Step By Step Pics On How to Paint Your Interior

Well here ya go! Finally, a thread with step by step, including pics, on how to paint you interior. Hope this helps someone! If you have any problems, questions, or suggestions, please e-mail me: wheel1856@hotmail.com I'm a teacher, so I'm happy to help.

Pictures are at the bottom, but read the steps first.
That said:

Step1: Buy your stuff.
-I used cheap $.94 spray paint from Wal-Mart, I would suggest however, you spend the extra bucks and buy Krylon Ultra Bond paint for plastics.
-Buy a large drop cloth ($2), Some latex gloves ($4), I used a full 5 cans of paint (for me: $5, Krylon- $25), masking tape-large and small - ($5), 2 large bottles of isopropyl alcohol ($3), spray bottle ($1), lots of paper towels ($3.49), a tack cloth ($2), and 400 grit sand paper ($3-4) ... if you plan on wet sanding...you're on your own (1000-1500 grit $3-4)
total cost (for me) $26 with krylon: $46 (bulbs: $2.99/2-192; $4.99/2-194)

Step2: Tear your car apart. If you don't have a Haynes/Helms/Chilton manual, but one, otherwise, forget it and add the cost above. I took out all the plastic pieces up front - see pictures. Keep your screws seperated in bags or jars.

Step 3: Wash all the pieces you plan to paint. Use dishsoap - it breaks up the grease, dirt, and other gunk, armorall included. I live in an apartment, so I used the bathtub for the door panels and bigger pieces. Dry the pieces thoroughly, then air dry. If all the water isn't gone, the paint is useless (ever wax a wet car? same thing.)

Step 4: Sand Everything! Be tedious!!!! Sand every edge, nook, cranie, everything! Use a block where you can to make sure your consistent.

Step 5: See step 3

Step 6: Fill your spray bottle with the alcohol. Hose down the pieces with the alcohol...dripping! Dry with paper towels..careful with the lint! Repeat as necessary to remove any last sanding bits or general gunk.

Step 7: Use your tack cloth and THOROUGHLY wipe down your pieces.

Step 8: Lay out your drop cloth (anchor it). Lay our the preped pieces. Paint. Keep the can about 8-10 inches from the surface and move the can continuously. If you can see the first coat on the piece easily, you are painting too heavily, get further away...patience pays off.
-Add a coat every 25-35 minutes, maybe longer depending on paint, temperature, and depth of coat.
-I preped pieces while the paint coates cured. This is a good way to pass the time and keep your self from adding the next coat too soon.

Step 9: Lay out some newspaper indoors somewhere - inside, garage, wherever. Let the pieces sit overnight before you even think about reinstalling them.

Step 10: Wet sand if you like. Polish if you like. I say wait a week or two before you do this, let the paint cure good and solid. I chose not to wet sand or polish. Also, I only used a clear coat on the center dash bezel, and at that only 2 light coates.

Step 11: reinstall. enjoy. Be careful, unlike when you yanked the pieces out before, or have banged them back in before, this time you must be slow and deliberate. If you get too rough, you can easily scratch or chip your paint. Be careful...work slow.

Hope that helps, and hope I didn't forget anything.
Here's the pics. Login as: guest.

enjoy! vive la Honda!

http://img64.photobucket.com/albums/v196/wheel1856/?sort=descending

ps: pics have steps as the title, click on the pic to see the title, also note the numbers on them if they are in funny order.

pps: I would like to thank, and give informational credit to, eckoman_pdx and tibby01 for their help in getting my needed information and DIY tips. Thanks.

looks pretty damn good dude.

also, you could have linked the pictures to this thread by copying whatever is in the bottom of the three boxes under each picture, then pasting it on here...like this..

actually, id do it, but those pics are huge and people would get pissed. but thats why photobucket is tizight, because if you click edit on each picture, you can resize them too.

nice diy too.

I suppose posting one picture wouldn't hurt....finished product from the side

http://img64.photobucket.com/albums/v196/wheel1856/IMG_0379.jpg


the seats and rear are next, I just ran out of time and energy this past weekend.

damn dude that came out really really good.. i'm gonna be doing the same thing with my ek coupe.. which also happens to be vsm in color.. but i'm gonna use honda oem type k light grey.. its the color of the pillar bars.. i just need to find a spray paint that will match it

i was saying that if you resize it first(so people wont get mad from scrolling) then you copy and paste the stuff in the 3rd box down, the picture will appear on this thread.

Not usually my cup of tea, but it looks good. Looks very well done, and the guide is really good too. :bigthumb:

I gotcha Tibby, I just messed up when I copied the link, and just didnt wanna re-do it....yeah...Im lazy like that.

