guide:- how to paint your dash or any other part!

UPDATED FOLKS, SEE POST 3

ANOTHER UPDATE FOLKS, POLISHING! SEE POST 48

I thought a good idea would be for me to put up a guide so that some of you could have a crack at it yourself.

jamie asked me to fix his dash pod for him and seen as there were a few things wrong it would be a good way for you too see what was wrong and what you can do to fix it.

now ill be working on 2 things, jamies dash and a complete interior.

here we go:-

the problem with jamies dash was the surface was un even, the paint etc. was put on pretty thick but the surface underneath wasnt smoooth enough or flat enough leaving dents, marks and scratches. I started off by grinding all the paint off with 80grit paper. you may be able to see some marks that have emerged once i removed the paint.

i gradually sanded the entire surface from 80 grit, 120, 240, 320, 400, 600, 800 and finally 1500. its painful and long and boring and stressful but this is the most important stage, mess this up and your end result will be crappy! before painting or primering, ensure the surface is clean, wipe down with pre-paint solutions or special cleaning wipes.

slapped on primer and this is how it looked:-

now i waited for the primer to dry, went over it with 1500 wet and dry paper, primed again and repeated once more. this makes the surface very smooth and clean. allow primer, paint, lacquer or stopper to dry for ages, the more it dries the better, go have a lemsip and a w@nk. leave it alone, if you touch it and its still wet you will leave finger prints! i say atleast 4 hours between coats. if you dont let it dry and you sand the layers, all the stuff will come off onto your sand paper.

then went ahead and painted. unfortunately i have no pictures of this as after i painted i noticed that the surface was still a little un-even. now for the normal eye it was ok and didnt need much work but im a bit of a perfectionist, and decided to scrap it, tore of all the paint and primer and started again.

very hard to see but a pro painter will understand by what i mean:-

ok anyways, i repeated the entire process again. sanded from 80 to 1500. flattened the surface more and primerred and then i was left with the surface i wanted:-

commonly whilst you do prep work and you have primered, you get little dimpels. majority of people leave them because you cant see them much. however if you want your paint looking super dooper then i say fill them. now filling these dimpels or scratches you DONT need filler, after primer is on you can use something called 'stopper' which is like filler but is used to fill in small imperfections after primer. obviously if you use filler you will have to start from the beginning again sanding away!

i used a lot of stopper because like i said im a little extra but you seriously dont need to use much at all. its very very easy to sand down and make flat with primer.

stopper:-

you could probably see in these pictures with the light reflection how smooth the surface is now, the right side was the side giving me trouble:-

once this has all dried it will be sanded with 1500grit paper to get it all uniform and then paint will follow.

watch this thread to see what happens to jamies dash.

NEXT - THE DASH

OK NOW THE DASH.

the stock dask comes with a layer of crappy paint or what ever it is already on it. it can be a pain in the a$$ to remove, nails and 40grit paper though will have it all off in no time. now the dash it self is pretty easy to sand down. just ensure you have enough spare time and all the gritt papers you need. slowly but surely work your way through the grits, after each grit you will see a noticeable colour change of the plastic, dont see the change, keep sanding!

i cant stress enough, the primering, painting and lacquering is easy compared to the prep work imo. you must sand and take time to make the surface flat and smooth, you will feel it getting smoother and smoother. go over with 80, 120, 240, 320, 400/600/800 and then 1200/1500.

now this is what you should be aiming for:-

once you done that you can prime. treat the surface, clean it and use a degreaser because if its dirty or has dust etc. on it then the primer wont stick and will show you surface marks. spray on a thin layer of primer, dont slap tonnes of it on, put a gentle coat on just to change the colour slightly, gradually build up a thin uniform layer. once it has dried, sanded the primered surface with 1500, clean, degrease and apply another layer of primer. repeat if necessary once more.

once thats done you will have a surface like this:-

now as before, degrease, clean!

as applying primer, paint should be done in the same way. thin layers, sand between and apply.

after this you dash should like:-

in the same way apply your lacquer and your done. once i havepics of the lacquer work ill post up.

now ok all the prep work has been done but just a few little niggly bits left.

as i said before stopper is great thing to use to get rid of any final little bits that are not right.

now that the stopper has dried this is what the pod looks like:-

time to get busy with the 1500 paper and primer again! guys its pain staking but trust me hold in there, sand away and just picture the most shiniest object you have ever seen, it will boost your moral. the more you sand the better the result.

now it looks like this after its been sanded for ages and primered for the very last time:-

remember i said it was pain staking and hard work and annoying? this is what my thumb looks like after all the prep work:-

that white mark is yes a blister! no primer, no filler, a full on blister. hurts but shows how much effort is put in the sanding!

ok after i sorted my thumb i went back to the work in hand. after another final 20 seconds 1500 grit wet sand down i wiped down the surface and mixed the paint.

150ml of paint + 120ml 2k thinner = 270ml of nice mixed kawasaki green paint!

Important!!!! - do not slap on paint! do the thinnest layers possible. more layers if necessary but let the paint breathe and set before you put more on. thick paint will take forever to dry!

now i applied one layer of paint, allowed to dry, sanded down with 1500 w/d and this is what it looked like:-

it may look green but if you look very closely were i was standing you can easily see the cream primer underneath. this is what i mean, thin layers, sand between the layers.

a few more coats later:-

now paint has dried. if you do thin layers and relax a bit the paint dries much faster, if you slap paint on it could take well over 1 day for the first layer to dry properly. you can tell if you have put too much on. it will move and you will get drip marks.

what to do if you get drip marks! dont panic. leave the piece for a day or two. let it harden and then simply sand the drip mark down with 1500 wd. if the drip is soft after a day it means its still wet. allow enough time to dry. once its hard, sand away and paint over it and you will never have known there was a drip there!

on with lacquer. lacquer is a clear coat that you put on to bring that shine to your paint work. im going to do three coats of straight lacquer. as primer, as paint you wait, prepare and then apply. i dont need to sand my final paint coat, it brilliantly smooth thanks to all the previous prep work! after i have sprayed on the lacquer, jamies dash pod is finally bloody finished and thank all mighty god for that!!!

heres what it looks like now:-

all of that sanding, all of that prep work, re-do it all over again and all that time later including my busted thumb and im pretty much happy with the result!!!

final advice i can offer:-

1. if you rush it you will ruin it,

2. if you see something isnt right, fix it there and then, do not leave it!

