Interior Trim Paint
 

I know some people have successfully painted their interior trim to match the aluminum sport or even guards red... I wanted to do mine a sporty yellow, but I have a few questions:

Currently, my interior is the OEM flat black. If I paint it, what kind of paint should I use? Will I get it all shiny like some people have succeeded in doing?

Hmm I am wanting to paint parts of my interior Speed Yellow also.... I have been assuming it is best to have it professionally done, like via bumperplugs.com ... Sign me up for info on a DIY also...if is possible to come out well...

You are going to want to use the same quality and brand of paint you would use for the exterior of the car. This is going to be a base coat and clear system.

The first thing I will tell you is in order to get a professional quality finish this will take way more work and money than you would ever plan. Many people under estimate the cost of supplies. Don't think you are just going to buy a $15 can of paint. You will need cleaners, various packages of sandpaper (up to 400 grit), fillers, sandable highfill primer, adhesion promoter, paint, clear coat, finish wet sand paper (1500-2500 grit) buffing compound, polishing compound, wax, rubber gloves, masks, and I use a lot of microfiber towels.

The biggest thing with a quality paint job is in the preparation. Most of the interior has a textured finish which will need to be smoothed out first. You can do this in a variety of ways, sanding, fillers, primers, and more sanding. Only after you have a perfectly smooth surface, you will want to apply a good adhesion promoter, a good primer, your base coat and then the clear. Most of the time you will still end up with a slight "orange peal" surface that will need to be wet sanded, buffed and polished to a mirror finish.

You may want to start with a small cheap part you could replace with ease if you mess it up. With painting and auto body work its not so much the skill, but patience, hard work and an eye for detail to accomplish a good finish. Many people rush to get the paint on and don't do the necessary prep work which is 90% of the job.

As for paint, go to an auto body supply store and give the the paint code off your car, they can put it in spray cans for you, my shop charges me like $15-20 a can. A quality clear coat can be expensive especially if you only need a small amount. They do sell some clears in a spray can. I will tell you, the paint in the can is the same as you would spray in a gun but not so much with the clear coat. The clear you get in spray cans do not use a hardener (as it would solidify inside the can) thus it will never be as durable as the kind you spray out of a gun. They do have a product called a "cut in clear" that comes in spray cans that are sometimes used on door jams or small areas that need a touch-up. I used this when I painted my roll bar because I didn't want to spend another $100 in supplies on a a can of clear and hardener. I painted it almost 5 years ago and it still looks great however; it only sees sunlight when the top is down and you hardly ever touch it. I painted some interior parts with it shortly after doing the roll bar. Last summer I ended up repainting the ash try because I had worn through the clear coat as I use it a lot to store coins and it gets a lot of abuse. If you are just doing the console it self I would think the cut in clear would be just fine, but any high traffic area like buttons etc... would justify the cost of a quality clear.

Here is another thing you could do, pull all the parts, prep them all yourself and take them to an auto body shop. I would think they would charge you around $100 to just spray the paint and clear. Which is probably only about $40 more than you would spend on spray cans yourself and they would use a quality clear coat with a hardener. Then do the wet sanding, buffing and polishing yourself and save some money.

There are many auto body painting guides out there remember Google is your friend.

I painted my interior trim back in 2008/9 and it still looks as shiny as the day I completed it, I found that lot's of prep and cutting back was the key.
Here's my posts from way back.

http://986forum.com/forums/performance-technical-chat/18663-help-required-interior-trim.html

http://986forum.com/forums/show-tell-gallery/22582-i-did-bit-more-my-interior-last-week.html

Not as difficult as I thought it was going to be.

I absolutely love the color you chose, in fact its my favorite color! Thinking if it would match some interior bits in my silver on black S... thank you for the photos!

Question on wet sanding the trim paint: do you wet sand after the last coat of paint/before clear coat or do you have to put on one more coat of paint after wet sand and then clear coat. I'm seeing a bit of orange peel effect. Thanks,

Going black on the trim would be a painful process. Just realized that. Switching to silver. Hope it matches the existing silver trim from factory or they would have to go as well. Any advice on matching paint color for factory trim?

Paint Trim
 

I painted my interior trim (lower console, horseshoe, ignition key surround, instrument bezel surround, 3 trim pieces, seat back release, seat levers) the same way I painted my bumperettes. It's really all in the preparation. Begin with 250 grit sandpaper and work your way all the way up to 1000 grit. Take your time and sand each and every piece thoroughly and the results will be worth it. Get your paint from automotivetouchup.com. I ordered the adhesion promoter, primer, paint and clearcoat and used about 2 coats of each.

This is all very interesting, I might try doing something with my door pocket lids to see how they come out...as they are relatively cheaper to replace if I mess them up..heh. Heliguy did you use the spray cans then with a spray nozzle adapter or do you have a gun?

One other Q... I have been thinking of doing the ignition key surround rosette as well.. do you have to remove the entire dash to remove this? How do the ignition surround trim release?

thanks,
comet

On my 97 the key trim ring is held on by a sticky type of tape/goo, you just pull it off.

Went with Duplicolor engine enamel - Aluminum. Closest match to my factory interior trim. Test piece came out great. Covered with few coats of acrylic enamel.

Like folks have harped here, prep is key or you will be sanding down the paint later on for sure. Best primer is the Rustoleum automotive primer. Covers scratches and nicks very well. Duplicolor primer doesnt come close.