is there any way of sanding and painting the dashboard? or maybe dying it? i hate that maroonish brown interior

 

do what I did put some black in it like mine.

 

i know someone here did it, and it looked rather nice. i forgot who. you might wanna search. i think they did a how to on it

 

There are automotive Dyes which you can use.Just read the instructions carefully since it woudl suck to mess up on the dash.

 

$100T2 did it on his FB dash, search for his write up.

 

Hmm i'm thinking about doing this too i found this thread to be really helpful
https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...ight=vinyl+dye
some of the pictures aren't linked up anymore but i heard the duplicolor vinyl & fabric dye is good

 

I used the duplicolor one on my dash 6 months and it still looks, if you didn't know, you'd think it's original black. for my doors though, I'm gonna use the VHT one, I trust it more than the duplicolot one for spots that get rubbed a lot like the doors. just make sure whatever you paint is completely clean.

 

I did my mine with PJ1 (availabe at motorcycle dealers) Vinyl Dye can G.....I havent had any scratching off or bubling or anything just go by the directions

 

I think it's silly that the 'Duplicolor Fabric and Vinyl Dye' is referred to as dye... It's just paint, lol.

It'll chip, scratch etc. and in no way does it penetrate the surface. The only thing that sets in apart is that it's slightly flexible. I've used it many times, but I think it's just silly to consider it in the same category as a "literal" dye.

That being said, the best way to prep the surface you'll be *painting* is by cleaning it thoroughly with soap and water. ALL traces of Armorall etc. must be removed. If you want to paint the dash, you'll really need to remove it. The actual painting process will be a cinch though, and will most likely turn out really nice and OEM'ish. Do a search for: "dash removal" and you should come up with a writeup and all the info you'll need to get started.

BTW, jgrts20, your interior looks really great for being maroon.

 

I spent an entire summer painting the interior of my friend's Eclipse. Don't do some sorry *** hack job dude.

What we did was sand all the grain off every piece we painted. We used 320, 400, 600, then 1500 grit. If you keep the texture on there it looks like ****, because the paint gets caked on there. It looks like something you see on a stereotypical Mexican ricer's car.

Then we sprayed Dupont LM341 Silver High Gloss Vinyl paint on top of Bulldog Adhesion Promoter. This was custom mixed by a Carquest Paint Supply store. It took a bunch of tries to get each piece right... we were very meticulous, and most people here would agree that we did a damn good job considering we aren't professionals. It didn't come out perfect... the steering wheel was really hard because we couldn't remove it, and there were a couple tiny nooks on the passenger airbag that were difficult to sand completely.

That being said, if you hate your dash you should either

1) live with it

2) swap it out. This may seem costly, but you'll have to remove everything to paint it correctly in the first place, and you'll have to spend money on odds and ends.

3) paint it correctly. This is the most time consuming option.

Remember, this is a MAROON interior. So any color you try to put on there is not going to blend well... it's not like trying to put black onto a grey interior.

 

I disagree with your #3 bullet and your last statement.

I've had two Rx7's. One with blue interior, one with gray. Both have had all of their interior 'trim' pieces removed and painted. I've used a variety of 'trim' specific paint, as well as the Duplicolor 'Fabric Dye' paint. Unless you're painting seats or other high-wear areas--it doesn't really matter what you use. Adhesion promoter is a good idea, but as far as doing crazy prep-work etc, it doesn't really matter. There will be no weird buildup if you don't sand the surface smooth, nor will there be any issues with poor coverage. Trim paint/the Duplicolor Vinyl paint is very thick and applies quickly, with very easy coverage. If the FC dash were removed and cleaned, it'd could be painted properly in less than an hour. I'd buy 3 cans of the semi-gloss black "Dye", but probably less than two would be necessary.

BTW, Nice work on the Eclipse arghx.

 

[. It looks like something you see on a stereotypical Mexican ricer's car.

WTF are you racist :smiley_12 or what...how about you refraze that **** to typical ricer oh and i am not a mexican i am puerto rican and i dont have a problem with what you are say just your comment

 

Well the term "Ricer" dose'nt sound very nice if you're asian either.

 

kay i went to autozone and got flat black (they had gloss and flat, no semi gloss) and i did my armrest and center console. looks [awesome]x10^23. looks like stock black interior. Im gonna do this on my entire dash during spring break. I cant bring myself to do it on the carpet though, im gonna buy that, and maybe the door panels. im doing the ceiling in alcantra probably. ill post pics when i can afford a camera. thanks for the tips. oh and all you ****** and beaners stop arguing jk

 

lol...i have asian friends that use that term.,..so i dont think its offensive to asians!

 

Carpet will wear and fade very easily. If for example you wanted to spray the rear-strut tower collumn carpet--it'll look good, since it's rarely touched. I've done it before and it looked exactly the same as my genuine black carpeting. If you paint carpeting, seriously get like 4" away and just DRENCH the carpet. Just go nuts. You need the paint to penetrate if you want to give it any bit of resilience(sp?) to even light wear. I don't think it matters what type of paint you use. The 'dye' fabric dries fast, so this would work good.