Covering Door Panels and Dash

I have enough $$$ going into my explorer right now, but when I decide to tackle the interior, I don't think it will end up the same color. I Plan to put racing seats in the front and cover the rear bench, so those will probably be black/red or charcoal or silver, I really haven't decided, but I will also rhino-line the floor. I am not sure about the headliner. I guess while were at it, I'll take suggestions on that (maybe black replacement or more rhino-liner). But my real question here is the door panels and dash. The thought crossed my mind to rhino-line them too, but I am kindof leaning toward fiberglass. Should I put a layer of fiberglass in the color of my choice over the current panels and dash? Should I fab some new ones? or should I do something completely different?

 

[Dignan]

Any ideas?

 

[410Fortune]

why not use vinyl paint and dye to make the panels the color of your choice?

Basically there are products on the market now that you can use to reolor any interior trim/fabric to pretty much any color you want, and when prepped properly it will last just like the factory color.

Most of your interior is already done this way, I mean this is how we get blue leather and vinyl......

 

[CDW6212R]

BTW all leather is blue as part of the tanning process. Blue is thus the most natural tanned leather possible.

Try the vinyl paint, some kinds rub off readily. Good luck,

 

[churd69]

go old school with some tweed.

-Rich

 

[410Fortune]

hahaha oops sorry it figures I would pick blue.......but of course the blue leather seats in our trucks are not natural blue leather, they are painted....

 

[Dignan]

Thanks for the idea. When you say prepped properly, what does that consist of?

 

[410Fortune]

okay here's what I did

I researched vinyl dyes and paints online using google.
There is a whole fleet of products made for this.

I have had excellent luck with a company called SEM

http://www.levineautoparts.com/semvinandpla.html

http://www.autobodydepot.net/scripts/depot.exe?pgm=sealcoat.bbx

depending on what you are painting they make a surface prep just for you.
My most recent adventure with this stuff was my airbag cover, I replaced the airbags in my 96 truck, well the new passenger side airbag was dark blue, my 96 dash is called "willow" more or a green blue-ish. So naturally I wanted it to match.
I went to my local trim specialist store (in denver called B & D Rhynl company, ahve used them for years, they sell auto carpet, vinyl, make soft tops, interior and exterior trim, etc) they carry a full line of SEM products in the store.
they also can mix custom vinyl paint/dye colors.

So I wanted to spray paint this color onto my airbag cover right, but this is a custom mix color! There is a solution for this as well.

I brought in a piece of the dash from my 96 truck, we looked it up in the color charts to find out its the Ford interior color called Willow, took them 45 minutes to mix up 1 pint of the vinyl paint for me (1 pint = future projects)
They sold me the prep and the handy dandy Preval sprayer you can use with custom colors:

http://www.prevalspraygun.com/

So prep of the airbag was, wash with soap and water
wipe clean
spray with vinyl prep SEM product, as per instructions
(this stuff makes the vinyl surface kind of tacky to the touch, ready to accept the flexible vinyl paint covering)
wash with water
let dry
mix paint and fill into preval sprayer
spray just like spray paint
let dry
repeat 2-3 times

I even went directly over the factory dark blue because I failed to get it off, the color mathc is 99% perfect, you would never know this sucker was painted (only I do)

results:

before:

After:

FYI the preval sprayer is one of the coolest things I have ever used....so damn handy! I can see ALOT of potential for these in my garage......

 

[Dignan]

Not bad. I might actually spring for a spray gun, since I will have a lot to paint. I guess the real determining factor is $$$. To determine how much it will cost I need to know how much paint I will have to buy. How far would that pint take you? I see that it is about $30 per quart, so I need to figure out how many quarts I need. If I did this I would need to do the 4 doors, the dash and all the trim panels on the back door and around the sides in the cargo area and around the door. Anybody have an educated guess as to how much paint that would take?

 

[410Fortune]

alot!

I painted the interior panels in my BII a nice mocha color, but it was a color already availalble from SEM so I used aerosol cans.

It also rubbed off quickly and I was not happy with the quality.
Luckily I found a 90 BII in the junk yard with a mocha interior so I just robbed all those parts and threw my painted parts away.

If you plan to pain all that stuff then prep will be the KEY to fighting chipping/peeling scratching....

 

[Dignan]

Ya, I plan to prep too, so that adds $15 a quart for prep. I'll have to figure out how many cans of prep, and how many cans of paint, add that all up plus the lining on the floor something for the ceiling and new seats or at least covers. Ouch. That is why this project is a "future" project.

 

[MONMIX]

I presonally have issue with the painting of the air bag door.

Getting paint flecks in your eye at 115 MPH doesnt sound like fun.

Remember these bags go off in 1/100th of a second.

Just a thought.

 

[Dignan]

good thing I don't have airbags

 

[410Fortune]

monmix they are painted from the factory hommie with the same type of paint

 

[MONMIX]

monmix they are painted from the factory hommie with the same type of paint

Nope.

as a matter of fact every air bag I have ever gotten from Ford has a sheet of paper warning to never dye or paint the air bags.

 

[Dignan]

Nope.

as a matter of fact every air bag I have ever gotten from Ford has a sheet of paper warning to never dye or paint the air bags.

Is that warning you not to paint the cover, or the bag itself?

 

[MONMIX]

the cover. It specifies cover.

You cant even get to the bag.