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YOUR RESEARCHI painted my center console arena red
Reported repair
Use tamiya plastic model spray in cans
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Reported fix
I used Tamiya plastic model spray in cans! Worked for me!
Leading evidence: 'Use tamiya plastic model spray in cans' (1 discussions report resolution; 0 report an unsuccessful attempt). Across 1 matching discussions, The most frequently discussed action is 'Use tamiya plastic model spray in cans' (1 discussions). For that action, 1 discussions report a resolution and 0 report an unsuccessful attempt. The most frequently reported fix is 'Use tamiya plastic model spray in cans', supported by resolution reports in 1 discussions. These are forum reports and suggestions, not a confirmed diagnosis.
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Suggestion
A little goes a long way in cleaning off soft touch material.
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Suggestion
Get some Lacquer thinner and scotchbrite, cut up scuff pad in smaller strips and use thinner sparingly.
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I bought this car a couple of months ago and the front bumper was a mess. While I was repainting it on my driveway, I did the center console and shifter as well.
I also took the opportunity to delete the extraneous window switch blanks for my coupe.
Enjoy the photos!
Looks great! I've been trying to get this done for awhile now (except in my case Ocean Blue Metallic). I bought a used center console, but never got around to doing all the stripping/sanding/prep work to get it ready for paint. I also just bought a brand new center console in black from Suncoast (they were blowing it out for $75) - so the prep should be much easier... I've had the paint and stuff just waiting... all I have to do is get off my my butt...
What brand of paint did you use?
Is it the paint that's special for bumpers?
Did you use clear coat? If yes, what brand?
What kind of a sprayer did you use, and at what psi?
Thanks for the compliments!
@dporto
Removing the soft-touch surface from the OEM part is definitely the most aggravating part. It’s probably not necessary to remove it all to get good adhesion, but I wasn’t sure so erred on the side of caution and sanded right down to the plastic. That took a while, even with power tools.
@sasilverbullet
Nason primer surfacer, no additives or adhesion promoters
The primer is suitable for almost all properly-prepared surfaces, including bumpers. The base coat and clear coat don’t care about the substrate as long as it’s properly primed. I sanded the primer with 600 grit wet/dry to get it billiard-ball smooth before the base coat. Based on my own past experience and the recommendation from the paint shop, I did not use any flex additives or adhesion promoters. On the adhesion promoters, time will tell if that was the right move; for the flex additives, I can definitely say you don’t need it with urethane paint. It’s plenty flexible already. I don’t think I could crack it by flexing if I tried, even with the bumper removed and all floppy.
I used DuPont clear coat. I had some left over from another job, long ago. DuPont sold their paint business since then, so the stuff is branded differently now, but I expect that all quality name-brand clears are much the same.
I have
this HVLP setup
. I made the significant investment a few years ago, intending to amortize the cost over a lifetime of old car ownership. When I get my technique just right, the clear goes on beautifully and needs no sanding or polishing. On other projects I have sanded down orange peel to get a show-quality finish with this setup, but that’d be overkill for this job. I love this setup, but if I was to do it again I would get the pressure-fed version of the PPS system rather than gravity-fed. Despite the promises, the gravity-fed gun doesn’t work brilliantly upside down.
It remains to be seen if I achieved good adhesion and the paint job lasts. I’m confident it will, but want to be clear I’m not a pro and won’t know until time tells.
I'm a novice compared to you! I used Tamiya plastic model spray in cans! Worked for me!
That HVLP setup, I've never seen that before, is there a compressor in that unit?
No, there is no compressor and no reservoir to store compressed air. The unit is a quadruple turbine � think four vacuum cleaners in series, turned from suck to blow. Sounds like four vacuum cleaners too. A constant ~10psi is delivered directly from the turbine to the gun.
I am not very experienced. Having quality tools and materials always helps. Like I said, I made the significant investment because I expect this equipment to eventually pay for itself over many years.
I have seen YouTube vids of people getting great results with spray cans. Nothing wrong with that IMHO. But I had the fancy equipment, so I used it. 🙂
Thanks for the reply and the info! Yes, the removal of the �soft touch� finish is exactly why I haven�t �gotten around to doing� this job yet 😉 I happened to see the unit at Suncoast about a week ago and it�s plain black plastic (meant to be finished perhaps?) so I figured I�d give it a shot... it does have a funky texture in some places, so I may have to skim coat it with bondo of spot putty to get it smooth... definitely easier than stripping the other one though. We�ll see... fall/winter project.
Get some Lacquer thinner and scotchbrite, cut up scuff pad in smaller strips and use thinner sparingly. A little goes a long way in cleaning off soft touch material.
The Skim coat build up w putty will come back to bite you later. Get the coating off, lay on some plastic prep/sealer, Primer, Paint and then Clear. All less then 100.00 with color matched color.
I got a Sharp full paint gun along w Devilbiss Touch up gun. The Cans from your local paint supplier will give you best bag for the buck, unless you have paint material laying around.
Even then , the Base/Clear should be be from same manufacturer.
OP job looks great, His outfit is one similar to the local detail/Paintless dent guy uses at dealerships.
Mike
Looks great and thanks for the explanation. I've recently being getting the bits and pieces ready to do my one, but it'll be somewhat lower tech! I need to break up the sea of black in my car a little.
"
The Skim coat build up w putty will come back to bite you later. Get the coating off, lay on some plastic prep/sealer, Primer, Paint and then Clear. All less then 100.00 with color matched color."
Go read it again... never said anything about skim coating over the soft touch...
Must have misunderstood what you were referring to;
" so I figured I’d give it a shot... it does have a funky texture in some places, so I may have to skim coat it with bondo of spot putty to get it smooth... "
Please explain what you did meant, never intended to d
isparage you thoughts.
Mike
Yeah, the new one I bought on closeout from Suncoast ($75 - figured I couldn't go wrong) is plain black plastic, but has some textured areas - skimming/sanding them should be a piece of cake.
(no disparagement taken
)
You did a great job. I've done 3 of these with color matched spray cans. On two of the jobs I had poor results, so I had to strip the entire console and start over. This is a very satisfying mod to do, but like most paint projects, it cannot be rushed.
Thanks for the compliment.
Painting is definitely hard. It is both science and art. With practice I am improving.
I feel your pain having to strip and re-spray. I once had to do that to a whole car 🤢
