Interior Trim Paint
 

Ok so Ive decided to try and paint the silver interior trim pieces on my 07 ss including the steeringwheel inserts from silver to a gloss black finish. They only problem Im foreseeing is that my radio and hvac controls wont look good silver, so is there anything out there I can buy as a replacement black HVAC controls and possibly get the black radio cover that comes in like an 08+ ss/tc?

I wanna do it but dont want to unless I can have everything black. Im wondering how to solve the HVAC and radio colour dilemma? Thoughts?

my friend had to buy a new one lol like 50 shipped i think

a new radio or hvac control or both lol...and where i cant really find what im looking for on ebay.

Id buy this if it wasnt a stupid amount and had the steering wheel and window/lock panels for the doors included in the kit but even with it my radio and hvac controls would still be silver lol cant win:

http://www.crateenginedepot.com/stor...P6419C396.aspx

The black radio and hvac should be all over eBay

ya i guess if im gonna do it id have to suck it up and pay 100 bones for a new black radio and like 50 for the hvac controls? ughh that sucks

search cobalt ac controls or cobalt hvac controlls on ebay, just look for a black one. i got mine for like 20$ shipped last summer.

I bought a black HVAC unit off Ebay for $50, as for the radio, I took the radio out and removed the silver faceplate off of it and painted it black with flat black and then evenly scuffed the paint after it dried... After I scuffed it, it was the same color and shade as the HVAC controls.

Keep in mind, the radio will be a PITA... After I pulled off the face plate, I had like 20 pieces all over the table to put back together. But that was okay, I also replaced the CD player portion of my deck because the CD player no longer worked.

You can find black sunroof trim at just about any autobody shop. I also got the same autobody shop to mix me up some matching metallic orange spray paint and they gave me a plastic primer and glossy clear coat, it came out really good.

for the gloss black trim, u can use krylon fusion. its made for plastic. u dont have to sand or prime and it goes on nice. did mine red with it, came out secks

I painted mine with that Kyrlon Fusion paint and it came out pretty good... not an exact match but much better then it was. Just a little more shiny then I hoped but I'm happy. I ordered my HVAC controls on ebay for like $40 after shipping.

Before___________________________________________ After
http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...070_medium.jpghttp://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...068_medium.jpg

Btw, denlou how did you scuff your paint? I might wanna give it a try.

Wow, thanks for the help guys, much appreciated. I was thinking about using the kyrlon paint on the window/door lock panels, small steering wheel panels (07 steering wheel obvs), dash trim and now ill do the radio faceplate. thanks for the how-to denlou and nice pics cptn_pants.

Im also curious about this sunroof trim and how u scuffed the paint up? Do tell and snap an interior pic or 2, def. curious to how it looks if you can. Thanks again everyone. Ill let you know how it turns out

Good luck with the painting, btw a little tip with the Krylon I noticed that every time i pulled the trigger, even after a long spray, it shot little blobs of paint. So pull the trigger while spraying off to the side of whatever you are painting then just move over it. It took me a good 2 mess ups before I figured that out.

lol thanks man will do im actually going to get some Krylon tomorrow morning and ripping the interior out. Did you sand it at all or just clean it and go to town? Ill just paint it and let it dry and swap the AC controls when it comes in from Ebay

http://louden.ca/IMG_3121_2.JPG

I know you guys like your Krylon, but every job ive seen done with it looks like shit. Get automotive paint and stop buying paint meant for deck chairs haha...

As you can see my HVAC looks like my stereo which WAS silver. As far as scuffing, just take the back side of some sand paper (the paper side) and scuff it up.

Just clean and go, I used some rubbing alcohol and some microfiber clothes to clean it up real good then sprayed 1 light coat, let it dry about 15 minutes. Then I sprayed another heavier coat, let it dry, another heavy coat and let that dry. Then I just did a touch up spray. I let that dry about 5 hours and it was pretty good to go, I peeled up the tape I used to mask off the areas I didn't paint and I was done. If I'm gonna scuff it up I might take it off and add a few more coats but that's a story for another day lol.

@denlou: Krylon is awesome for solid colors like black and... well black lol, it's crap for metallic colors like your sunburst orange.

how did you get the clear to look that shiny? i did a friends in black and you can tell the uneven clear coats and iv painted alot of trim. i did mine in red and one came out perfectn and the other is all rough maybe try more clear but if i put to much it gets that white look to it like i used to much or sumthin

lol looks really good man, when you got the automotive paint what kind did you get for the radio? I kno black obvs lol but what kind? Did u sand the faceplate down or if I got automotive paint could I just spray and be done with it? Im good with cars but shit with painting and stuff thats why I feel like a newb with these questions lol

yeah my trim came out good on one side and the other its all rough its like wtf lol

I bought automotive clear coat, about 4 thick coats and no buffing, it was mint.

As for the black, I did just buy cheap flat black spray paint because it was half the price of getting an automotive black mixed up. I scuffed the faceplate with a 600 grit sandpaper, then primed it with the plastic primer I got at the automotive shop, sanded that again with 600 grit sandpaper till it was smooth and then painted it with the black in about three lights coats. Let that dry and then just took the back of the sandpaper and buffed it up a bit. I wasn't going to do the last step, but it just didn't look right till I did.

Here's the red I did on the last car using the same method (better lighting)...

http://louden.ca/12.jpg

Ya thats what I thought you meant. K so I think my plan tomorrow is Im going to Canadian Tire and grabbing some flat black spray paint, some 600 grit sandpaper, Plastic primer, and then hopefully it looks almost as good as ur radio lol

I wonder if I did my silver trim pieces like that if it would look better flat black or a little glossy and the flat black radio/ac controls?

What do you think?

got a pic of the clear coat u used theres diff. types of auto. clear i used the same thing though and was about 3 or 4 coats of clear but it comes up a weird color if i put to much

dang i did mine in red and its not that shiny wtf am i doin wrong. maybe jus keep addin the clear lol

Honestly have no idea what brand it was, it was whatever single stage clear coat they handed me when I told them what I needed.

Are you sure it was dry before you applied the clear? I let my paint cure for 24hrs at about 80 degrees. I could apply that all day without discoloration.

RedSS - Do the red dash trim like the second pic I posted.

hmm so how should i fix this maybe wetsand and reapply the clear?

Damn I just seen that pic a beautt...thats out of my league paint wise haha. It looks really good tho. Did you do the same prep as for the radio faceplate? If I can't get that colour denlou do you think the flat black radio and AC controls would look good with a flat black interior trim or glossy black interior trim. You seem to be the expert ur interior ftw man big time

I might just do the radio faceplate and order the AC controls in the mean time until I fully decide what I would like. But appreciate all the info and help

Yeah, I guess you'll have to start over.

Just thinking, if you mixed a clear that was meant for Acrylique with a Lacquer paint that might have caused the discoloration.

Water based automotive paints are going to be your best bet in the appearance, color matching, and smooth ness department. I would like to note that on both paint jobs there is ZERO sanding involved after the first layer of color went on.

Yeah I think black on black always looks good heh. If you look at the red one, you can see the flat black radio and the glossy black piece that displays the air bag info between the radio and the heater controls.

well im not sure what kind of paint to buy i jus picked up some vinyl and dashboard and trim ext. paint...so any kind of paint would work though ?