Ive seen pictures of rigs with color matched dash bezels around the instrument cluster and the gear selector and i was looking for a helping hand from anyone who has done it. Looking for Paint, technique, and anything else helpfull.

 

When I did mine I cleansed it all with paint thiner then scuffed it with some fine sand paper and when you go buy paint make sure it will work with plastic the stuff I used on the first piece want and tired out ugly

 

I have a white '90, when I bought it last august the first thing I did was gut the intrument panel and get to painting....had ideas of what I wanted to do but cluelss (being my first xj...had a highlander and a sentra before).

Anyways, I just used a hose and scrubbed them with a washcloth (no sanding, scuffing or soap)...painted all the s*** with Plastikote vinyl paint and now my buddies who are all car/truck junkies wanted me to do their interior (my color scheme is black and white).

I'll post a picture up here tomorrow possibly to help you out. Just make sure you put it all back in asap cause i didnt and just let it lay there and people would kick it and crap and it started to chip so this time i gotta make sure I put it back in asap (might use some Krylon clear gloss to protect too).

Hope this long post helps.

 

There's mine

 

"redxj97", what kind of seats are those?? they look BA

 

Yeah i would love some seat covers from wet okole but i dont have the 235 to spend on that but the color matched interior is really nice thanks for the help btw

 

I painted the bezel around the center controls on my 2000. I removed the whole plastic piece, cleaned it with window cleaner, let dry, then painted with matched body color paint from duplicolor out of a spray can. I probably put on about 5-6 very thin coats. The first 2-3 coats did not cover at all. I let it dry a few minutes in between spraying. I also painted the front & rear dome light bezels, sub woofer grill, and a mounting plate I made for radios that sits between the visors. All using the same technique. I would not paint anything that is a textured plastic. Smooth things are easy to paint. Any type of spray paint that can hold onto plastic will work.

 

Ok that's how I normally paint things but as far as textured plastic goes nothing on my 94 is smooth

 

You can still paint the textured plastic as long as it's a hard plastic (not squishy or vinyl like). Definitely use very thin coats and some extra drying time in between coats. The nooks and crannys could pool the paint and it will look messy. Just know that when you're done: the texture will still be there and depending on the color it may be a more pronounced looking texture.

 

I think you can dye it... I might be wrong about that

 

i just did mine yesterday. my bezel was an ugly wood grain look. so i sanded it down with 150 grit. i bought a spray can of flat dark earth that is for plastic. i did about 3 coats and it looks awsome. make sure the spray can sais it can be used on plastic though. i used the camoflauge paint. ill post a picture. i personally think that the flat colors look alot better. the gloss paints tend to look cheap when applied. but its all personal prefernce

 

just do not use spray paint... buy automotive paint and use the Preval paint system

http://www.preval.com/

 

 

Thats Sick man!!!

 

Yeah thats really nice im gonna do mine tomorrow hopefully thanks for all the pics and info