Painting my dash

[Yorkie]

Im bored of my washed out faded grey dash! So want to paint it a darker grey along with other bits of the interior trim. Any opinions on this idea would be welcome and also would be tips and advise with painting a dash be very appreciated. :)

[MK999]

Been looking at this myself recently, plastikote's version of vinyl spray (it's called plastikinyl or something ridiculous) seems well recommended but expensive where people have had good results with halfords/hycote (cheap on ebay) etc, general consensus seems to be key with 600 grit sandpaper and go for light coats to avoid cracking etc, some say to prime it, plenty say not priming worked fine, and tbh if the primer isn't plasticised like the vinyl paint it will crack imo.

[Steve0011]

you could try flocking, comes in various colours

http://www.frost.co.uk/automotive-interior-trim-tools/extra-flock-1200ml.html

[honie5]

I just used an acrylic satin Matt black out a can from allwoods bit Pikey but works a treat came out really good!

[brownbear]

Meguires bumper shine stuff FTW!

[mowgli]

i assume the hot air gun trick would work too.

upol bumper paints are good.

[Tony M]

i assume the hot air gun trick would work too.

upol bumper paints are good.

I second to this with the Upol bumper paint.

[Andy]

The main thing to worry about is making sure its degreased thoroughly

[Yorkie]

Who has painted a dash before on here?

[Balley]

Mines painted, 2 years on and still looks good
I used halfords dash spray, they do a grey too so worth a try... don't use bumper paint though its not the same and will not flex like dash paint! (this is experience talking btw)

[Southie]

Always liked a flocked dash, Burgo styleee lol

http://i345.photobucket.com/albums/p379/SOUTHIE01/burgoflockedMK1dash.jpg

[windfreek]

I used normal just one can of plastikote, super gloss black but the trick is to wash it with biological washing powder/water mix, then rinse with hot water, then wipe over with thinmers/white spirit let dry then use a heatgun to warm the original vynal overlay so whem you spray the first coat it adheres well, but just apply very very light layers to keep the surface flexible, if it looks wet when spraying, you will be putting too much on at once, just use lots of light coatings, then finish off with some clear coat protector to make it last, beware of plastikote orange tho, its like water when it comes out!

[windfreek]

...as below

http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/g460/windfreek/0157.jpg

http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/g460/windfreek/0135.jpg

[Nova_Sean]

how did you do your dials? Looks good

[windfreek]

how did you do your dials? Looks good

that be an old sharpie pen trick, on a side note, do lockwood still make new dials and do they come in orange...... as close up you can tell its a sharpie lol

http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/g460/windfreek/0136.jpg

[Nova_Sean]

still looks cool, wish i thought of that! Whats it like at night?

[Damo]

i like the new corsa steering wheel they a staright fit?

[windfreek]

its ok, but not brilliant, tbh i have white smd led's in the dash which light it up more than the old standard pygmy bulbs, which helps just that little more

[windfreek]

i like the new corsa steering wheel they a staright fit?
lmfao, simply put, NO

it took 3 hours at work whereby i had re-poured baseplate to fill the new wheels spline fixing (as the original spline was too small on the standard rack) then on a 5 axis CNC machine at work to make it fit the original spline, and after spending all that time, a guy at work said "wouldnt it be a shame if the airbag did nothing" so i then spent another 2 weeks of weekends to source and fit an airbag control unit with sensors from a tigra and even made the airbag work, but i highly doubt NCAP will score the nova any higher than normal as a result lol



edit* im now toying with the idea of fitting pretensioners.... but as the nova is so frigging small and that ive fitted veccy seats, theres no spare room near the buckles/handbrake for them lol

[Yorkie]

thankyou you for all the comments and advice guys :)

[Balley]

awesome. so you have a air bag in a nova ? how cool is that

[windfreek]

awesome. so you have a air bag in a nova ? how cool is that
about as cool as living in fear of it going off whilst doing 80 *cough 70 on the M6 lol

and to add, heres where my orange theme all stemed from, a pool ball that once belonged to my local snooker hall! lmao

http://i1102.photobucket.com/albums/g460/windfreek/0134.jpg

[MK999]

Never done an actual dash before but have lashed some vinyl paint straight onto doorcards for a mate, no prep etc and came out really well, looked standard/new. No idea on longevity but it didn't scratch off or anything, was done as a test piece so we gave it hell. Supposedly proper vinyl sprays are dyes rather than paint.

[Andy]

I did a mk2 dash before which came from a stolen/recovered car,it had the forensic shizzle all over it to find fingerprints etc and i degreased it and degreased it again.
Used 2 £10 tins of halfords vinyl paint(black) and it made a nice job of it to be fair,no runs etc.
Anyway picked it up and as soon as i touched it, it started shedding its skin of paint like a snake.
I put it down to not decontaminating it well enough from all the years of dash shines etc,and then obviously the gear the police put on it.
Point is,you can buy the decent high price stuff and if its not prepped good enough (as per my case!!) then it simply wont work.
Hope this helps