I know there has been more then a few threads about painting the inside of the car and a few guide but I still have a few things I cant figure out from reading all of them.
What parts in the car get the SEM vinyl spray, do they all get it?

What parts are made of plastic and get different spray?

Can you paint the padded part on the door arm rest?

Is there anyother parts besides the bezel for the radio that has that crap rubber coating?

any help here would be great, i'm lookin to repaint the whole interior with navy blue and black accents, thanks.

 

what year is your truck? model... specs... etc

 

2002 ranger super cab xlt -- heres a pic before i took out my old stereo (currently no stereo or harman kardon):

 

nice.

 

the vents and plastic door handle covers are plastic as well as the center bezel....make sure you sand all the platic enough times so you dont have a crappy lookin truck. i painted mine first without sanding and it looked like crap.....then me and kris painted it and sanded....wow what a difference.

 

I used the SEM on all the more flexible interior panels... door panels, dash, etc etc. I used colormatched duplicolor and adhesion promoter on the more rigid plastics like the radio bezel, gauge surround, door bezels, etc. I wouldnt paint the padded part on the doors... i'd reupholster em. Paint on those padded panels probably wouldnt last long.

 

This is the process I use.

I used the same paint, primer and promotor for all my pieces but I would rethink doing my padded armrests differently. It gets kinda sticky when its hot. I think I put too many coats of clear coat on.

The radio bezel is the only place that I ran into that has the rubber coating.
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Painting Interior Process

Clean part with simple green or your favorite degreaser. Scrub with a dish sponge. Rinse, dry.

(This is to get off all the armour all you've been putting on)

Scrub the part again using soapy water (dishsoap works well). Rinse. Dry

Wipe the entire part down with rubbing alcohol.

Sand part with 140 grit automotive sandpaper. I use the sandpaper sponges from 3M.

For the radio bezel, be sure to sand down the rubber coating as well. You might want to go with a coarser grit for the rubber coating, just be careful not to scratch underneath.

Use 320 then 400 grit, then 600 wetsand, to a smooth finish.

If you want you could use 1200 grit to make it a really smooth finish.

Clean (can use rubbing alcohol again)

Use Duplicolor adhesive promoter, following the directions on the can of adhesion promoter, do 2 to 3 coats. Remember to keep the adhesion promoter layers very light, or they can create runs that can screw up the finish.

Use Dupicolor bumper primer or SEM vinyl and fabric spray, several light coats.

Wait for coat to tack or dry then add another coat.

Make sure to use either of these kinds of primers because they allow flex..if you don't the paint will chip or crack when your part moves and expands while driving.

Make sure you lightly sand down any bumps or scratches before painting. Let the primer FULLY dry before starting to paint.

Paint 3 coats. Wait for paint to tack or dry before adding more coats.

Finalize with 3 coats of Duplicolor clear enamel.

Be patient and wait a couple days before installing your interior piece if its in an area that you touch often. You want to be sure the paint is completely dry.

-----------------------------------------------------

This is the result

 

isnt SEM vinyl paint also made for leather type applications, or is that another product sem makes. I think if something is made for leather or vinyl it should be able to flex.

Buzzair is blue the only part you painted? And does the edge have that much different of an interior then a standard ranger? The padding part on yours looks much taught.

 

yea I only painted my parts sonic blue, colour matched it to my truck.

Can't answer ya on the Edge VS xlt interior.

The padding part on mine looks much taught? What does that mean?

 

I was trying to saw it looks more tight then the xlt, more solid less puffy. Can dupilcor primers and adhesion materials be used with SEM paints?

 

afaik, the edge and xlt interiors with the power package (of the same years; 2001 - 2003) are basically identical.

 

ahhh his is non power.


For removing the rubber from the bezel is there any good way to do it besides plain old sanding? If sanding it the way should I start at 150 or 220?

 

Yea non power for me.

The rubber comes right off once you get it to that level. You can even rub it off with your thumbs. Best thing is to just keep sanding with 150. Dont go too course or your gonna scratch the plastic

 

well I tried a shortcut and lets say... umm never use zip strip on your bezel


at first i had great results then i realized you can not stop the almighty zip strip... time to buy a new bezel

 

dont sand the rubber off th bezel either, it takes paitience and just peel it off with your fingers

 

Ah, sorry to hear that. One thing about painting the interior is that it takes a lot of patience. but it shows up in a great quality finish in the long run if you do all the prepping/sanding

 

what is zip strip?

 

well with zip strip its a thing made for removing paint, it works realllly good for that, its the best. It also removed the rubber really well but It kept eating away and got a hold of the plastic. I actually think if I used a more weak version it may have worked, i used the kind to remove 6 coats of paint... oops.. on the plus i got a cheap bezel that matched mine off ebay, the guys sold it cheap cause the rubber was coming off it.... hehe

 

anyone got a link to this SEM vynil paint...Hey I did my armrest like buzzair did it only lasted 3 days then it started to chip b/c my arm is always there and it flexes...so I striped it back off, I saw how nice buzzairs looked I'm just curious on ya'll interiors, How long does it last??? I've seen how barrman painted his whole interior, has it peeled anywhere or anything??? B/C if not yall got skills yall should do inteior work, lol

 

hehe... nope mine still looks as good as the day i finished it about a year ago!

its all in the prep, and the type of paint you use. i tried 3 or 4 different "flexible plastic" paints, and SEM held up the best BY FAR. others i tried include duplicolor vinyl and fabric spray, and plastikote. krylon fusion would probably work, but they have very limited colors, and im never impressed with the finish they leave.

 

well could you e-mail me the link of some SEM stuff I think I want black...hows their Tan paint look? B/c I wanna buy some grey door panels and paint them, b/c I can't find tan panels

 

http://www.perfectfit.com/product.as...5979&l2=15342#


i'd use this site if you're doin the whole car because of the discount on quantities, will duplicolor last just as long as SEM for the arm rest? I'm spraying mine currently and am wondering if I just messed up by using dupli.


heres some pics of my first part done, the stereo surround for a single din stereo:

 

if you prepped it REALLY good, you might have good luck with it. I personally noticed that the duplicolor just didnt seem to adhere as well as SEM, and would sometimes peel off in large sections. In a high traffic area like an armrest, i'd be weary, however.

try it out, and if it doesnt work, you can always redo it with duplicolor.

its hard to find SEM online... but if you have any local, professional paint supply stores, they'd likely have it, or be able to order it. I bought mine at a local place called advanced color coatings. they have TONS of colors; and even tons of sub-colors within color categories. for example, they have like 3 or 4 types of black, and even more types of tan... everything from dark tan to really light bone-tan, like you find in escalades and stuff. i used SEM landau black on my entire interior, and used color-matched duplicolor on the radio bezel/ohc/door handle trim, etc.

 

Did you prime it? I used the duplicolor bumper primer which works fine to allow flex. If you did it like mine, then there should not be chipping. Duplicolor bumper primer is easy to find, its at advanced auto parts.

Mine hasn't chipped at all, its only smudged a lil because I put back in too soon and then took an 8 hour road trip home to Canada.

 

so use adhesive, then bumper, then vinyl??


Do i then need to use a special clear coat on the flex areas or will any work?


Is there a place I can go to get SEM to match the same color as duplicolor?