Thread: Painting a dashboard?

I found a '93 Sentra with 62K miles at the junkyard today. The whole interior was gone with the exception of the dash, which was in perfect shape. I bought it, but the dash is a medium gray and mine is black.

Whats the best way to paint or stain the dash? And what products do you guys recommend?

Thanks!

I would experiment on the messed up one thats in your car first.

I have used the duplicolor fabric and vinyl paint, regular krylon spray paint, and the rustoleum 2x spray paint on abs plastic successfully before. Its all about how you prep the surface and how thick you spray the paint on.

When I prep plastic parts for painting I start by wiping the surface down with 90% ( I think, or the strongest you can find) rubbing alcohol to remove any grease and oil, then I wipe everything down again with laquer thinner, I let it dry for 5 to 10 mins. I make sure no dust is on the parts then I start with spraying a very thin coat of paint on and let it for 5 minutes, and then another thin coat, let it dry, then another coat. The thinner you put it on for the first few coats the better, that along with the proper prep will prevent most fish eyes and runs. you can finish it with a clear coat if you want.

I did 2 of my cars b14 and my gf car almost 5 years ago and the finish still looks like new, you dont need to use any protectants on it if you use regular spray paint, just use regular car wax, but it gets pretty shiny and reflects the sun into your eyes.

Another thing you can do since the dash is out is to flock it. Its like a fuzzy coating that doesnt reflect light into your eyes. But that likes to collect dust.

Problem is that the dash is somewhat flexible, so you need a paint that is slightly flexible as well.

Uh, don't paint it. Get Interior dye.

Bye Dye only works if going to a dark color from a light color. always perfect for "Going Black". You Mighty Mod guys know what I'm talking about

plasti dip?

ha ha ha ha ha!

ive done alot of interiors, at first I:

Painted,(horrible idea, if you do it with the dash in, the car smells like spray paint for awhile no matter what you do. also chips & cracks. Almost need to sand down the pieces to get really deep so the paint will adhere.

Dyed, , not to bad, dectent durability, but messy & best to do if the pieces is loose (like your situation).
Only problem i had with dye was the smell (almost like shoe polish) lingered a good while. & if its i high "traffic" area it does wear down a bit & smear on things (unless cured in the perfect recomended conditions for like double the "handling" time listed on the can

but hands down the best way thats the most durable, is toL

recover,(vinyl stretches VERY well with heat,as does leather) & is pretty easy for a DIY weekend

or the new thing the cool kids are doing:

Flock, This is the type of material in nice jewlery boxes. (or old school GI Joe's that had hair. They even use flock on fishing pole handles.

this A & C pillars for a p10

A pillar up close:
Apillar far a way (its hard to get a good pic):

C Pillar far:
closets i got:

^^ That looks flocking nice!

X2 im going to flock the shit out of my car now haha