Pretty Cool. What are the long term effects though? How well does it clean up? Have you shipped anything yet? What about really hot days? Does it get sticky?

The blue and grey look nice together. good job!

Krs

Long Term Effects: Dont know, I've only had it in a week. I would imagine, more likely bet, that given the cheap paint that I used, it is likely to fade over the summer with constant light on it. Also, I would imagine that because I didn't clear coat or polish, it's likely to scratch more easily. All of these problems are easily avoided using better paint, or by being careful.

Clean up, easy, fold up your papers and drop cloth, throw them away. Done. The mess to clean up is only as difficult as you make it. I work very neatly and clean up as I go so....

Sticky? Not so much, in the first week its been humid and near 80 degree, haven't felt sticky paint yet.

By shipped, do you mean I paint it and ship it to someone? No, I haven't. Although I'm looking for a summer job, I might consider it. I imagine that tissue paper and bubble wrap would make shipping safe.

-wheel

Clean up, easy, fold up your papers and drop cloth, throw them away. Done. The mess to clean up is only as difficult as you make it. I work very neatly and clean up as I go so....
-wheel

Actually I was speaking of cleaning up the car. Like if it get's dusty or whatever. What do you use to clean it.


By shipped, do you mean I paint it and ship it to someone? No, I haven't. Although I'm looking for a summer job, I might consider it. I imagine that tissue paper and bubble wrap would make shipping safe.


Ok, I think I should spell check next time. :-) I actually meant chipped. Have you chipped anything?

I didn't realize you JUST did this. It does look good though and on the ride home from work today I kept thinking, "What color should I paint the trim?"

Thanks for the FAQ!

i did the same thing to my car a while ago but used different steps.. i live in vegas so it was hot when i did it las summer.. a scorching 100 degrees hot.... in my steps though after i sanded i used poly plastic primer then after that dried a put on a glossy paint.. as for the sticky i had it for a year now and it never gets sticky.. never cler coated it either... and clean up is the same as cleaning the dash.. i use armor all for the entire dash including the painted parts

My mistake I misunderstood your question. For now I plan on just using a swiffer pad (those things are awesome in the car!) then after another week er so I plan to go back to using Black Magic silicone...I use the gel in a bottle, no oversray and I like it better, either way, once the paint cures, shouldnt matter.

as far as chips, yes, one, cause Im an idiot. On the Driver side vent I chiiped it near the switch panels. I painted the vents the next day and only let them cure for a few hours, I slipped when putting the switch panels back in and chipped some paint, lil touch up paint covered it enough for me though. see, patience is a virtue. Otherwise nuthin, my zippo has been rattling around the door handle - nuthin and in the passenger side map carier I have a hard plastic CD case that one would think would chip it, but nothing. no problems yet, but with the cheap paint, I anticipate some over time.

Very Cool. Once I get the remote start fully installed I think I will do the same. I will probably start small with just the door handles or something. In case I don't like it, they are easily replaceable. :-)

hey wheel....did you think about doing the LARGE center dash (the upper piece)....i wanted to know if it seemed like too much of a pain in the ass to do that piece...like difficult screws to find, or problems with the passenger airbag area.....

great job on the paint....it looks sweeet....i'm gonna do the same in a few months.....great pics of the process too.....

max-- you asking about paint the whole top dash? i think that would be too much of a pain if you ask me.. but it can be done.

i was wondering if you have ever painted vinal/flexible.

Sweet! The grey and blue go together nice. I've been planning to do my interior for some time now, but I don't like the carpet color. Do you know a good link for a DIY for dyeing the interior? Or custom upholstery? And I noticed you said you used cheap paint. Brand suggestion for a better quality paint?

Long Term Effects: Dont know, I've only had it in a week. I would imagine, more likely bet, that given the cheap paint that I used, it is likely to fade over the summer with constant light on it. Also, I would imagine that because I didn't clear coat or polish, it's likely to scratch more easily. All of these problems are easily avoided using better paint, or by being careful.

Clean up, easy, fold up your papers and drop cloth, throw them away. Done. The mess to clean up is only as difficult as you make it. I work very neatly and clean up as I go so....

Sticky? Not so much, in the first week its been humid and near 80 degree, haven't felt sticky paint yet.

By shipped, do you mean I paint it and ship it to someone? No, I haven't. Although I'm looking for a summer job, I might consider it. I imagine that tissue paper and bubble wrap would make shipping safe.

