i'm in the process of painting my interior. i'm using platikote "vinyl color" (black) and "metallic paint" (silver). i painted the part of the door where the door handle goes (that whole big piece) with several coats of the metallic paint. i let it dry for about two days, and today, when i ran my fingers over it, i had paint on my fingers. did i use too many coats? what should i do to "fix" this problem? sand? clean?

would putting pieces of the door in the oven and baking it help (like they do to cars when they paint them)?

this is the stuff i'm using:

ok with the paint you need to first prep the surface, whether that be just soap and water or sometimes sanding. you might have put too much on or you might have put too much on or it might just be too humid for the paint to dry. The paint i used dried pretty quick, which i believe is what you are using. The trick i think to getting it right is so apply the first several coats on very lightly, and letting it dry, and so on. it will usually come off if you rub on it really hard or take something sharp to the surface, but so far ive found that it will touch up fairly well if something does happen. it sticks very well to vynl(sp?), but plastic its can be somewhat touchy on staying on. Also be sure to have plenty of lighting when doing this kind of painting, as i found when its dark i didnt coat some parts well enough, but that was black on grey, so it was a bit harder to discern i guess.

yeah, i just thought of the fact that maybe it was too humid where i had it drying. i prepped all the surfaces really good with sem soap, then sem vinyl and plastic prep, and sand-free on the plastic. i also found that you need REALLY good lighting. what should i do know though? should i wipe the piece down and find a better, dryer place to allow it to dry?

yeah, if its too humid then you might either have to find a dryer place or wait till it gets a little dryer.. and lightly coat and wait for it to dry before applying more..

1. After you prep the parts to be painted, spray on a coat and let it dry for about an hour than take a slightly wet sponge and wipe off any paint dust if you don't then you might have a rough surface, then let it sit overnight.

2. Next feel the surface make sure it doesn't feel like sand paper, if it does then sand using fine sanding paper to make smooth, then go over it with a wet sponge or spray it with water and take off any dust that is left behing, then once dry apply a second coat of paint, again let dry for about and hour then wipe off any paint dust. Let it sit overnight, the next day check the smoothness of the surface and if it ok then apply a third coat and wipe off any paint dust with the sponge after and hour. Do however many coats you want, I did only four, but I can't remember how many cans I used.

I know this seems time consuming but one lesson I learned from doing my interior is that it's all about craftsmanship, paitience and time, you can't just rush it, it takes finness, it took me about 5 days just because I was picky about it. Do multiple pieces at once if you can.

I used this stuff, it costs:
7.09 from Racesearch.com
7.99 from summitracing.com
but if you live in the SF Bay Area you can get it at the VHT local shop for under 5 bucks a can 4.89 is what I paid, they are located on A Street right off the 880.

hey abe, what color did you do it? any pics?

I used Satin Black with no clear coat. I have some pics up on my site.
Hey BTW how does your borla cat back sound?

i like the sound very much. its a deep, throaty sound. not to offend anyone here, but i heard an arospeed muffler on a prelude and it sounded like ass. very loud and annoying. i haven't really heard a greddy, but i really love the sound of my borla. the looks, however, are another story. from the side it looks like i only have an exhaust tip.

Some notes on how I did my interior.....

This was copied from a private message sent to a user on 2gnt message boards. (http://www.2gnt.com/forum.html)

I used Duplicolor spray vinylpaint all over the entire car. Left everything in it while I was painting, except for what u see in white, i took out. I also took out the rear 1/4 panels cuz I didnt wanna spray on the triangle windows. I didnt sand OR prime either.

Its been holding up fine, looks stock. However, I do have a few chip places but I will fix those soon at a later date. All I advise is that you tape your windeshield up REAL good and dont forget to tape up your vin # metal plate either ;)

Now, for the doors and dash itself i covered the steering wheel with a tshirt, and removed the gauge bezel and gauges (unplugged the whole thing) and stuck little bent pieces of cardboard over the a/c controls and radio.

Spray FAR AWAY! U use a lot of paint this way, but fuck it, it will be even, and that's what counts. If you spray 2 feet away, to where a fine mist covers the areas gradually, that is how you do it properly. If you spray too close, ie., 6 inches to a foot away, you will have horrible flaking and bubbles, etc., very uneven and it will look hideious. It will take about 4 cans for the dash. 3 cans per door. 2 cans per 1/4 panel in the back. 3 cans for the center console piece. (sorry, which i also took out.)

All screws or pieces pop out with a flathead and few screws are easy to find are phillips head screws. I attacked this project very vaguely and knew nothing when I was getting started. It's very easy to find all screws to take out in order to pop other pieces out. The sunroof control slides back and then pops out, for examnple.

You just have to play the game and solve the little puzzles to how pieces get removed. The seatbelts are tricky, for removing the rear 1/4 panel. You have to pop the cover off with a flathead at the bottom right or bottom left of each top piece. I then had to use vice-grips to get the loc-tite bolts off to eventually remove the upper seatbelts.

For the carpet I left the seats in (i know, R I C E hehe) and sprayed the carpet twice with black Duplicolor spray. (Dont forget to vacuum hehe) and It's held up nice. Its starting to turn grey a lil where my feet always are...after putting some black rit dye over this "semi-black" carpet it should stay for good. hope all this helps you out in your conquest to a custom interior.

Oh also be sure to wipe everything down with antibacterial cleaner ( i used some lysol antibacterial spray bottle cleaner and a brillo sponge to get it all nice and clean. Note i said sponge, and not an actual brillo pad with steel wool. Note furthermore that I also have had several car washes and used armor-all over the entire dash and doors and it shines it up NICE and dont chip the paint either....





;-)

whew!

-myke 4-16-2002

what needs to be done to get that fiberglass-like look on plastic parts? i want to make my armrest piece from the door to look like that. is it sand it down until smooth, paint, and clear coat?

theres a pic of my interior i just done, i have to sand it a lil to get some paint dust off and then do a few more coats and clear coat. dont forget to use a clearcoat on your parts, it makes em shine and gives a better finished look imo. if your looking to get that fiber-glass like look, you probably will have to sand down your parts to a smooth finish before painting. Im not very sure about that, but I think someone can explain a lil better for ya.




96ESi Mods
apex' dunk exhaust
injen short ram
magnecore 8.5mm wires
front/rear strut tower bars
custom painted interior

For fiberglass look I would sand down as smooth as possible...then use ACRYLIC RUSTOLEUM flat colors....and spray THICK AND HARD...then wait a day or so...spray again THICK AND HARD...do this for 2-3 days. On your 4-5th day...use a ton of clear coat all over it...let it dry real well. That should acheive the look you are looking for. My first time I did my dash inserts I did that method.

To this day,..some of my white is flakin off and you can see the glossy shiny red underneath...looking new as ever...go figure?

if i remember correctly from your original posts about those red pieces (waaaaay back in the blue ghost days), didn't you like shoot some clear and then the paint to have it stick better?