3. work in a clean ventilated area as paint and lacquer fumes are unsafe.

4. make sure you wear safety equipment. goggles are not necessary but if you sand and then blow on the dust, i guarantee you it will fly straight into your eyes. lol, either get back or wear goggles. gas mask!!! wear a propa one, not one of those swine flu paper ones. they dont stop nothing. a proper mask with filters that covers your nose and mouth perfectly costs about £20!

5. allow enough time in between paint primer, paint or lacquer for layers to dry. i ran two projects. while i painted the pod i sat and sanded the dash, whilst it dried i was busy with something else so i wasnt rushing the drying time!

6. make sure you call the mrs or girlfriend and let her know you love her, its pain stackingly time consuming and the last thing you want is a text saying 'ok whats her name and were can i find her?'.

ENJOY!

ok folks the dash panels as you remember were all painted and all they needed now was lacquer to bring out the final shine. i prep'd the surface by cleaning and degreasing and sprayed on the lacquer:-

does that look good or what?! i havent even flattened it down or polished!!! thats how it looks just after lacquer!!!

Hmmm... is that the Niz's carpet

Interesting though, this may be why my dash did not turn out to have the glass like finish I was hoping for.

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dude! when are you doing my car?

Hmmm... is that the Niz's carpet

oi! no it isnt actually, thats spare carpet on the floor of my shed! and its bloody expensive to! lol

I'm not. You can do it yourself mate. Just apply the same skills on your car as you are showing on here.

I'm not. You can do it yourself mate. Just apply the same skills on your car as you are showing on here.

nooooooo, no way, im not half as skilled as you. i can do small petty little jobs but your the top gun for serious projects.

Am I? I sort of did the dash pod for Jamie. and you are sorting that out..LOL

Am I? I sort of did the dash pod for Jamie. and you are sorting that out..LOL

he re-did it himself again dude, and he mucked it up using stuff from halfords! thats why he asked me to re do it! lol

or so i believe........................

anyways this is a simple 'how to' thread for my forum buddies to see and try.

Nice work there Adnan. Might call on your services to work your magic on mine......

You've got some good skills there chap!

great instructions.. Think i might have a little go a small part of dash first to see how i get on. Thanks for this. would not of even considered this without a through write up

Nice work Adnan, look forward to seeing the finished product.

he re-did it himself again dude, and he mucked it up using stuff from halfords! thats why he asked me to re do it! lol

 

or so i believe so.........

That is the case, dont get ya knickers in a twist Dave:p Adnan was passing by and i wanted it sorted out, saved me driving anywhere.

very interested in write up and laquered pcis, looking to spruce mine up soon where do you get the paint from? toyota?

Nice work Adnan.

sorry folks i can offer advise but cant offer any type of service.

the paint you can get from paint supplies shop.

one thing that i didnt write in the guide was this, its really important. spray cans and spray guns! i would hands down say use a spray gun but not everyone has a compressor and all the tools you need for the gun! spray cans are a cheap and cheerful alternative but you need to know a few things!!!

when you use a spray can the tip from which the spray is coming out builds up paint. while your painting your panel the paint build up will drip! so on your lovely flat surface you will have a blob and drip mark. ensure if you use a can you have cloth in the other hand to wipe the tip after ever stroke!!! saves you the headache of allowing the paint to set and then sanding down the drip and painting again.

more advice:-

when you choose sand paper, regardless whether its from halfords, you have some which are £3, £5 and £7 for an assorted pack. find the sand paper which is £10! what i mean is go for the expensive stuff. cheap sand paper crumbles in your hands while you sand and screws the surface up that your working on! pieces fall off and and you end up sanding chunks of sand paper into your surface. not nice! expensive sand paper doesnt crumble in this way and you know when the paper nackered because the paper doesnt split, the surface of it goes too smooth from all the sanding.

i will put more detailed text in once i have finished both pieces.

Top effort adnan, I had no idea you were so hands on.

Back off from SUPRALOOPY - I'm next

Just to clarify don't you mean 'Wet and Dry' paper as opposed to Sand Paper?

Sand paper is what you sand wood down with, golden colour and will fall apart if wet.

Wouldn't want people to go to B&Q and come back with packs of sand paper

Just to clarify don't you mean 'Wet and Dry' paper as opposed to Sand Paper?

Sand paper is what you sand wood down with, golden colour and will fall apart if wet.

 

Wouldn't want people to go to B&Q and come back with packs of sand paper

sorry folks, yes PAUL is 100% Right! anywhere i have mentioned sand paper i meant wet and dry paper! lol

Top effort adnan, I had no idea you were so hands on.

 

Back off from SUPRALOOPY - I'm next

Why don't I do yours while I have the car Dan?

Following this, very interesting

been out to halfords and got the wet & dry papers mentioned, some toyota astral black, grey primer and surface cleaner.

I took out the ash tray to make room for my mp3 player.. so im "testing" on the ash tray top.

one thing i noticed on the primer it says to go over the surface with 600grit paper to give the primer something to hold on to?