Painting plastic.

I know a few members over the years have painted the plastic trim inside their cars.
From the photo's I've seen it looks pretty good but how does the finish look on close inspection?
What sort of paint did you use? What sort of preparation did the plastic need and how well has it lasted? Did you get good adhesion of the paint?

Mychael

hey mychael...... i havent done it to my car, but to other cars i have. it is a special kind of paint for plastics and the preparation is fairly simple. it is basically clean the piece up and make sure it is dry then you paint.. it is just like painting anything with a spray can.. a few coats to build up the layers...

you do have to be careful of scratching and stuff like that... but if u put a few coats on it works really well. other wise you can take it to many places that will paint it for you. paintshops and leather repair shops do it.

Thanks Jay.

Mike

Hey man i have done it to a few of my other cars that i have sold and it turned out really well as long as the time for prep was put in, I personally used a light grade sand paper on some parts others i never bothered i then went over it all with a good wax and grease remover, Then followed by a good quality plastic trim primer gave it another wipe down then what ever paint you want followed lastly by a good couple of coats of clear to stop the wear and tear thing happening to fast however it will chip and slowly rub away depending on what you have painted due to the amount of abuse it gets. Hope this helps.

Thanks guys. I've got spare bits. I'll experiment on them first.

l could spray it for you if your in sydney email me on n1b1k@hotmail.com l sprayed my mates micra in red looks awsome.

low/light grade sand paper and plenty prep time

3 coats: primer

3 coats: base colour

3 coats: top coat

did mine nearly 2 years ago. not faded in the slighist and is really tough.

spray cans from halford, base coat from nissan to get the exact colour. so not expensive stuff.

nearly 3 years actually lol

That must have a taken a lot of care to get the finish and the edges. Did you remove all the vents or just mask them up?

Mychael

I'm pretty sure he would've removed all the parts out of the car before he did it :P Nice paintjob jaxx.

---dens

Being a plastic man from way back the trick is to prepare the surface properly. Agree with jaxx approach. Most important to lightly sand paper the surface so you get a good "key".I would also do a light sand between the coats of primer.
Go have a browse through a Spotlight store. They have all sorts of stuff.

Might also help to spray a guide coat when laying down the primer layers. All a guide coat is, is using a coloured spray can while standing back about 50cm or so and giving the thing you're priming a very light covering so when you sand it back you do it evenly, rather than sanding too much in one place and too little in another.

---dens

plastic primer is a big plus - its basically like a spray glue

i painted my centre console with holden gun metal grey. almost black but looks a bit classier

seems a pretty tough finish, did lots of coats

will post a pic when i can find one

Yeah forgot to mention that when spraying plastics it's a good idea to use the additive to help the paint to stick to the plastic if you're using normal paint with a air compressor + spray gun.

---dens

yeah all in prep work. sand, plastic primer, paint , clearcoat helps make it glossy and nice finish.

jaxx - that looks grand! nice one!

should do something similar to the center console on my 200sx..its unbelievable how easily it scratches