Hey Everyone,

I'm thinking of painting my interior, but only the parts under the center console/dash. Some of the threads talked about this part regarding paint peeling. Anyway I was wondering, if I wanted to paint this, what kind of paint would I use. It obviously needs to be strong, heat and wather resistant, and long lasting but I'm not sure what paint it would be. Thanks!

-Sam

 

I would recommend calling a molding company with experience with something called over-molding.

The issue when a paint peels is adhesion to the substrate.

 

Are you talking about the silver parts or the dark gray parts underneath? I would highly recommend against painting the dark gray parts because most of them see wear and tear from the seat rubbing up against it when you move it front or back and even when getting into the vehicle, your knees as you are driving down the road or the seat belt as you put it on or move around in your seat. The silver part wouldn't be too hard for a professional shop to do, just a matter of not breaking anything during removal or reinstallation or when prepping for paint. One thing you will want to be especially careful of is the vents and not breaking the little tabs off when pulling them out.

Hope this helps

 

Yeah both those help thanks! I was thinking of the gray parts under the console/dash but you are right, they do see a lot of wear and tear. I was looking for never center console pieces/dash for all the silver parts, but all I found were stick on chrome pieces. Does anybody know where I can find actualy chrome replacements for the stock silver cosole/dash pieces? Thanks!

-Sam

 

Acually there are several interior paints out there that work extreamly well. Go on line and look up the proper prep for the project. Peeling will ONLY happen if it is prepped wrong and or you don't use the right pre-paint cleaner and pre-paint. Interior paints have recently come a long way. This may be the only thing of any value the "tuner" world has offered us.
Good luck
Mike

 

Thanks guys!

-Sam

 

look up viponds.com they have factory color matched paints for all the slk interiors. most likely the crossfire will be similar colors

 

Sand them lightly, clean them off, do a coat of adhesion promoter, paint using all purpose paint of your choice, then clear coat. I did my old SLK seats and they came out nice, and no peeling!

 

I would not recommend an adhesion promoter over already painted parts, even if you scuff them (which you should - I'd use a white scuff pad & Presta Scuff Stuff). As far as I know, adhesion promoters should go to bare plastic only.

Get a matching interior paint from any automotive paint store or jobber. Interior paints typically don't use a clear over them. If you do that, it won't match the rest of the interior.

Apply a nice medium wet coat, let it flash, lay on a second medium wet coat. Done.