the radio bezel on my '99 ranger has a bunch of nicks and scratches in that black rubberized coating ford sprays on there. it looks aweful.

any tips on repainting it??

can i just use like 1500 sandpaper and sand down the nicked areas and respray it?? i really dont want to strip all that coating off...

 

As awful as it is to do, you're probably gonna need to peel/scrape/sand all the rubbery gunk off & repaint the entire bezel to make it look right.

I'd bet it will be almost impossible to blend/feather in the rubber coating.

I used paint thinner on a rag & rubbed over and over and over... until the rubbery stuff finally gave up and came off. Then I wet sanded with 400, 600, 800 & now working on 1000 grit paper before I wash mine with soap & water. Just before I'm ready to paint, I'll wipe it down a couple of times with 70%+ rubbing alcohol to remove any last fingerprints.

If you just want to sand the rubber coating off, start with 220 or 320 grit paper as the finer grits will gum up almost instantly.

 

Someone on this site used Lacquer Thinner and said the Rubber Coating came right off; sorry don’t remember who but search on the topic and see what you get.
Also, before painting and after all the prep-work, use an Adhesion Promotor, made by the same manufacture as the paint you will be using. (Dupont/Dupont or Dupont/SEMS works OK together)

 

I know this post is pretty old but I thought I would share my experience with this.

Old rubbery coating can be removed with WD40. Spray it on, let it sit and then rub it off.

For repainting... I used Dupli-Color black trim paint from Autozone
(http://www.autozone.com/autozone/acc...entifier=98213
It's been holding strong for about 6 years now.
Another option would be PlastiDip spray. You can get it at home Depot.

 

i was curious about doing this to mine. do they offer dupli-colour in a flat or matte finish?

 

Yes, I believe the trim paint is semi-gloss,
There is also a paint called SEMs and they cam match your interior color.

IMHO… use an adhesion promoter to make sure things stick.
DuPont make one and you can spray any paint over it but keeping to one supplier helps with paint interaction.

 

According to Duplicolor the trim paint is "Satin black".

I personally didn't use any adhesion promoter on mine. Their adhesion promoter is intended for lacquer and enamel paints. This would definitely need to be used if you wanted to paint the bezel a color using regular paint. According to the label the paint bonds with plastic, kind of like Fusion. I did make sure that the plastic was very clean and I ran a scouring pad over it to dull the surface before spraying it. I have been very impressed with this stuff. The factory finish started peeling within the first year of having my truck. I didn't take it back to Ford because when I called they gave me the impression that they would have my truck for days just to replace the bezel.
It has been at least six years since I repainted it and it still looks like new.
Duplicolor also makes what the call "bumper paint". It also has a satin black finish (as well as gray, silver and charcoal) and is very durable. I use it as a final liner coating in my RC car bodies. Stuff is tough. Even with the flexing of the lexan body and the oil of the nitro engines it manages to hold on.

I am planning on painting the factory gray bumper with it soon.
http://duplicolor.com/products/trimPaint/
http://duplicolor.com/products/bumperCoating/

 

Oh, if you want a more "rubbery" feel... use Plastidip.



Not sure how long it will hold up, but a lot of people have been using it.