Painting The Silver Dash

[Jusino]

THAT IS A NICE FINISH!!! .

GREAT EFFORT COMES WITH GREAT RESULTS...

[Wrinklechops]

What you need:
-1000 grit sand paper
-flat black all purpose spray paint
-matte finish clear coat

Make sure you clear coat it or it will scratch and absorb grease from your fingers

This looks really good! It makes me want to do it now. I'll read some more on this thread and probably find my answer, but what brand paint did you use? How many coats? Did you sand off the original color all the way to the plastic? Any tips on the removal of certain pieces? For example, the trim around the gauges, etc...

[tarmacsti]

Dude no offence but, from what I gather in the questions you just asked I think you need to be made aware of some facts....

1. Everything clips and screws out (do not do this in the car)

2. Sand down with 800grid sandpaper (not all the way to the plastic just so the new paint have something rough to bond to)

3. First couple of coats finish of your choice (we used matt flat black) Then a couple of Clear coats...

4. Be very very careful not to break any clips or scratch anything upon reinstall.

I followed this link and it helped allot!
How To: Flat Black Interior (work in progress) - IWSTI.com: Subaru WRX STI Forums

Its not a pita as it seems my advice is to just be careful.
Good luck!

[Wrinklechops]

Dude no offence but, from what I gather in the questions you just asked I think you need to be made aware of some facts....

1. Everything clips and screws out (do not do this in the car)

2. Sand down with 800grid sandpaper (not all the way to the plastic just so the new paint have something rough to bond to)

3. First couple of coats finish of your choice (we used matt flat black) Then a couple of Clear coats...

4. Be very very careful not to break any clips or scratch anything upon reinstall.

I followed this link and it helped allot!
How To: Flat Black Interior (work in progress) - IWSTI.com: Subaru WRX STI Forums

Its not a pita as it seems my advice is to just be careful.
Good luck!

Thanks for the link man. And yes, I do know that everything clips out or screws out, and I know not to paint it while it's still installed. I was just looking for a little more "how to" pics, but your link should work out just fine.

Thanks for the info and link again though.

[Wrinklechops]

NOW, WHEN I SAID I WAS GOING TO EXPERIMENT, I DIDN'T MEAN TO ACTUALLY DO IT RIGHT AWAY. YEAH, I WOULD. BUT I DONT THE TOOLS TO DO SO, FOR THE MEAN TIME.

BUT I DID PHOTO EDITING WITH ONE OF YOUR PICS.
HOPE IT CAME OUT ALRIGHT. I DIDNT SPEND TOO MUCH TIME ON IT FOR EDITING.

Dude, doing that in that weird purplish color would look....um....weird....

[Jusino]

The color didn't mean anything, i just uses photoshop to do that anyways. Surpossed to be wr blue. But i guess it came out to be that color. I still dig the black finish, in stead of the flat black.

[Wrinklechops]

Sorry forgot to do the formal mail for this,
I used Matt Black(5 coats) and Clear coat(7coats)

Took me 15mins to get everything out, sanded them down with P800 grid sandpaper, washed and dried them... then started the (what feels like) endless process of painting them...

Left them overnight and in the morning(Saturday) took me 30mins to put them back, I was very careful not to scratch any of it.

Here some pics I managed to take

That looks sick man... I wish I would have used a different paint and also used clear coat. I ended up using this stuff called Plasti-Dip flat black, which is kinda like a rubbery coating which can be cool...but I don't know:





The cool thing is that the stuff is really resistant to fade and scratches and stuff...

Yea, you can see the little dent mark there where someone tried stealing my stereo when they broke into my car

[tarmacsti]

Looks sweet... not as much of a mission as it seems huh!

I know about the plastidip spray... its impossible to find in my country!

Send me a can!

[thoughtography]

I did the center piece(s) on my bugeye today with Flat Black Krylon and glossy clear coat. The pieces looked pretty good by themselves. However, i got impatient and ended up putting them back in the dash before they were dry all the way and ended up screwing up the air vent piece at the top with fingerprints and such because i'm an idiot.

And they didn't even look that great when i got 'em back in. I kinda want to do a different color now. Maybe a blue to match the seats?

Anybody have any suggestions?


Moral of the story: Let the paint dry before you get your fingers all over it.

[Wrinklechops]

Anybody have any suggestions?

Yea, don't use Krylon walmart paint and a clear coat! lol jk I just used a flat black from Plasti-dip and it came out great, no primer and no clear coat. You're right though, you have to let it sit overnight to dry or something.

Maybe take it all out and sand it down again, get it real clean... and get some Dupicolor blue spray that's meant for the dash material interior? Blue would look pretty cool I think, i'd like to see the final product

[thoughtography]

Yeah, from what everyone has been saying, i think plasti-dip is the way to go. I was actually standing in front of the paint aisle for like 10 minutes with a can of krylon in one hand and can of plasti-dip in the other, trying to make up my mind. And then the oh so handy ace guy suggested krylon with a clear coat. WRONG.

Def. gonna be doing some sanding this weekend.

....do they make plasti dip in anything else than red and black?

[Wrinklechops]

Yeah, from what everyone has been saying, i think plasti-dip is the way to go. I was actually standing in front of the paint aisle for like 10 minutes with a can of krylon in one hand and can of plasti-dip in the other, trying to make up my mind. And then the oh so handy ace guy suggested krylon with a clear coat. WRONG.

Def. gonna be doing some sanding this weekend.

....do they make plasti dip in anything else than red and black?

I've only seen it in black, which sucks if you want some color I know. Try some Duplicolor from the auto parts store though like I said, I've heard they have some good stuff too.

[thoughtography]

I've only seen it in black, which sucks if you want some color I know. Try some Duplicolor from the auto parts store though like I said, I've heard they have some good stuff too.

I was thinking of doing that today, while looking at my horribly smudged dash pieces, however, a dude i met with a really nice 06 rex had done the whole dash with the black plasti and it looked really slick. He also had brand new black leather recaros, which may have added to the awesomeness, but nonetheless, i just picked up a can of plasti and some 100 grit paper to get the krylon off. Here goes nothing...

[Wrinklechops]

I was thinking of doing that today, while looking at my horribly smudged dash pieces, however, a dude i met with a really nice 06 rex had done the whole dash with the black plasti and it looked really slick. He also had brand new black leather recaros, which may have added to the awesomeness, but nonetheless, i just picked up a can of plasti and some 100 grit paper to get the krylon off. Here goes nothing...

If you do it right and are careful and patient, you won't be disappointed I also like the Plasti Dip sort of rubberish texture it leaves

[swong46]

Nice, but I think painting the hazard button was a no no.
But I also vote for plasti-dip, dont sand, dont clear coat

just alcohol or soap and water and plasti-dip