-wheel

There are alot of kids doing that exact method you just did. I personally wouldn't do it. It almost always flakes off after time. When I do it, I use automotive pigment that is used for paint. It is mixed with special stuff just for plastics. All you have to do is clean it with special cleaner, mask off items, then spray everything with adhesion promoter then spray your color. The trick is to put as thin of a layer of paint as possible. This is true for any way you do it. If not, it will flake off when you touch it because it will crack.

My first car that I did was for my friend. It was a '85 s-10 with pukey blue interior and blue exterior. I painted the whole truck black and then dyed the interior black with dark gray and light gray accents. It really look sweet. The interior still looks as good as when I did it almost 10 years ago. It hasn't flaked or faded at all. Oh, trust me, they were not kind to this truck either. I'd post pics but have no web to do it on.

There are alot of kids doing that exact method you just did. I personally wouldn't do it. It almost always flakes off after time. When I do it, I use automotive pigment that is used for paint. It is mixed with special stuff just for plastics. All you have to do is clean it with special cleaner, mask off items, then spray everything with adhesion promoter then spray your color. The trick is to put as thin of a layer of paint as possible. This is true for any way you do it. If not, it will flake off when you touch it because it will crack.

My first car that I did was for my friend. It was a '85 s-10 with pukey blue interior and blue exterior. I painted the whole truck black and then dyed the interior black with dark gray and light gray accents. It really look sweet. The interior still looks as good as when I did it almost 10 years ago. It hasn't flaked or faded at all. Oh, trust me, they were not kind to this truck either. I'd post pics but have no web to do it on.

Where can you buy automotive pigment as opposed to automotive paint?

I would have to agree with pochonutty on that one. That pigment is super duper, careful when you mask though, it'll stay on there for good, so be very careful what you get it on.

As far as the vynal pieces are concerned, DO NOT PAINT THEM!!! It's flexible, has the same hold as plastic, and is a MONSTER pain in the ass to remove the dash. Not so much for hidden screws, but for all the stuff you have to remove to get it off. Not worth it.

If you really want to change the vynal dash, I would suggest buying a fiberglass dash kit, or re-vynaling the whole thing. There's plenty of give and take to that as well. Vynal glue can go bad and crack, leaving a loose, saggy, and sh*tty looking dash, and the fiberglass can get mighty shiny and provide a nice glare on your windshield making visibility difficult in certain situations.

You can likely find the automotive pigment at an autopaint store. Cost? I have no idea, significantly more than regular spray paint I would imagine. If you are gonna use a rattle can regardless, go with Krylon Ultra Bond for plastics. Still use the bond promoter and clean the stuff well though. Over all though, pochonutty is right, the pigment would be a better choice. Think of the difference between pigment and spray paint as the difference between Crayola Washable markers and Sharpies.

Good luck all!

I would have to agree with pochonutty on that one. That pigment is super duper, careful when you mask though, it'll stay on there for good, so be very careful what you get it on.

As far as the vynal pieces are concerned, DO NOT PAINT THEM!!! It's flexible, has the same hold as plastic, and is a MONSTER pain in the ass to remove the dash. Not so much for hidden screws, but for all the stuff you have to remove to get it off. Not worth it.

If you really want to change the vynal dash, I would suggest buying a fiberglass dash kit, or re-vynaling the whole thing. There's plenty of give and take to that as well. Vynal glue can go bad and crack, leaving a loose, saggy, and sh*tty looking dash, and the fiberglass can get mighty shiny and provide a nice glare on your windshield making visibility difficult in certain situations.

You can likely find the automotive pigment at an autopaint store. Cost? I have no idea, significantly more than regular spray paint I would imagine. If you are gonna use a rattle can regardless, go with Krylon Ultra Bond for plastics. Still use the bond promoter and clean the stuff well though. Over all though, pochonutty is right, the pigment would be a better choice. Think of the difference between pigment and spray paint as the difference between Crayola Washable markers and Sharpies.

Good luck all!


I've been doing some searching on google and couldn't find any good sources for automotive pigment. I did, however, come across Folia Tec Interior Color Spray. Is this stuff any good? Is it just regular spray paint or is it of automotive pigment quality? Some of the info I read on it said that it was UV stable (non-fading). Just wondering if anyone has had any experience with using this. Also, I've ran across Automagic Spray Dye for carpets. Does anyone have experience with using this for carpet or upholstery?

And, yes. Thank you Pochonutty for the info. I have found some great sources for cleaners and adhesive promoters.

I'm not sure i have the proper equipment to do this...I'm missing one thing...hhmm..

Can i borrow your girlfriend? :icon16: :naughty:

wheel1856, it came out looking good. I am glad to see my advice in the other thread helped you out some.

