I've wanted to a few paint parts of my door panels for a looooong time & I finally got around to it after seeing another post a few days ago.

I painted the door handle/switch panels (it was already black, but scuffed & fading) as well as the armrests.

The problem is the armrest... I painted everything with krylon fusion black (says no primer needed), but it's still a little tacky (wet, not ugly). It's been about 3 days & everything else I painted with fusion dries within 30 minutes & cures within a day. It's been pretty cold (40* to 50*) in the garage, but all the other plastic/rubber parts have fully cured in no time at this temp.

The armrest doesn't want to dry completely. The bottom area is the worst, the top, sides & front are dry enough to touch, but if I press down it will leave marks.

To prep, I steel wooled everything smooth, cleaned everything to be painted with acetone (nail polish remover), let it dry, cleaned again with alcohol (50% alcohol/50% water), let it dry, rubbed down with clean shop towels and shot light coats on each piece.
The handle/switch panels came out pretty well, 95% of the paint adhered perfectly, about 5% had some areas that didn't want to take paint that well but eventually covered.

I don't know if I should try warming up the armrests with a space heater to help the paint dry, or if it's just going to take longer for the rubber armrests to fully cure.

In the past, I've painted an entire dash (old car) with cheap $1 spray paint that dried in a couple hours, but these armrests don't seem to like this plastic/rubber fusion paint.

Any ideas?

 

Take a hair dryer and run over it for a little while.

 

Bring it inside to a warmer place. Or try the hair dryer.

 

When I did my bedrails I found if the paint was too thick in an area it would come off on my hands when I picked them up. It didn't feel tacky though but I lightly went over them with a rag before installing them to kind of dust the excess paint off.... not sure if that's the same as your issue but possibly try that?

 

You need to find some way to heat up those painted parts, im in the process of painting my ENTIRE interior right now (ive only got the dash left :) ) But anyway, i used Krylon fusion flat black for mine, just use some heat to let it dry. I let my pieces dry in direct sunlight for almost 2 hours, then let it cool over night before i put my pieces back into my truck.

 

They're still in the garage (in the truck), about 45* today...tried the heater for about half an hour, but it's still tacky.
I put several thin coats on, so the paint might just be too thick.

Hopefully, I won't have to take the door panels back off to clean them off with paint thinner/repaint.

It's still tacky, mostly on the bottom & edges. Doesn't come off on my hands, but I have to remember not to grab or press on them.

I'll give them a couple more days to cure before I take them back off & (try to) remove the paint with paint thinner & try again.

Strange, I painted the fender flares a few days before & they turned out perfectly.

 

was it completely dry before you put each coat on? that could be the problem, if you just sprayed right over wet paint.

 

I let each piece dry for about 15-20 min between coats.
The plastic parts dried in no time, even with several coats & the cold...but these darn rubber armrests are still tacky.

 

The Fender Flares are a completely different type of material too.. they are full rigid plastic, as opposed to your interior materials. And as yellow said, "if" you have to do it again, take LOTS of time to do it right; you cant go wrong on the interior pieces... Get a first light coat down, let it dry for an hour.. then do anotehr light coat.. dry an hour, and keep doing that over and over all day until it looks how you would like it to.

 

I'll probably have to pull the door panels off again & start over

They're just about as tacky today as the first day.
I've heated the garage from 45* to almost 60* & the driver side is just as tacky before. The passenger side is pretty much cured on top, but the edges are still sticky.

I guess I was too confident after the fender flares & mud flaps went so well. One of these days when it warms up outside, I'll post pics.

If I do this again, I'll do super light coats, even if it doesn't cover 5% each time.

 

i was frustrated with my center console doing that but i finally did light coats and came out great. What paint did you use for your flares? mine are currently gray (stock) thinking of making them red like my truck....

 

Krylon Fusion gloss black.
Almost everything on the outside of the truck is KF black now .

My flares were gray, except for the areas where it was damaged (like that before I bought it). One had several long scrapes that went through to the under layers (whatever it is called) and instead of the boring gray, they were boring gray with white streaks.

I was lazy & didn't even take them off the truck...plus I didn't want to break any of those darn clips.

While I had the paint flowing in the garage, I painted the mud flaps (I actually took them off) & both Ranger XLT emblems with KF gloss black too.

I painted the front bumper inserts & valance quite a while ago & they still look like new.

KF is some pretty darn good stuff!!

I might use satin instead of gloss if I have to re-do all the interior parts.

 

When I painted some interior parts in myf250 I had this same problem. I painted the pillar posts, rear quater panles, and the passenger pillar grab handle, the grab handle wouldnt dry. I waited untill next weekend, still sticky. Stripped , washed with everything I had. Repainted, with Fusion. Still wouldnt dry.
I stripped again the next day tried to dry spray, very light mist coat, bout every hour Id dust again. Took a good part of the day. Thought I done it, seemed to be working, it was not sticky. Next day I was going to reinstalled, the handle was stickyer than before.
I determind the handle wasnt plastic but a type of vynal, which 'sweats'. The fusion just wouldnt dry, stayed sticky.

Stripped again (the fusion just wiped of with paint thinner) cleaned again and repainted with vynal paint. Dried almost instantly. I dont know your material but it sounds like vynal. Or Could be oils/grease. I used semi gloss fusion but the vynal all I could find was gloss..
Mark

 

I checked it out today & the driver side is tackier than ever, however the passenger side is slightly dryer.
Pretty sure the armrests are vinyl or rubberized vinyl. I cleaned with alcohol a couple times & wiped down, holding them from wires attached to the back tabs, so hopefully it wasn't oil/dirt.
I think these armrests just don't want to be black.

Where'd you find your vinyl paint AnEv942?

 

The vinyl spray was Dupli-Color Vinyl & Fabric, hvp104 gloss black. I either got it from Autozone or local ace hardware (where I got Fusion paint).
Good Luck-I just looked at my ranger-the arm rest /door pull are vinal/rubbeized.
Mark