Interior Plastic Restoration Journey

[kawahonda]

Here's my paint chip with a pillar trim and kick trim.

New paint will be right at home. This is the benefit of matching your paint...

[anlauto]

The colour looks decent, but I was wondering about the grain where the kick panel meets the door panel especially, wouldn't you want that to match ?

[kawahonda]

I doubt it will be noticeable...

[Cuda_mark]

The colour looks decent, but I was wondering about the grain where the kick panel meets the door panel especially, wouldn't you want that to match ?

With no other options and the color match being spot on after 3 tries, I agree that it wont be very noticeable unless you specifically go looking for it. Remember he said from 12" away, it all kind of all blends together. How often are your eyes 12" away from that door to kick panel interface....

I think you will be satisfied with the results ESPECIALLY since you did it yourself!

[kawahonda]

Pictures speak louder than words

[kawahonda]

Some last pics for you guys.

[Brads70]

Looks great. This would be of special interest to convertible owners I'd guess that are in need of non existent replacements

[kawahonda]

Process:

Sand chalked pieces with 180 grit. If you can scratch it with a fingernail or a guitar pick, it needs to be sanded off.
Use a flexible filler for any scratches/mars that you can feel with your finger. Mine only had 4-5 little spots across 5 panels. Adhesion promote areas before filling.
SEM plastic soap and scotch pad and nylon brush to clean panels. Rinse with water.
Wipe down with wax and grease remover. Don't get it too wet, just enough for a good wipe.
Spray adhesive promotor. Wait minimum 5-10 minutes. With Bulldog, the spray is good for 24 hours.
1 coat reduced PPG DP Epoxy. I let mine dry overnight.
3-4 light coats of NAPA rock guard (texture). I would recommend going with the white spray if you have anything other than black panels. Look at my earlier posts for tips on spraying.
Let texture dry overnight, although a few hours will be fine.
Lightly hit with 320 grit to create texture profile
Clean with tack-free cloth, no need to clean with any solvent
3-4 coats of color spraying. Add additional spot coating if needed. I used PPG Elastomeric "OneChoice" which is available for mixing at any paint shop. DO NOT TRUST any "Dye" from a can for a match when you change your substrate (such as what this process does).

Build paint chips like I did. Your paint shop should be happy to give you sample.

Doing 5 panels took me about 25 hours of time and roughly about $250 of materials, not including my sunken cost of 5 cans of Herb's spray which I didn't use. I also had some PPG Epoxy on-hand and a roll of 180 to use.

[anlauto]

Removed the piece and took an initial thickness measurement.

What's the thickness measurement now ?

[kawahonda]

Not a reliable measurement, because that area ranges from 2.86-3.2 right now (it probably ranged before too). I suspected that all the material removed is built right back up!

[kawahonda]

A couple before and after

[kawahonda]

are seat backs and arm-rests/pockets interchangeable? Because I have no idea which is what anymore.

[YellowThumper]

Thank you for this write up. That will be perfect for the masses with average cars who want them to hit the next level.

[anlauto]

are seat backs and arm-rests/pockets interchangeable? Because I have no idea which is what anymore.

Seat Backs and arm rest YES, pull cups NO. The location of the lock lever will determine left or right. 

[kawahonda]

Thanks guys. Let me know if I missed any details.

Here is the picture of the texture spray that I used. As mentioned (one more shout out to Jeff S). Most should use the white spray since it is easier to cover over. I used a quart of elastomeric paint and went down to the last drop with 5 pieces with the black texture spray! I think you'd probably still use quite a lot with white too, but I think white puts you in a better place with potentially less material.

With knocking down, you can see I chose to go light. The more you go, the more it will "flatten" and look like wall texture. Remember chip #1 vs chip #2? You can't mimic inverted texture (OEM), but I'd argue even if it's raised texture, as long as it's fine (which mine is) then that's where you want to be. The smoother the texture, the more "glossy" the look and out of place it may be....

I'm really happy with how these came out, and I believe I exceeded 8/10. These could go in a show car. What I'm anticipating is how they will look inside of the car. With as much work as I did on matching the paint, I am not worried at all. The sheen is perfect as well since I did a light knockdown.

I was loosing sleep last night because I was worried I knocked down too much, which would create "shiny" panels. Turns out, they have a perfect satin-semi-gloss sheen just like the originals. Looking 6" away is what doesn't matter here in the big picture.

I was also happy to find out that zero defects showed up. This is because I followed good process and used quality materials and put the time in. They look brand new.