I'm doing some work on my '99 TL-P's dashboard section, and while I have everything out I've been cleaning some parts out. The plastic panel that goes around the shift selector, holds the coin tray, and sits below the stereo has seen some serious wear and tear on mine. I want to clean it up and give it some paint to get it looking fresh - anyone happen to know what paint would look most like the OEM dark gray/black that the car came with?

I could just paint it all some gray/black that I like, but then I'd have to paint the rest of the black dashboard panels to match it.

Any advice would be appreciated!

 

I wouldn't use black paint. the color is closer to a charcoal/graphite. you can sand most scratches AND then follow up with matte clear coat spray.

here are the two I recommend:

for a slightly "glossier than matte" finish:


for true "matte" finish:

 

This type of plastic usually is just dyed all the way through, right? If so, your idea of just smoothing out the scratches and blending them in, then throwing some matte clear coat should indeed do the trick.

I'm 3d printing some parts for the dash that I'll need to paint to match to this color though. Unless someone who's already done this sees this thread, I may just have to go and grab a bunch of paint cards from home depot and see just how bad my color blindness is! 😂

 

I'd recommend looking at SEM plastic paints. They've got some colors that match our cars pretty well. I don't remember off the top of my head which ones though.

 

What kind of parts? You'll probably need to paint the entire part and then blend or feather in some color on any existing parts it will be adjacent to.

I used model paint supplies for my gear shift trim, followed with matte covering to give similar appearance to the original color.

https://www.testors.com/product-cata...lacquer-sprays

If you do find something close, share some well lit pics and details; even if it isn't an exact match there will be other here for sure that may find the information useful.

 

I've been working on a faceplate that mounts into the stereo area, but designed to hold the HVAC control unit. I'm putting a NAVI dashboard in with a touchscreen-based headunit, so I've got to put the HVAC stuff elsewhere since the NAVI models did some odd things with the HVAC controls.
If it helps show what I'm doing, here's a build album I've been putting together as I go. It's still a work in progress so it's not in the best order, but you can see what part I'm going to eventually be painting. I'm pretty sure the ABS filament I have is black in color, but it's definitely not going to match the charcoal-ish black of the surrounding plastic.

Do you have any pics of the gear shift trim paint you did?


​​​​​​​Thanks for the suggestion, I'll look into those too!

 

Those look promising as well! wish I knew about these when I was working on my project. I think the biggest challenge here is finding something that matches?

 

Congrats on reverse engineering and re-locating the climate control to what I think most will agree is a much better position! black ABS seems like a very good idea. Are you using a heated element or light cure 3D printer? wondering how well paint will adhere to material from the former.

Here are a few pics (sorry that they are huge, sometimes details matter tho):

 

Wow, that metallic gray turned out GREAT! Actually, the entire interior that I can see from that picture looks beautiful. Big kudos on that man.
I used some gold high-heat enamel paint on my shift selector, since I already had multiple cans of it for other parts. The clearcoat isn't as hard as I'd like it to be, and I can damage it by pressing into it with my finger - possibly since I can't cure the high-heat paint as the plastic underneath can't handle the temperatures required. Does yours have the same behavior with the model paint you used?

As for the question about heated element vs light curing - I'm not sure. My buddy is handling all the printing work for me in exchange for a steady supply of beer, so I don't have many of those details. I'll ask though, as I'm sure others will be curious when I eventually post the full build thread out on the internet.
I'm hoping the paint will hold well - I'm going to leverage that same friend's knowledge on manufacturing to see what extra steps, if any, I'll need to do. My thoughts so far were to just smooth the surface either with some vapor smoothing or sanding, scuff the surface up, cover it in some adhesion promoter, then primer and the rest of the usual painting steps. I haven't had to use an adhesion promoter so far in my limited painting experience, so I'm looking forward to experimenting with that.

