bluAM2

Well what started as picking up a new car dock for my cell phone has turned into an all out removal of my interior trim pieces. I've been looking to change my stock blue interior to something a little darker ... specifically, black (and maybe a little gunmetal/charcoal grey). I've been cruising the net looking for any information on the best (and if I can help it, cheapest) way to get it done over the past several months and today I went and picked up a cell phone dock for the truck. I was originally just going to pull back a knee panel or two so I could route the charging cable up under the dash to keep all the cable clutter to a minimum. Well I got started with this and ended up having to remove the center trim panel which means I had to undo the driver and passenger side panels halfway. I think you see where I'm going with this. Now I have all my forward trim panels off and cleaned up and are waiting to be 'painted.'

I picked up a can of the SEM Satin Black Vinyl Dye a week or two ago and tested it on the back of one of my already removed panels the other day and I think I'm a fan (though criticism is very welcome). I only applied a single coat for testing purposes and it passed a screwdriver scratch test, so I think a couple coats of this stuff on all my dash panels should do the trick. I also pulled my radio so that I can get it mounted properly and hopefully have it sit more flush than it has been. I pulled my ash tray years ago, planning on fabbing up some sort of hide-away iPod dock, but that never happened, so maybe now is the time for that as well. We shall see ...

I haven't taken any pics yet (sorry), but I'll get some up over the next couple days hopefully. I just wasn't planning on starting this one just yet and didn't realize I had until I had all my dash panels sitting on my livingroom floor ... updates to follow.

- Jake

streetlancer

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bluAM2

91muddog

Need to do this to mine too. What steps are you taking to prep the panels?

ALLDATAdiy INFO

Love to see some pics of this.

bluAM2

Pics in due time. Right now if I took pics it wouldn't be very impressive. All I would be able to show you are my knee and kick panels removed. I haven't painted anything just yet as this whole work thing tends to get in the way of play time.

As far as prep work, so far I've washed everything down twice with dishsoap and water. Before I apply any paint (or tape if I can decide on a non-cheesy two tone layout), SEM also has a prep kit. It's just another aerosol can with what smells almost like a highly diluted and aerosolized thinner? I'll read the can a little closer to see exactly what it's made up of. I might not have even needed it. Before I ran my test on the SEM Black Satin I used this SEM Cleaner and it cleaned up the area really well. Once I get it clean I'll scuff sand it with some Scotchbrite or something not too aggressive and then clean it again with the SEM Cleaner or rubbing alcohol to be sure there's no dust or debris. Make sure you CLEAN very well and after you've cleaned the final time, don't touch it with bare hands if you want to do it right. Use latex gloves or something to keep your hand oils from greasing it up.

As far as applying the paint/dye, I read on another "re-coloring" thread that they used a primer down before applying auto-body paint. I'm using a vinyl dye, however, so I'm going to skip the primer. I'll be sure to let you know if that was a good idea haha. Like I said earlier though, I did a scratch test with a screwdriver with one coat of the stuff and it was fine. Time will tell!