so recently ive been reading how to paint my interior bezel and other plastic pieces. and ive read 3 variations.

1) sand/wash then adhesive promoter, than paint and clear coat

2)sand/wash than primer, than paint and clear coat

3)sand/wash than adhesive promoter, than primer, than paint and clear coat

is either 1 or 2 better? and is 3 overkill? what should i do

 

here is the trick was tought to be my a old painter.... plastics... scuff them up like 3m pad unless your sanding them smooth... then clean it with a precleano wax/oil remover. then wipe it down with a dupont adhisive promoter let dry for what it says on the bottle then paint then clear coat. adhisive promoter is the last thing it kills in a sence the release agents in the plastic and the plastic oils.

here is my piller pod painted in the way i just sayed...

 

i tried adhisuve promoter and had terrible luck with it. here is what i personally do and have had wonderful results.

1) Sand (how much will depend on how much texture u want)
2) clean with a mild cleaner, let dry and wipe with a tack cloth
3) spray with a light coat of primer (brand is up to you, i used the cheap $1 from dollar general)
4) wet sand primer gently to prep for next coat
5) repeat step 4 and 5 until part is completely coated to ur satisfaction
6) clean, dry and wipe down with a tack cloth
7) Spray color on part, continue until part is how u want (i like to wipe down with a tack cloth inbetween coats if its dusty when u are working)
8) let dry for 24 hrs then its time for clear coat, i use duplicolor clear coat. spray and let dry, i use 3-5 coats. the duplicolor clear coat seems to stand up better to abuse over the cheaper coats.

for more of a shine u can wet sand the final coat of clear and buff it out but that is difficult on most parts.

heres some example of my handywork:

 

what brand you use there is some crappy one's thats for sure...?

 

bulldog is one, i dont recall the others but i dont reckon ill be using it at all anymore.

 

honistly try the Dupont Adhisive promoter very good stuff. then agian i do paint with a paint gun. the adhisive promoter is a "wipe on" not a spray on. most body shops use it very good stuff

 

i dont see the need, as i painted quite a few peices with my method and it always produces quality results. my problem was my personal peices werent in the best shape (knicked up and scuffed) so in person they look ****ty.

they sell the dupont stuff at wally world?

 

LOL no...i buy all my stuff from an auto paint store...

 

thakns a lot guys for the help. i really appreciate it. hopefully ill be trying it out within the next few days. one more question:

any suggestions for primers? and does it matter?

 

i use the cheap stuff from dollar general for $1-1.50 a can. i generally use gray since its the easiet to find but i know u can use different color primers under different color paint to make it look better, just not sure how it goes.

 

i have a paint question...

im painting a couple pieces and i wetsanded the primer and it was really smooth and now im on my 2nd coat of paint and it looks like an orange peel...so i try wetsanding it and it makes it looks all faded/grey am i doing something wrong?

 

nope, ur good.

 

how can i get it to turn black again without having the orange peel? the black is the color i want the piece to be

 

what exactly did u do?

 

i sanded the part down and cleaned it and sprayed a couple coats of primer on it

then i wetsanded the final coat of primer so it was smooth and sprayed the black on it 1 coat then let it dry till it was tacky and sprayed a second coat of black and let it dry and then i noticed the orange peel so i wetsanded it with 1000g paper and this is where i am

 

hmm....what kind of products are you using? Duplicolor primer?

I never sanded the primer before. Always did all my sanding first...then even layers of adehsive promoter, primer, then paint and clear coat.

 

sounds like u didnt let it dry long enough.

 

yeah duplicolor primer, black paint and clear coat

the first coat of the black didnt orange peel im not sure why the second coat did :(

ahh maybe you are right i only let it dry for about 30 mins...im not sure if thats long enough but it felt dry so i figured lol

is it possible that it orange peeled because i layed it on too thick with the 2nd coat

 

thats interesting, i had it happened before but i used plasti-kote paint.

 

This happened to me once when I was painting the bezel. I sanded...but didn't sand the rubber layer fully. Was really bad on the bezel cause of the rubber layer it has.

It also has happened on other pieces in small areas, not that noticeable, but in areas where I didn't sand enough. Prep is everything

 

i sanded the black down so it was not orange peely anymore and resprayed a light coat and so far its doing ok guess ill find out tomorrow...thanks for the replies!

 

when you wet sand do you use just water or do you use soapy water?

 

water and 400 grit paper made for auto application.

 

and that would be ok for the layer of color right?

 

i have a question...might kind of lead away from the primer for a bit but what pieces have yall painted? i can think of 5 common pieces....but that it....i dont wanna over do it but what else is there?