Alumalook Spray Paint

I have been on the hunt for awhile for some alumalook paint to match my interior trim for my non-smokes ashtray conversion. I found this Testors diamond dust #1830. It appears to be a perfect match. I though I would pass along in case others were looking.

Good to know. These silver paints are hard to match because a lot of the commonly available ones have too much metallic flakes in them. Thank you for the info!

great find!

Thanks! I bought an unpainted console last year and tried to paint it like the trim, but it wasn't even close. I never installed it. I will give this a try. Yours came out great. Did you clear coat it?

The exact match paint code is ppg and you will find it if you search for it

Bill I did clear coat it. Djantlive the reason I didn't go that route was the cost. I only needed to do one small piece and I didn't want to spend $100+ on paint for $35 accessory.

Good find. Where did you purchase it?

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Michaels

And can you let us know what clear coat you used? Some clear-coats are tricky to use or incompatible.

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I used the testors clear coat also sold at Michaels

Thanks! Testor's is available at most hobby shops, too, if you can still find one. I've been experimenting with aluminum look, and tried Diamond Dust, but maybe I'll try it again.

A while back, I ended up buying some Testors "diamond dust" at Michaels, and some Dupli Color Perfect Match BGM0340 Silver Metallic (from AutoZone or Pep Boys). I painted a sample swatch half with the Diamond Dust, half with the BGM0340, and compared it to the existing "alumallook" parts in my 996. The diamond dust was a slightly better color match, but it had too much metallic flake in it compared to the stock parts. The BGM0340 was a better match for the metallic flake. I went with the BGM0340 for the interior parts that I painted. I still have the test swatch somewhere. I can take a picture of it and post it later.

Slopslider, what preparation work,did you do if any?

So here are some photos comparing two "Alumalook" type spray paints. Testors Diamond Dust and Dupli Color Perfect Match BGM0340 Silver Metallic. I'm finding that photographing metallic paint with an iPhone in direct sunlight to be a difficult task. The photos don't really capture the "metallic fleck" aspect of the paint. However, I'm including the pictures and a description to help clarify what I see. This picture captures the color of the two paints compared to Alumalook in a '99 996. The Diamond Dust is a slightly darker silver, which matches the Alumalook well. What you don't see in this picture is the fact that the Diamond Dust is more "sparkly" than the Alumalook.: Maybe you can see the "sparkly" aspect of the Diamond Dust in this photo: Another shot that shows the color: My preference was for the close color match of the Duplicolor BGM0340, avoiding the overly-metallic Diamond Dust. Either would work well.

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Light sanding to knock the shine off. Clean with tack cloth and alcohol to remove any dust. Paint 3-4 coats. Let it dry in between each coat. 2-3 coats of clear.

I painted several of my trim pieces with the Diamond Dust. I really like the look and it added some needed contrast to my otherwise black interior. However for anyone attempting this I would recommend to try something else first. I painted the horseshoe around the stereo, the cigarette delete tray, the plastic piece surrounding the hazard light switch, the silver trim on the shifter boot, and a new set of aluminium rings around my gauges. The stereo surround piece and the plastic piece around the hazard light both developed tiny bubbles about a week after I painted but only after the car had been sitting in the sun in +30 degrees Celsius weather. They were about the size of the raised bumps in a Braille book. The aluminium rings and cigarette delete tray were both fine. The shifter boot trim had a few bubbles but wasn't too bad. The first time I had sanded both using ~800 grit paper and used an adhesion promoter before applying 3-4 coats of the Diamond Dust with a bit of 800-1000 grit sanding in between. I also applied clearcoat the first time. My best guess is that the bumps were due to having some silicon in the plastic from previous use of Armor All. So the second time I sanded them back down to the plastic, cleaned them thoroughly with TSP and used a primer. I didn't use a clear coat, but only because I was (correctly) worried I would have to paint them again to remove any bumps. The results were much better, but not quite perfect. There are still about 10 bumps on the stereo surround piece and I plan to sand and touch-up later this year. Although the hazard surround piece is perfect. I'm not sure if the problem was caused by something in the plastic (like Armor All) or if the Diamond Dust just can't handle higher temperatures. After a few tries I've cleaned up most of the bumps, but I might try toe DupliColor in the future.