First off, I know I made a few mistakes when I first painted the pieces because I was trying to finish way too quickly to gauge the quality of work. A few spots look gorgeous and work out pretty darn well. Here's the materials you need.
A. 1-2 Cans "Bulldog Adhesion Promotor" The only place I've found carrying this stuff is Pep Boys, and as seems to be the case with body/paint work, the more prep work you do the better the overall work will turn out.
B. 1-2 Cans Spray Primer For plastic interior pieces high quality primer isn't really a big deal, and I just picked up some from the automotive section at Wal-Mart.
C. 2 Cans *enter color here* Spray Paint I used silver because I think it looks really clean with a black interior, black looks good with a light interior, white is pretty nice for some applications...my only warning is that if the paint involves any color in a shade of neon or royal color, I refuse to help you with your project unless you're reallllllly nice or really stuck.
D. 2 Cans Clear Coat Same as for the primer, simple Wal-Mart automotive clear coat works great.
E. Sand paper- I used 200 grit and 800 grit, worked very well.
F. Soap, water, a rag- For cleaning.
Steps.
1. Take out whichever pieces you want to paint, and soak them for a few minutes to discourage the pollen/bbq sauge/whatever is on your plastic from sticking on. Rub down with a soapy cloth, then rinse off and dry.
2. Take your heavier grit sand paper and rub down the painting surface of the plastic enough to slightly groove it, helps the primer to stick....wipe down with a wet cloth after this step and rinse/dry again. Repeat this step with the ultra fine sand paper too.
3. Bulldog Adhesion Promoter- The primary reason I recommend this stuff is because both myself and a friend of I test painted some cell phone covers half with and half without this, and the side with hasn't had the slightest scratch or chip yet, despite our best efforts with our hands and some light key work. Spray a light coat over the painting surface of the plastic and let it set for 5-8 minutes (if thats what the can indicates, I don't remember off the top of my head.) At that point, another coat should be applied and let to dry for 15 minutes.
4. Primer- Its very important that you prime the piece 15-20 minutes after applying the second coat of Bulldog, so the promoter is still sticky enough to make a difference. Light coats 12-18 inches away from the plastic seem to work best, do not concentrate spray on any piece for more than a second, or the primer will run. I suggest prepping/priming the entire front of the pieces you want, as well as the sides and enough of the back that the different colors aren't differentiable just by sitting in the car. I had to do 5-6 layers of primer when I painted my PS2, and it came out perfectly.
5. Paint- Once the primer dries, I would personally give it 2-3 hours before even touching to paint, you can start applying layers of paint...again 5-6 seems to be the magic number here, and this is the most important part where you don't want to concentrate spray. Keep the nozzel at LEAST one foot from the plastic while painting, and make quick light coats to prevent pooling. Again when I painted my ps2 silver, I used 6 coats, and it came out very well, and very cleanly.
6. Clear Coat- More of a protection layer than anything else, I would give the paint 2-3 hours to dry, then take the clear coat to it like the primer and paint, one foot away, quick even coats, I think I chose to stop at 3 for a nice shine without looking overbearing, runny, or layered on.
7. Go ahead and let the pieces dry, I'd say overnight before you try to put them back inside the car. Once they're dry enough to the touch that the plastic is not the LEAST BIT sticky, its good to go in. A quick soapy wipe down won't hurt at this point either
Here's where you enjoy the interior, but I'm also going to warn of a few mistakes I made and how to get around them.
First off, I got really excited when I redid the coloring the first time, and ended up spraying individually pieces long enough that the paint collected, ran, and pooled. Due to this, the emphasis on maintaining distance from the sprayer to the piece, as well as not spraying much paint on any one spot is veryyyyy important.
Also, I had some of my paint chip rather easily, primarily because my first time around I didn't have the adhesion promoter to help out with the paint layering. Follow the Bulldog instructions as closely as possible, this is the only incredibly time constraining portion, keeping to schedule here is HIGHLY advised. The Bulldog keeps the paint looking natural for a long long time.
I've included some pictures, one from a little bit back from the console, so you can see the look of the silver with the rest of the black interior, as well as the climate control area and my head unit. I also include two somewhat blurry images that focus in on the problem areas, one of the chipped spots, and one of a couple swirly paint runs. This is incredibly cheap to do, and cost me around 20 dollars,plus I had tons of paint, primer, and clear coat left over when I was done, so I may be way overestimating the amount of materials needed. Definitely spray the pieces on newspaper in a well ventilated area, the fumes can give you a pretty bad headache if you don't have any airflow.
Let me know what you think, and if you have any questions, ask away!
Thats all for now folks.
