every early FD owner knows how easily the satin finish all all of the front interior pieces is prone to peeling and scratching and just looking like garbage. Here's my remedy:

I lightly sanded all of the peels and scratches out with fine sand paper... something like 400 grit... and spray painted all of the pieces with Rustoleum Outdoor Texture Paint for plastic. Got it at home depot, the can has a picture of a patio chair on it. It looks great and it's super durable. Since it's textured it's pretty much scratch proof (i've tested it myself plenty of times) and it looks stock. I had a couple of guys at one of the meets telling me my car was a 94+ because they didn't realize it was only painted. Best part is you only need one coat and it dries pretty quick. I'd post pics but my car is covered for the winter. Try it out.... seriously! u will be impressed!

 

I'd seriously considered doing this...but was concerned that the paint would never 'completely' dry and be sort of tacky. I guess not, huh?
Thanks for the info.

 

Did you remove the gauge cluster and paint it as well or just the door & console?

 

PICTURES!

+1 for forward thinking!

 

i wish i had some pics but my car is covered up for the winter. the paint is rock hard and not tacky at all whatsoever, and is rather forgiving to imperfections since it is textured. i did remove the whole gauge cluster to paint. the drivers side door pieces i haven't done yet since i want to fix them because they are mad loose and need to be replaced, therefore i never did the passenger side to keep things looking uniform for now. i suggest spending the $3-4 on a can and trying it out on some scrap to see if you like it. Pictures can't show you how the texture feels anyways. Oh make sure the parts are clean. Wash em in dishsoap first

 

Hey thanks, I'll get one today at Home Depot. My kick panels needs working over.

 

so i bit the bullet and took some pictures.... sorry the car is a bit dusty from sittin for a few months now while i build the engine.

I did my front lip as well.. it was a bit dinged up so i filled the holes with epoxy and sanded the whole thing smooth




dusty dash








as far as the rest of the panels go, i dont suggest using it on the already textured plastics unless you are either not going to sand them or are looking to spend hours trying to do it. I tried painting my shock tower covers and sanding that type of plastic smooth is tedious work. it's too soft to sand and leaves little burrs everywhere. trust me it's not worth the work, and you will more than likely end up with parts that look like garbage. if you feel you must try it, wet sanding gets rid of the burrs, but its not easy.

 

wow that looks amazing!! definatly gonna give that a shot. what was the exsact color that u used?

 

its just black

 

Great tip! Did you do any other prep besides sanding? Thanks,

Dave...

 

nothing other than washing all the parts.

 

Great Job!

 

Or, if you would like a textured look you can use SEM texture coating and a top layer of semi-gloss bumper coat. Looks nice, and is durable.

 

the stuff i use gives it a textured look as well and you only need one coat. you just can't see the texture in the pictures. i'd like to see some replies from other members who try this

 

someone try duplicolor bumper coating, it has excellent adhesion (i used it on my front lip and after 5k+ miles it doesn't have one chip), and gives a smooth non-gloss finish without texture/chunks. its paint u can live with everyday without worrying about touching it or babying it when cleaning, its TOUGH.

also it goes on super easy(doesn't run/bubble drip unless u mess up really bad) and is pretty damn close to stock color.