The pigment that I am talking about is what they use to change the colors of custom mixed paint. Basically, it's just automotive paint but formulated for interiors. I love it. I had a friend (who taught me how to do this) restore a '68 RS Camaro. He painted the exterior a very nice met. blue then had the paint store mix him a matching batch for the interior. He just took out the stuff he didn't want painted, masked off everything thing else then let 'r rip. He even painted the seats!!!! Everything looked great and still looks real nice even after 40k more miles on the clock.

Yes, you'd need some sort of spray gun. Some paint shops have some that can use CO2 cartridges or reg. compressed air from an air compressor. If you have enough to do, you can even rent some of the stuff too.

The pigment that I am talking about is what they use to change the colors of custom mixed paint. Basically, it's just automotive paint but formulated for interiors. I love it. I had a friend (who taught me how to do this) restore a '68 RS Camaro. He painted the exterior a very nice met. blue then had the paint store mix him a matching batch for the interior. He just took out the stuff he didn't want painted, masked off everything thing else then let 'r rip. He even painted the seats!!!! Everything looked great and still looks real nice even after 40k more miles on the clock.

Yes, you'd need some sort of spray gun. Some paint shops have some that can use CO2 cartridges or reg. compressed air from an air compressor. If you have enough to do, you can even rent some of the stuff too.

Are refering to what actaully changes/creates the color when they do a custom mix, or are you refering to what is used to chage the tint of the paint?

Hes talking about what they use to color the paint. When your in a paint store and see those cylinders with a measuring line on the side, that's the color. All paint starts out as a white, or clear, base and the color is added from there. You could likely go to your local autopaint store - one at home in Ohio would make rattle cans to match your car's color - and ask to purchase a canister of the paint pigment from them.

I could see them not selling it to you though, I can forsee some shop poliy or venders red tape junk.

And Signal748...sorry, I don't sub contract.

Hes talking about what they use to color the paint. When your in a paint store and see those cylinders with a measuring line on the side, that's the color. All paint starts out as a white, or clear, base and the color is added from there. You could likely go to your local autopaint store - one at home in Ohio would make rattle cans to match your car's color - and ask to purchase a canister of the paint pigment from them.

I could see them not selling it to you though, I can forsee some shop poliy or venders red tape junk.

And Signal748...sorry, I don't sub contract.


You are correct about the paint. If you get a reusable rattle can or even a one use(those are hard to find) you shouldn't have too much red tape in order to buy it. Ohio, where at??? That's where I am. I am about 30 min. north west of Mansfield. :iceslolan

Youngstown. We're famous for two things: 1. Every Chevy Cavalier (sorry about that one) and 2. The 3rd Congressman ever to be kicked out was ours: he was in the mob - Jim trafficant, bad suit, bad hair, bad bad bad

Youngstown. We're famous for two things: 1. Every Chevy Cavalier (sorry about that one) and 2. The 3rd Congressman ever to be kicked out was ours: he was in the mob - Jim trafficant, bad suit, bad hair, bad bad bad

Yea, I would think it's probably a good thing he's no longer in Congress, lol.

It's been 3 weeks, I think, and the paint is still holding well. HOWEVER, after some abuse from helping my girlfriend move, the door panels have chipped a bit. The dash pieces, and other parts that don't have stuff constantly bouncing off of them, still perfect.

So, lesson learned: The method I mentioned does not hold up well to bumps and scrapes from boxes, shoes, and various other harder materials that my rub, scratch, or bounce off it.

BTW there is a place in Youngstown, Ohio, in a suburb called Boardman, on State Route 7 (Market Street), (don't have the phone #, I'll get it), that will sell the autopaint pigment - place is called Car Colour. they can also color match your car's paint and make you a rattle can for about $18 that EXACTLY matches your car's paint. I don't work for them, but when I lived there, I bought from them. Takes about a week for them to match and make 3 rattle cans. With that info you should be able to find them on Yellow pages.com er something. That's in case you can't find, or don't have a local paint shop that does that.

There's the update. Good luck out there!

Looks great man. I would try that but I'm too afraid I'll mess it up so when I get ready to take on my interior Ima have someone else do it, I personally am to chicken shit to screw it up and then hate it.

If you have some hookups with a shop or with friends that have paint guns, its a really good idea to do all that prep work just like that and then get auto paint put on all it. If its done right it will last forever and wont chip very easy at all, or fade for that matter. I'm planning on doing my interior with auto paint this summer. I got Krylon on it right now and its holding up pretty well so far and its been about 3 months.

as long as you do a nice job with the clear coat(lots and lots and lots and i mean lots of good even layers(for parts under high traffic)) you will be safe using almost any paint. the clear coat will really help protect the paint from anything