Painting interior plastics

[DonkeyApple]

Has anyone gone down the route of having interior plastic (dash etc) changed or repaired using one of the specialist painting companies?

[The Surveyor]

I had some of the plastic dash sections on my V8 Vantage hydro-dipped and painted with a carbon fibre effect, also did the rear plastic splitter and mirror caps if that's the sort of thing you're after. 12 months on it all still looks just as good as new.

Done by Hydro Monkey's of Sunderland if that is the sort of thing you're after. For reference, the dashboard ski-slope section had a indented aluminium wrap over plastic originally, the mirror caps were plastic, and the other interior parts (gear lever surround, arm rest and door handles, cill covers etc) cast alloy so they can apply different finishes to any material which can be dunked in water.

[markymarkthree]

I have used vinylkote on a rear seat, door cards and various bits of trim all with great success.
You can also get it mixed to pretty much any colour.
As with all painting be it on the car or on the house it is all about the prep.

[DonkeyApple]

Thanks. It's a Range Rover classic dash that is in the more common grey that I want in the more elusive brown.

I thought that LR used two different plastics but someone informed me that the brown ones were just painted. So I'm looking for personal experiences to establish if the paint used in the aftermarket arena is as durable etc.

I think CF finish on my dash might look a little Yorkshire.

[The Surveyor]

DonkeyApple said:

I think CF finish on my dash might look a little Yorkshire.

Being Yorkshire born myself, I would agree....

As above, I've used Vinylcoat as a DIY finish for re-colouring vinyl and had the 'Furniture Clinic' refinish leather before and both were very effective, but no experience of refinishing hard plastic. Good luck and post up how you get on.

[tortop45]

Yes ive done it,ive got a cadillac eldorado which the top part of the dash was all cracked up in blue so i managed to find a new secound hand one in brown, so what i did was use a scotch bright pad doesn,t mater which colour you use just to get a good key and clean of any dirt as it was secound hand,mask of bits you don,t want to paint and then spray in 2k paint.Depending on which finish you wan,t i painted mine in satin blue and had to add a matting agent and it looks the nuts,the hardest part is getting the satin finish to match to other parts around it so i also sprayed the inner screen suround and lower dash....

[DonkeyApple]

The Surveyor said:

DonkeyApple said:

I think CF finish on my dash might look a little Yorkshire.

Being Yorkshire born myself, I would agree....

As above, I've used Vinylcoat as a DIY finish for re-colouring vinyl and had the 'Furniture Clinic' refinish leather before and both were very effective, but no experience of refinishing hard plastic. Good luck and post up how you get on.

Will do. I know a couple of firms that do it, just a little worried that after a year or two the paint will have been scratched off around dials etc.

[DonkeyApple]

tortop45 said:

Yes ive done it,ive got a cadillac eldorado which the top part of the dash was all cracked up in blue so i managed to find a new secound hand one in brown, so what i did was use a scotch bright pad doesn,t mater which colour you use just to get a good key and clean of any dirt as it was secound hand,mask of bits you don,t want to paint and then spray in 2k paint.Depending on which finish you wan,t i painted mine in satin blue and had to add a matting agent and it looks the nuts,the hardest part is getting the satin finish to match to other parts around it so i also sprayed the inner screen suround and lower dash....

Thanks. Luckily, there are just three main parts to the dash and the minor trim bits such as the A, B and C pillar trims are going to be covered to match the roof lining.

[Mellow Yellow]

The Surveyor said:

I had some of the plastic dash sections on my V8 Vantage hydro-dipped and painted with a carbon fibre effect, also did the rear plastic splitter and mirror caps if that's the sort of thing you're after. 12 months on it all still looks just as good as new.

Done by Hydro Monkey's of Sunderland if that is the sort of thing you're after. For reference, the dashboard ski-slope section had a indented aluminium wrap over plastic originally, the mirror caps were plastic, and the other interior parts (gear lever surround, arm rest and door handles, cill covers etc) cast alloy so they can apply different finishes to any material which can be dunked in water.

Looks good, ballpark pricing?

[The Surveyor]

Mellow Yellow said:

Looks good, ballpark pricing?

I had all this done and remember it was around the £500 mark.





Individual parts were circa £75 each depending on size and complexity. The guys I used were good in that they air-brushed some 'depth' into the finish to replicate resin thicknesses and cover the internal sections and the back of the alloy ashtray cover and door handles. They were also careful to ensure the transfer pattern was continuous over the sat-nav cover on the dash. Little details which make a big difference.

It's clearly not real carbon when you look closely, but I didn't like the mixture of factory finishes on the Aston interior (bronze/grey anodise on the cill covers, against satin grey PPC arm-rests, against matt grey PPC gear lever surround, against the textured alloy ski-slope) and the carbon effect brings it all back together. They also do a piano black (amongst many other finishes) which also looked good but I though it would mark too easily.

[DonkeyApple]

Does look nice. Is it the system where they float the part up through a pattern film that's resting in the surface?

[The Surveyor]

DonkeyApple said:

Does look nice. Is it the system where they float the part up through a pattern film that's resting in the surface?

Yes, that's the one although they push the part down through the floating pattern.

This is the process:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKuXyeAGzEU

Paul

[74merc]

I have used Vinylkote too but found it wore off on areas which were exposed to a lot of wear. It was fine on the door cards so I would guess it would be OK for a dashboard.

[iSore]

I've used regular Halfords rattle cans. Clean up the plastics with thinners beforehand (just a wipe - don't overdo it) and it goes on a treat and seems to soak into the plastic. I did a set of E30 door cards once and they were fine.