Interior Painting How TO (Now With Pictures)

[BloxZX3]

I have been asked many times on this topic so here is how I do things. IT may not be how you want to, but its a start, and is a good basis for painting anything.

Supplies Needed
Sandpaper-Vairous grits from 600-1000 or 2000
3M Scuff Pads- Grey is course, Red is Rough
A good degreasing soap like Dawn or something used to clean dishes
Rubbing Alchohol
Rags- Tack cloths, $.99 a piece at Home Depot, used to de lint, Paper Towels, used for clean up

Paint
MOST IMPORTANT with plastics---Bulldog Adeshion promoter
Cans or pints/quartes of color
High Build Primer

Recomended
A decent HVLP spray gun and compressor
A respirator
A clean environment with PLENTY of lighting

Prep work
1. Clean all parts with degreaser 2 times and cloth dry or air dry
2. Depending on the surface begin your sanding
A,B,C Pillars- I used a gray scuf pad
Door inserts I used 600 grit paper
Radio Bezel 600 grit paper
Vent rings-600 grit paper
Dash or Door panels I would use 600 grit paper.
3. once you achieve desired smooth finish, clean parts with degreaser 2 times again.
4. Let dry and wipe with either a rubbing alschohol soaked cloth or the tack cloth, this is to de-lint before primer.

Primer
1. Make sure you shake the rattle cans well if you are using cans.
2. Apply a even coat of the Bulldog Promoter
3. let dry to a tack feel, approk 5-10 minutes depending on temp.
4. Spray on Light coats of primer waiting until each is dry to move to the next, approx 8-12 min, depending on temp.
5. Once finshished let all parts dry roughly one hour and begin wet sanding.
6. Wet the part and the paper with water and go over any bad spots first, and then go over the whole part, 600 grit paper is ideal.
7. Clean and reprime any bare spots following instructions from Prep work section.
8. When fully primed go over and final wetsand all parts, followed by cleaning and de-linting.
I usually do two good even coats of primer

Color Coat
1 De lint all parts and put on the respirator.
2 Apply light coats of color *TIP* Lighter colors don't have as good a coverage quotient and take more coats to fully develop. I.E. yellow takes 3-4 coats where red or black take 2-3.
3 If you have any runs or bad spots wait until all of the paint is dry then sand, clean, delint and repray with color or primer if needed.
4 Wait for each coat to be dry until you move to the next, improper timing will cause sags, runs, and peeling, time is of the essence
5. Let all parts dry no more than 24 hours before moving on.
I usually do 4-5 coats on my car which is yellow, but on a set of red mirrors I was able to go with 2 strong coats.

Clear
1. If you have waited more than 24 hours in between color and clear you will HAVE to wetsand with something like 800-1000 to scratch the surface.
2. If you are cpplying withing a couple hours no sanding for scratch is needed, but you can sand out any dirt or slight runs out before clear.
3. Again use light coats, and make them even, Lighting is most important with clear cause you can't see your coverage as well as you can with color.

Finish
1. Wait at least 2-3 days before re-installing your parts, this being you are less likely to scratch them or something later, and they will have time to harden by then.
2. If you are doing exterior parts you can wet sand from 2000 down depending on what you are trying to get out. Interior really doesn't need a lot of wet sand on the clear though.
3. Wait at least 60 dayse before you use any abrasive products like amor-all or shining stuff on your parts, the paint needs time to fully dry and atomize.

Thats it, now here are some of my takes on doing this kind of stuff. Take your time cause you only want to do it once, re-dos suck and make it less fun. Go to an auto paints store and look at getting a nice gun, because the results will never be the same with a gun as they will with a can. If you can get your color mixed into a can do that, cause its a dead on match from the factory. If you have to use a can use plasti-kote, they are the best auto paint rattle can maker. You guys with that KRYLON can keep it, I don't care how much you beleive in it, Krylon paint is crap compared to real automotive laquer or urethane paint, thats why krylon costs 3.00 bucks a can and the other stuff costs 6 or 8. Most of all have fun, and remember that nothing is permenant, so if you mess up go back and fix it till you are satisfied, cause thats all that matters. I hope the one of the interior mods will sticky this cause its brought up all the time and it took me about 40 minutes to write this up....Peace

Lox

[Majikal]

good how-to

sticky this! definetly archive material

[RainyZX3]

And make sure that everything is really really dry before you put it back in. I thought mine was, but now I get to do it alll over again.

[orb]

I'll sticky this. We don't have any stickys in Interior mods yet.

[Silfox]

Also watch the moisture in the air. If it is humid, like a rainy day, the paint could cloud up and look like poo.

[2Fast2Focus]

2 bad for me,I already ruined a set of 4 vent bezels, with Krylon paint. They came out perfectly neat, just the an orangey red instead of bright red like the cap shows. O'well another expensive lesson learnded the hard way.

[imported_NVmySilverZX3]

Do the rings around the vents come off? if not, how do you paint them w/o getting paint on the dashboard

[BloxZX3]

Yes all those vents come out and completely dissasemble..just pull the vent ring up and out and then you'll figure out how they come apart...peace

Lox

[BLUE_02_ZX3]

how do you remove the radio bezel?