My final version of the model is currently printing in PLA - if everything fits as expected I'll go ahead and get my buddy some nice gin for his effort and then request a pair of full-infill ABS prints. Once that's going I'll order some samples of the model paint, maybe try and find some SEM stuff like Iggy mentioned, and go about trying to match colors.

 

Thanks! the lighting isn't the greatest (because she's in the garage for my power steering overhaul) so that may be hiding some of those imperfections. forgot to mention: You may want to check out "flocking fibers" to reline the fake ashtray you made. I used to make jewelry boxes in school woodshop using this technique. It's a bit messy in terms of application & cleanup, but once its done, the end result is a nice velvety touch similar to the original tray. not to mention you may be able to change the color to match the theme that you may be working on...

The paint did seem soft for the first couple of days but after curing it became pretty hard. I did do several coats (of clear coat) because I was concerned that it would come off and look worse with different colors/ textures. I was most concerned that my parts would look painted but with the addition of a matte clear coat they do not; very happy with the results.

btw...the matte clear coat is really good for making buttons inside look new again; that's where I originally got the idea: I wanted to paint the buttons and most people said "just apply a matte clear coat."

 

That's a great idea with the flocking - that should help keep the rattle down when I throw a few coins in there. Ordered a nice golden-colored one online that should look real nice!
Also, matte clearcoat is on the way, along with a few paint options for the final print. On top of that, my buddy is starting the final ABS print tomorrow morning! Everything's starting to come together... soon it'll be time to start figuring out the details of the new stereo setup.

Thanks for the painting / clearcoating advice! You and Iggy will both be thanked in the forum post for the final build album

 

For anyone looking at this in the future, combined with some is pretty much a perfect match for our interior gray. It doesn't have that same "sparkle" finish that our internal plastics have, but I sanded that off anyhow when I removed the pitting on my plastic, so fine by me.

I'll post finished pics so people can see the color matching when I publish my build thread for the Navi stereo project.

 

For anyone still following this, here's a sneak peak of the current state of things! Got my final print done in ABS, hit it with some sanding, then some vapor smoothing, then some more sanding. Followed by adhesion promoter, primer, basecoat, and then clearcoat.
I also repainted the entire section that holds the shifter, along with a few other additions I'll go over in the build thread when this is all done
The navi dashboard is OEM paint, so you can see just how close the paint I went with is!


Small gap on the right of the HVAC panel, but it's hardly bolted in at this point so that should be corrected in the final assembly.

 

Nicely Done!! I've thought of replacing my Navi with a newer dual DIN but rather not lose the manual fan/vent controls.

 

It's been a while since I was at the yard comparing harnesses, but I believe the connectors are the same and you'll be able to use the non-navi climate control module if you end up getting rid of the navi vent panel things.
When I'm done with the project and write-up, I'll release my STL files for the new HVAC panel so others can print their own - could be just what you're looking for if you end up going for it!

Right now I'm working on fitting my new stereo into the NAVI mounting bracket and figuring out my wiring, so it shouldn't be too much longer

 

Dang I just did a Navi to non Navi swap.
i still have the Navi bezel and might give this a try because sometimes the sun comes in at the perfect angle to reflect off my screen into my eyes.

 

Ha, what a coincidence! I remember seeing your vents on here before.

I'd offer you my slide-out tray and clock harness, but my tray has a USB charger shoddily modified in so I'm not sure if you'll want it. I'll upload a picture later tonight.

 

It's fine this was a while ago and since then I have put a volt meter in the clock area and found a tray on eBay.

 

Dang, a volt-meter? that's pretty tight dude. Post a pic!

 

Nicely done!!

I was going to do the full Navi to non-Navi swap too. Looked pretty straightforward swap out. I saw your pics and recall that the hazard harness needed to be extended. I decided I didn't want the Nav screen to be so low. So I decided to stay with sticking my Garmin on the screen via suction cup for now.

 

 

I've posted my thread about the finished product here, check it out!

 

http://imgur.com/gallery/hlvSfjt