[TimAustinW]

Originally Posted by boxs2000

Nice job, I like the leather doors. It really puts a new look to it. I'm curious about the painting that you did, did the paint you purchase match your color well also did it require the traditional process with paint gun and compressor or was it in a spray can?

Per suggestions from members of this site I bought my seal grey paint, primer, clear coat in spray cans from expresspaint.com. The Seal Grey I got from them in my opinion is a tad shade darker than the factory paint. I don't know if it might be due to the fact that my paint job is now 6 years old and possibly faded a bit. You can see the difference most apparently on the bumperettes. For the interior trim you don't notice because nothing butts up to the exterior paint. For the inside it's close enough.

For the trim the process was to clean the pieces well. Some pieces, like the pocket lids have a thin rubber coating that will need to be removed. Some people suggested that you put them in the dish washer and it will peel right off. I just soaked mine in really hot water and scrubbed it off with a dish sponge. Then wet sanded them down. A few light coats of primer covering the surface, a few light coats of the seal grey and then three or four coats of clear coat. I wanted my stuff glossy!

The most important thing is to BE PATIENT!!!!! Let each layer dry before the next coat and before you apply the next coat make sure to wipe each piece off with a tack cloth (get it from expresspaint) to remove dust or dirt that may have settled onto the trim. I screwed up my pocket lids this way. Ended up doing them three times.

Things I learned the hard way...

1. Be patient! You'll want to see how each piece looks against your interior and if you don't wait until they are completely dry (especially the clear coat stage) you risk finger prints, scratching, or dropping the pieces and chipping them.
2. You can't spray the paint on top of clear coat (part of my screw up phase) it beads up and leaves you with little cracks. Gotta sand it back a bit.
3. Use the tack cloth religiously so you don't end up painting over dust and dirt.
4. Find the cleanest area possible to do this with good ventilation and good light. Get some shop lights if you can.
5.When removing your panels and trim place all related screws and bolts into plastic baggies and label them. If you do all your trim at once including the center console it's quite the challenge figuring out what each screw goes to when it comes to putting it all back together. Humpty dumpty had a better chance at being put back together again.


This was all a learning process for me. I chose to do this myself for the satisfaction of saying I did it myself but also for financial reasons. If I were to buy all the pieces prepainted from a place like bumper plugs it would have cost me over $2000. To get it professionally painted at a body shop I was looking at around $1000. By doing it myself I spent about $300 altogether for the paint and supplies. Some pieces could be better.


There are more detailed write ups if you search for them.