[imported_NVmySilverZX3]

just pull it off. I just took all my interior pieces to a ford body shop and they painted it for me. Don't clear coat the interior pieces though, it looks crappy.

[BloxZX3]

clear coat is more for protection....but whatever suits the individual...

[o0Fallen_Angel0o]

We Did this recently. You gottan pull the radio, then there are these 4 screws. The just pull it out.

[GTO30272]

just pull it off. I just took all my interior pieces to a ford body shop and they painted it for me. Don't clear coat the interior pieces though, it looks crappy.

How much did they charge you for this?

[BloxZX3]

They charged him too much I can tell you that. What all are you looking to get done??

[HotFocusOn18s]

Have you guys saw the guy that painted the entire inside of his car black? It looks pretty good, he even painted the vinal door panels. How long will that paint last on a vinal surface? Or are there other ways to paint on top of vinal?

[BloxZX3]

Here are some pics of some stuff I have done. I am not finished with the interior by any means, but this is what I have now. Peace

[2xtremefocus]

Wow, nice long complicated how-to on painting.

I just used Krylon Fusion and it works wondefully for my interior pieces.

Pretty simple:
1) Clean parts with alcohol

2) Use fine grit sandpaper (400/600 or finer) to remove any imperfections in the piece.

3) Lay down 2-3 coats of primer (I used light grey primer, but it depends on what color paint you're using)

4) Lightly wet sand the primer and dry the piece.

5) Lay down 3-4 coats of paint (I used Krylon Fusion since it's meant for plastics, and it's the color I wanted)

6) Wipe down painted piece with a clean, dry cloth to remove any dust.

7) This step may be omitted, depending on how you want it to look when done. Lay down 2-3 coats of clearcoat.

8) Let the piece(s) sit for 24-48 hours before re-installing them.

9) Put your interior back together and admire the looks.

This worked perfectly for me instead of having to use a spray gun and all that [censored] that would just seem to be more of a hassle than it's worth.

So far, I've done my AC vents, gauge surround, airbag cover, door handle bezels, trim triangles on each door (where the mirror switch is), and my armrest lid.

I'm thinking of doing the speaker grilles, if I can figure out how to get themout of the door skin, and I also want to do the little catch-all things on the bottom of the doors. Then, it's on to the rear area of the car for who knows what back there.

[BloxZX3]

Um dude, krylon fusion is like the cheap and easy way to do it...I hope your paint sticks.....Cutting out steps in painting is not the right way to do it. I put in hours of work into my painting and it will show in the long run because the paint will still be there 10 years from now, but thanks for adding your insight.

[2xtremefocus]

How did I cut out steps? I primed, snaded, painted, clearcoated.

I know tons of people that have done this the same way, but not with Fusion, and it works fine.

Sounds like we have quite an elitist group of Focus owners here.

God forbid someone not spend a ton of money to do something to their car. Not all of us have tons of money to spend on our cars.

[bariman1226]

then don't do it? that's like choosing to spend $200 on a cheap universal muffler over spending $300 on a fitted system. you know it isn't right, and you know it looks like [censored], but you just couldn't wait and save up the extra hundred bucks.

don't rip on blox because he did it the right way, put the work into this, and shared his knowledge with everyone else. i'm painting my interior pieces this month, and i'm doing it his way even if it is more expensive than krylon. i'd rather not have paint flakes all over my car.

[focusspelledbackwards]

Do it right. Don't be no fool. Now everyone you meet on the jet knows that you got the cheapazz paint. Blox knows. I know. We all know.

[Giraffehauler]

Those interested in changing interior color should check out SEM vinyl products as well as the other products recomended in this thread. This is a dye as opposed to a paint, and is used by many professional businesses to change the color of automotive vinyl, upholstery, and carpeting. It can take several coats to get the coverage you want, but the results are long lasting. I used it on some panels about 2 years ago, and no sign of deterioration yet. The product is available in liquid form for spray application as well as in aresol cans. They also provide a number of preparation products that are essential to achieving a good result.

[Majikal]

Those interested in changing interior color should check out SEM vinyl products as well as the other products recomended in this thread. This is a dye as opposed to a paint, and is used by many professional businesses to change the color of automotive vinyl, upholstery, and carpeting. It can take several coats to get the coverage you want, but the results are long lasting. I used it on some panels about 2 years ago, and no sign of deterioration yet. The product is available in liquid form for spray application as well as in aresol cans. They also provide a number of preparation products that are essential to achieving a good result.

the dash pieces that are normally painted are plastic, not vinyl... but that would be a good idea for seats and carpets and what not.

[BloxZX3]

I have used SEM heavy build primer before and its a great product when you are looking for something in an aerosol. It builds very heavy and sands easily. You can substitute it for any regular self etching primer that I have talked about in my above posts...Good tip...Peace

Lox

[greg ZTS2]

Blox is my hero!!!!