through. Is that a vinyl? Very nice. Also, good idea for the trim on the SATNAV controls! Mind if I steal it?

I think you just have to take the seat out and tape it up.

No way. Hrm. I guess I'll go give them a tug and see what happens.

Thanks all... I'll get better pictures up later today.

dude I am the king of the paint matched interior :ylsuper:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3229/...c1ced7.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3257/...5f8c93.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3110/...43520c.jpg?v=0

Great for you, nice work.

But I'm not paint matching. I'm doing a different shade for contrast. And I'm not going that drastic! I was thinking about the steering wheel control plates too... how do those come off? I never checked.

go for it! and yeah that is a vinyl on the rear pass thru. post some pics when it's done, i think it will look sweet with that color you chose.

The previous owner did that... you bought it that way. I've seen you say so before.

I've been pretty terrible about this, eh? Well the weather has been awful up here for the last couple of days, but the sun is finally out again. I'll be bringing my car to my uncle's shop to get the bumpers painted as well so when I go for that I will take some nice pictures, I hope. Also haven't painted anymore inside because I ran out of paint.

And so what who owns it now!!!

Question endowdly: how do you strip the silver paint of the plastic bits (like the console sides) without harming the plastic underneath. Don't you need to use something that could just as easily soften the plastic? What did you use?

Rough sand paper! I used some nice film model sand paper, but any good old 160-250 grit paper should work. It'll come off pretty easily with minimal elbow grease. Once you get most of it off--it doesn't need to be completely clear... clean it off with soap and water. Regular dish detergent is fine. Then use fine grit paper 450-600 to rough up the plastic and scratch up any remaining silver paint. Prime. Paint. Gloss. Done!

^^ Oh in addition, the base color of the plastic in the car is a dark blueish black. The stock aluminum paint is a pretty thin with just a smidgen of a UV protection layer; it comes off very easily. Just so you know what you're looking for.

Pics?

Some better pictures (but not the best)...
I was going to take some nice pictures with my dad's SLR camera, but his batteries were dead. These were the best I could do...

The seat garnish...http://photos-c-0.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._7804444_n.jpg
The stereo surrounds...http://photos-g-0.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...4_948239_n.jpg
The dash and air vent bezels...http://photos-f-0.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._3304752_n.jpg

Still have to paint the windshield vents, dials, button, center console, heat warmer switch guides, satnav guides, and rear pass through!

I'll continue work when I get my car back. I just dropped it off this morning.

Its more subtle than stock but that huge of a difference. Most people wouldn't even notice.

Well it's darker in person. That cheap camera phone picked up a lot of reflection of the gloss coat.

But hey... I was shooting for unnoticeable. :)

Looks Awsome Ryan!