Rob's Abbreviated Guide to Painting Your Rigs Interior
 

Very thorough. Now could someone refresh my small memory as to what "Tack Cloth" is please also when you say lacquer based could you provide some links to what you mean please. ALSo on the clear coat. Yes I am an idiot and do not understand

no problem...i'll get started on that right now...

Yeah I want to paint my stuff white...and I dont know what primer or clearcoat to use...

tack-cloth is basically cheese cloth covered in a special compound that pick up dust, dirt, and debris from almost any surface. In the automotive world, tack cloth is most commonly used prior to paint application as final assurance of a clean work surface.

Use caution though. If you rub too much/too hard/too fast...so on, you will leave a residue on the surface to be painted and therefor get fish eyes, orange peels, and all kinds of nasty blemishes in the paint and have to start over.

Just lightly drag it over the desired surface.

I personally would use a red, green, or dark grey primer.

When using lighter paints as your final coat, it's suggested to use a darker primer.

If you don't get the logic behind this i'll quickly run through it. And this is not off of some google search. This is from past experience.

When you use a light pigment base on top of a dark pigment primer the primer acts as a type of "backlighting" for the base. I can't explain the exact science that goes into the development of the paints and why this is, but it's no different than holding up a 1" piece of white paper in front of a 6" piece of black paper. It just makes the white stand out more.

If you would like to see for yourself i suggest getting a piece of plastic or old metal or something like that. Prime a small area with a white primer or light grey and paint it with a light color, such as white gloss.

Then paint a section next to it with a dark primer and use the same base coat.

Let them dry and tell me the results...

umm...i can't find any links for lacquer right now, but i can still give a good explanation.
a good well rounded lacquer will be your best friend if it's applied properly. and by properly i mean Patiently. Lacquer is a very fickle creature and has to be treated with much respect and much patience...otherwise it will ruin what you've done.

when i said well-rounded earlier, i meant one that is pretty much even all the way around in the areas, of gloss, hardness, durability, flexibility,and applications.

You don't wanna use the same kind of lacquer that is on the furniture in your house do you? Why you ask, well, your couches, love seats, and coffee tables use a special lacquer whose characteristics are somewhat offset. The furniture companies go more for gloss/hardness/durability factors for obvious reasons.

The auto industry tries to balance it out a little better for us and add in alot of flexibility due the extremes that vehicles encounter in contrast to stationery objects such as furniture. I mean really, how much flex does a couch arm need? lol

I hope this helps....

i'll get some more info posted when i can do a search on an unmonitored non-military network...

Good info, thanks for that...

I've been wanting to paint the interior of my truck but I have a black truck. So I dont know what color to paint the interior pieces since thier already black. My interior is tan (why would someone get a black truck with tan interior?) I asked myself the same thing when I bought it (used) but the price was right. Anyway... What color do all you people with black trucks paint your interior?
Thanks,
Chris

hey dude...i had a black cavalier convertible with a tan interior, so i feel you...i hated that ****....i went with deep gloss black and fire engine red. I think it come out lookin sweet.

here's a link to my cavy page if you wanna check it out and maybe get some ideas

Project Converti Cavy

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...67_51_full.jpg

That looks good. I am wanting to paint my door panels and around my instrument cluster, but am scared I will mess it up. Thats the reason for all my questions. I paid someone to do the radio bezel, and ended up getting it done free because they had never done it. Now they are too busy to help me

I'd offer to do you for cheaply, but that requires them being shipped to me, which requires you being without them for about a week....i can talk you through it if you want. it's not difficult at all.

My biggest suggestion is going to wal-mart and buying about 3 cans of $.88 spray paint in any color and 1 good can of whatever type of base coat you're going to use and practice your methods with the first 3 and then when you're happy with your ability use the good can to practice and get use to its spray characteristics. You can even buy one of those aerosol can add-ons that make it feel like an actual spray gun...I used one and it made it alot easier on my hands. Oh, and i would do the same with clearcoat as far as practicing and getting used to it.

awesome what grit would you suggest for getting rid of texture? I want that smooth glass look. IM hoping to have a white and black interior instead of that gay Grey/ Black interior. Why did it take ford so long to say Grey is gay. lol.

for that i suggest a 300 grit wet/dry.

Start off by sanding it dry until the texture is just about gone, then switch over to a wet sand. This will finish removing the texture as well as help smooth out the surface.

Once you can't see the texture anymore go up to a 600/800 grit and wet sand the whole thing for a few minutes to further smooth out the surface and get rid of any high spots.

To create a stage for an ultra glass like surface wet sand with 1600 grit for about 20 minutes or so. This will leave the surface as smooth as a baby's butt.

Sorry I can't be more specific in the sanding process. Most of this is just done by feel. Each person wants a different look. So you're the best judge of how long you should sand. Just remember, the more you remove with a rougher grit paper the less time you have to spend with fine grits.

Mods, if you want you can delete this post. I am currently working on a more revised and in depth "How-To" Article on interior painting and it should be up in about an hour or so.

Thanks
Rob

damn you on the ball. OK imma start gathering supplies soon.

Mine is simpler.

Sand with 400 grit
Wash clean
spray a few coats of duplicolor
spray a few coats of clear coat

Whew..I'm beat...

sometimes simple is better, but not everyone knows where to even begin. So i figure if i go step by step through it at least one person will learn something new....and if you used 400 grit there's a good possibility that whatever you painted is going to start developing dimples and small cracks once it sets in the sun. no guarantee on that, but very likely...

does anyone have any pictures of a painted interior??

is laquer enamel the clear coat?? i went to advance and couldnt find duplicolor clear coat.....and should i use a flat black or a gloss black for a base coat?
thanks

http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/497767

here's a link to my cavalier before during and after the interior painting

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...26_54_full.jpg

Here is my truck...

my interior painting method differed a bit... since youre dealing with all plastic pieces, which are usually harder for paint to adhere to... after i preped, i used an adhesion promoter in place of a primer coat. imo primer isnt needed in an application such as this. the adhesion promoter was followed by duplicolor colormatched paint on all the accent panels, and sem vinyl and fabric paint on every other panel. i left the black sem painted panels as is, but added a duplicolor clearcoat on the accent panels. they come in the small size rattle cans, and it has a clear top and says duplicolor import auto spray - clear top coat.

http://members.cox.net/barrman/ranger/newint04.jpg
http://members.cox.net/barrman/ranger/newint01.jpg

man i hope mine turns out that sweet...:)

How hard was it to tweed that soft area on the door? I'm wanting to color my interior aswell, Dark grey to blackish maybe. What kind of material do we use on carpet, and can we paint leather? Id check the site but it wont come up.