Interiour colouring

[WindeX]

I was wonder if there is a good method for colouring the interiour of a car... I have a TA23 at the moment and it is nasty brown... I wanna go black like my old TA22, the brown wouldent be so bad, but some parts have faded more than others. What are my options?

[Garth AE86]

ive seen interior plastics painted with vinyl paint from supercheap
a few coats and good sanding and cleaning preparation beforehand ensures they dont flake off

give it a go!

[WindeX]

Good stuff, will try over the holls.

[Youngy]

Hi,

One thing to look out for is that most interiors are made up of two types of plastic. ABS and PP (polyprop...) and I can't remember what ABS stands for, but you can google that.

ABS plastic can be sprayed with 'vinyl dye' where as PP does not really allows the vinyl dye types of paint to bite into them. Thus when you spray PP with a vinyl dye the paint will dry and then just peel off almost like ash!

You can paint PP types of plastic with a good flexi prime and then an enamel or acrylic paint. If prepared right the flexi prime will allow the final paint to flex and also it acts as a medium for the paint to stick to the plastic.

All the parts in a car will have a marking somewhere in the casting\molding that will allow you to know if it is PP or ABS plastic.

Hope that helps

[river]

Hi,

I don't know if this will work across all interior parts of the car - especially for a tan interior, but you can use boot polish sparingly.

My interior is black and I use black boot polish lightly across the vinyl and on the black console. You then buff it up a lot. It's good for sprucing up the interior, especially before car shows and it works quite well. I mainly use it for smaller parts, so I can't confirm how this will go across the entire interior. I wouldn't recommend this for changing colours (ie tan to black), but it works for same colour stuff (ie black interior - black boot polish).

seeyuzz
river

[Joorsh]

I used VHT Vinyl & Fabric dye on my interior.

It turned out very nicely - just make sure you follow the directions on the can.

[bezza05]

[QUOTE=Joorsh]I used VHT Vinyl & Fabric dye on my interior.

It turned out very nicely - just make sure you follow the directions on the can.

QUOTE]

I would have to agree with Joorsh. Im pretty sure we used this brand on our motorhome when changing some interior pieces, and we got it from repco. Joorsh how many coats did you use? We used one from memory, i cant remember if we followed the instructions or not, prob not knowing my dad, but the coverage was good and the carpet that was on the side of the bus turned out well. I will try and get some pics tomorrow. Although it could now do with another coat but has lasted around 6 months.

[HAVABEER]

i used some of that vinyl spray-paint on my pulsar last year did a heap of the interior. mine held out pretty well considering my dodgy prep work witch was just give it a quick clean with some "wax and grease" remover.
the only place that it flaked off easy where bits the get alot of wear like door handles and window winders. you need a fair bit of it aswell atleast 3 good layers of the stuff.
it might start costing a bit if you want to do the whole interior as i only did dash, arm rest's window winders pillars and such and i did it with 3 cans. but if your doing roof and other bits might need a few more cans.
but as stated before good prep work and you'll probably see good results

[Stefan]

I intend to redye my interior black, did a test piece of ABS plastic (door sill) with VHT vinyl dye and I was impressed - it turned out very nicely. I only gave it a few quick light coats and the edges have worn off a little, so you do need several coats on these kind of areas.

Another tip:

Most dyed interior pieces I have seen have been done with gloss vinyl dye, which looks... well... quite glossy. If you want it looking more stock, hunt around for a can of satin. VHT do make this, it just doesn't seem to be as commonly stocked.

[Joorsh]

Yeah I used the satin stuff. Did the job well. I used two coats when I did it, and it's lasted more than a year and counting, and still looks as good as when I first did it. I did both vinyl and smooth cloth, as well as the shaggy section at the bottom of the door. Both turned out great - if anything, the shaggy bit actually looks better.

[WindeX]

Hmmmm now to remove and repair all the shot up bits then spray and replace.... Joorsh yours looks awesome, I hope mine turns out that well.

[Draven]

pft
josh's looks positively crap compared to mine

seriously tho, VHT vinyl dye is the bomb. note: after a year's usage I noticed some chipping/scratching on hard plastics (like my seat adjuster, where the seatbelt scrapes every time I get in)
for vinyls and fabrics it is unbeatable tho.

[CoronaC]

I've got a small Write up on interior colouring that i got from some site a while ago, i think it was writen for americans, so im not sure if some of the products in there will be avaliable here, so its more of a how to guide. So just use peoples sugestions on what to use.

http://chris.mattywired.net/interior painting.doc

cheers
chris

[takai]

Yeah, i used the VHT Satin Black on all my interior parts for my sprinter a while ago as well. Worked really well, and hasnt faded at all, even despite the dash being exposed to the weather on my balcony for a while.

[o_man_ra23]

The best way to re-colour an interior... remake all door trims, hood lining, and anything cloth/vinyl. As for hard plastics, if your after black, most cars are available with the hard bits black, so hunting around wrecks a bit should net the required parts. Other OEM colours are available this way, just need to find out what colours are available. This of course does cost more, and is a lot more time consuming... assuming you have access to a sewing machine that will do strong materials (like the one i managed to score as a giveaway from my brother). All in all, this is the only way to ensure a lasting job. Painting hard plastics really should be done with a flexible 2pak paint(read that in a street machine article where they did a commonwhore interior in bright red), as this will take a lot more pounding than acrylic, and enamel just isnt flexible enough for most parts. Pinchweld is available from most rubber shops in a few colours (black, white, brown and tan spring to mind, maybe blue too). Carpets are available in many many colours.

I look forward to showing you all the results of my interior redecoration when its all done

Cheers, Owen