Hey guys, my girlfriend and I were thinking about a home made dash kit for her '96 RAV 4. Forgive me, but we saw a ricer with parts of the interior body panels painted a color that went well with the body color. It really looked nice as interior accent, especially the dash and guage assembly. The dash and guage assembly in her truck are black molded plastic. We're not sure on the color yet, since her truck is blue, but we're trying to do our homework to see if it's possible. Do any of you have any tips on painting interior body panels?? What type of paint should we go with?? I was thinking something with the quality of exterior auto paint. Any advice or tips are more than welcome. Thanks.

Check with your local autbody supply house if you have one. They have interior color paint in spray cans and it sticks really well as long as you prep it right.
If you don't have a autobody supply store, then check with a body shop and you might be able to buy it thru them.


[Edited by Perry on 02-10-2001 at 04:28 PM]

We're thinking that we want the dash color to match the body color. I think it'll look sharp. Anyway, we did a little looking online and found a place that sells touch up paint, now there's an idea. Use touch up paint. http://www.paintscratch.com They say that they have a really close match to the Toy's body color. They sell it in a bottle to brush it on, or even a spray can. The price is a little steep, but it's still pretty cool. Has anyone ever heard of this place, or any other that sells automobile touch up paint?? I'm assuming since paint sticks to the plastic bumpers of modern cars, it will stick to the plastic dash trim too if its clean and dry. Anyone have any advice??

Duplicolor has a good match too.

but all of my interior trim is painted. that's right, all of the black trim, around the vent's in the dash, the stuff around the gauges, and around the window controls is dones. I've gotten a lot of compliments on it. instead of looking for a vehicle interior paint, I went with a good plastic/crafts paint. I also have it a testured look by using "FlexStone" paint. Then covered it with a blue top coat. I will get some pics and post, but it gives it a nice custom look.

sorry man.. no pics of a rav4 with this.. but there is two rangers that have '95 and up explorer interior style bezels that they have painted to match the paint... I thought long and hard over doing this myself, but decided since I have a gigantic amount of black parts in my interior.. it would look silly to have white bezels. lemme grab some urls for these rangers.

http://images.cardomain.com/installs/28000-28999/28867_6.jpg

http://images.cardomain.com/installs/20000-20999/20830_9.jpg

Thanks for the replies guys. BlueDogBandit, I'd like to see some pics of the inside of your truck. That textured idea sounds like it would look nice. With that craft paint, do you have any problems with it scratching or fading?? Those were the main reasons we decided to go with exterior auto paint, and also to be able to match the metallic blue of her truck.

DarkFox, those trucks look really cool. That's exactly the look she's looking for. Any idea what kind of paint they used?? And where did you find the pictures??

If you ask me, thats hideously ugly :eek:

one of the main reasons that I went with plastic/craft paint was the fact that I thought that it would stick to the plastic better than metal paint. I have scratched a couple of times, but it was only when I was taking the dash in and out to do other modifications, no scratches do normal use. with the textured look, it's easy to touch up, and you don't have to do the entire thing over, because you won't have to worry about paint lines. It has also been easy to clean. I made sure that I covered real good with a clear coat, and it wipes clean with any average cleaning product.

they are both rangers at www.sounddomain.com I beleive one of them said he used some type of enamel.. but don't remember the details.. a paint shop here locally told me it would crack or split because the surface is plastic (somethin like that) unless you coated it with something first.

Ya, the red one is pretty ugly, but the whiteone isnt all that bad. Click the 'custom steering wheel' thing in my signature, you could always play around with the colors that are already in the interior.

that actually looks really good man.. what color is the column? I want to get an interior colored wheel and column.. but um.. where am I going to find a grey mercury airbag cover? I don't want the ford one.. thats not me :P

if I could eliminate the black from my steering wheel area.. I'd like to get the bezels painted some color and replace my door locks and handles and a/c control knobs with chrome ones... just a thought.. too loud ya think?

Stephen S, BlueDogs idea works. I did a similar thing on the dash of my old Firebird. I used the FleckStone that you can get at most arts/crafts stores. It's a paint that simulates marble or granite when it's finished, and its easy to use. When it dried, I used a polyurethane to cover and protect it with. Held up real well. I had the car about 2 years after that, never faded, discolored, or cracked.

Thanks RytM1, I'm familiar with the FleckStone, but we're not really going for the textured look. She wants it to be smooth and shiny when we're finished and hopefully the same color as the body.
Thanks to all who relpied. I'm glad to see that this has been attempted successfully without cracking or splitting. That was our main concern. We found some auto paint the same color as her truck that is for use on plastic bumpers. It has a flexible additive in it for the bumpers to flex without damaging the paint. We're thinking that paint will hold up well on the dash. Problem is, it's rather pricey, like $30 a can. So, we'll keep looking, but right now, I think that's out best option. Thanks again and keep the ideas coming!

Darkfox- Everything is just stock except for the actual wheel part that you hold on to is different. Our old wheel was falling apart when we got it and the dealer said if we got another color matched leather wrap it would cost like 400 dollars, or we could get the black plastic type stuff for a free replacement. Its textured instead of leather, looks really nice. You could just very carefully paint the center part grey. I think if the center part was black and the wrap was grey it wouldnt look right. The column is all the same, it was just the wheel that got replaced, center part is original. I dunno about the chrome, it would look good with the grey interior but fingerprints and smears would show up really easy I think. Dont let that discourage you though, trial and error is the way to go ;)

yea, I just don't want to spend a ton of money on a trial.... just to get an error lol I know the chrome door lock knobs would look good.. I could buy them from any dealer.. infact I beleive the lincoln towncar has the exact same kind.. just chrome? I may look into that.. as far as fingerprints.. it shouldnt be any worse than my lexan around my HU.. as long as I keep the sunlight off them :) but that is something to consider.. that and the fact that the closest chrome dip from here is in alabama :( I dunno.. some ideas of mine are so outlandish they'd never get done..

I'm about to stop working on the mounty for a while.. my belair is dieing.. its been sitting there doing nothing for a long time now.. and where my uncle did tell me "don't make it something its not" he gave it to me to drive.. and I'm goig to make the car drivable.. and that means doing htings he probablly wouldn't like to it.