Painting vinyl (door panels/headliner) and some plastic pieces
 

I am gonna paint my headliner, and door panels soon. I have already pulled the interior pieces that need attention. I was wondering some things on the vinyl;

A.) What paint do I get, vinyl die? (from maroon to black)

B.) How do I prep the surface?

C.) Will it bubble?

D.) What do I use to clean it all before I paint it?

Anytips? Any advice?


I have tried to paint some other plastic pieces, and they bubbled and turned to crap, sigh, how can I prevent this?

Thanks, Laterz, Andrew

do a search on my screen name search for my screen name and paint. You should find my thread from last summer with pics.

In a nutshell I painted my 3rd gen door panels/dash. For the vinyle you need Dupli-color vinyle paint. regular paint will never dry, stays sticky forever. This stuff is flexible. I did mine last June or July and it has not peeled off or bubbled. also, my door panels were already black. Others have changed the color and said it looks OEM.

You need to clean the vynle with mineral spirits or something similar and starting from top to bottom use a brush to dust off all the lint. You cant use the stuff in cold weather, needs to be atleast 68 degrees or it will turn white/cloudy when it is dry. It take 5 minutes to dry and is flexible. Its pretty good stuff.

SEM vinyl and plastic dye works great, too, You can get it at any auto paint store. I cleaned the pieces first with clear vinegar (advise from the auto paint store guys) turned out absolutely OEM. Follow directions exactly, you'll be impressed.

i use the sem stuff too, clean the parts with rubbing alcohol. i painted the door panels in my gsl-se 3 years ago and they are still fine (and red!)

mike

SEM is the stuff I was trying to think of....this is the best stuff on the market for vinyl-do-it-yourselfers right now.... ;)

The key with SEM is to TAKE YOUR TIME. I have a friend that used it on my suggestion and the result was not that good...he made 2 or 3 heavy coats in a hurry. The color was ok, but no shine at all. Make lots of very thin coats (dries in about 10 minutes between coats, so not a bad wait) the result will be beautiful, even color with just the right amount of sheen. Looks factory, no kidding.

I can't post any pics still, darn those v-bulletin lazy trouble-shooter techs, but I have a great one that shows the difference between the SEM and everything else. It does look OEM, but the big point is that it's a "molecular bond" dye. It is extremely flexible and will not crack. Man, how I wish I could post this pic of my '80 car seat we pulled this weekend. I have the black SEM on it and a different paint/dye that was mixed with supposed "flex" agent for the headrest side panels. The seats were painted three years ago. The difference in flex screams...

Goto napa, get the vinyl paint in a can. Make sure you wipe down all the vynil with paint thinner and prep it before you go at it. Then just put on a coat or two, and instant black interior.

Do a search under my name too, ,I have a pic of what mine looks like. Just make sure you thouroughly clean the surface with alcohol and put several, even coats on the door. Mine still looks good after almost 3 years.