hey guys i have a 98 trans am with the grey interior...i really want it to be black. already have black racing seats so my question is has anyone had their panels painted at a shop with interior paint before? i really dont want to swap to ebony...any thoughts? thanks in advance

 

I painted some of the panels and dash at home. SEM makes a spray dye that has worked very well for many people. I cleaned each panel and then sprayed two coats of color, and then cleared with SEM satin. It has held up for over a year now. I think the Landau color is most similar to ebony. Black is too black.

Other folks have recommended Krylon for plastic, which I have used for other items successfully, but not tried for our interiors.

 

I second sem and krylon. Although I hated that plastic feeling and after I saw someone on here wrap their panels in black vinyl I did the same

 

thanks guys for the advice. can you guys post up a pic or maybe send me some pics of the interiors? i'd like to see how it looks wraped and also want to see the shade of the color raleigh ta used. thanks again

 

i used the duplicolor vinyl and fabric satin black. its almost an exact match to the stock ebony, you will want ebony kickpanels.. other then that, its been about 9 months since i painted it and it looks good! i degreased and cleaned, used an adhesion promoter and then sprayed the color

 

ive done it a bunch of times. that duplicolor vinyl. fabric paint sux. it peels after a while. i found that the rustoleum plastic paint works pretty good even on vinyl door panels.

 

does anyone have pics after they did this process?

 

i havent had a problem with it yet.. i mean it will scratch if its hit with something but thats normal. its mostly prep work that is the main factor in the quality

 

Im not a fan of Krylon Fusion. I used it. the black has too much sheen to it and looks out of place on our interior, plus its not very durable, If I had added a flat clear for durability and the sheen I wanted I could have been happy, who know though.

Im currently redoing them in SEM Landau black, it is hands down the best interior paint Ive ever seen, including the fusion, and Duplicolor's stuff.

 

Ya I've painted some interior










As well as the SEM dye option.....PREP is everything in either option The SEM is easily scratched tho by sharp points or objects. So if people are in and out of the back, you may wanna locate dark plastic of do the HVLP option (top) giving you a clear to buff scratches off OR you could always just keep a can for touch ups

 

wow! looks great! i thought about a gloss finish but wasnt sure how that'd look...do you have any pics inside the car after the pieces were reinstalled?? thanks for posting those pics up

 

I do not, I will at some point this winter. The build of the car was put on hold over a year ago. I am now returning to is this winter! Sorry

 

I painted mine with dupli color interior stuff and it looked REALLY good for a whole six months. It still looks ok i guess except for 2 or 3 spots but im a perfectionist so it bothers me.
This is how it looked before.

After

 

looks great!!

 

armintheman - so I take it you had to sand all of that smooth, then prime and paint? That's alot to sand/prep. Looks good, though.

 

SEM is fantastic interior paint. Prep is the key to longevity.

 

frat pics guys... now i want to paint my interior! lol

 

it may clash with your racing seats as dont know what they look like

but i went the wrapped route and it gives the car a much better interior feeling (it looks better than the vette does)

just my thoughts, but it depends on the look you want.

if you just want black interior SEM maybe the better route but if you want an updated interior and a highend look, wrapping would be the way to go

 

Z, those are my pics ARM quoted...

I did sand the plastic and clean it, but I didn't sand it smooth. The is a Flexible Primer called DuraTec used vastly in the marine world. It is a self-leveling high build flexible primer. So I built the panels with it, then sanded them smooth and painted.

 

I used duplicolor spray dye and like others said it is too black and too glossy. It looks better than the stock grey but most people recognize spray paint when they see it but I usually get the gratuitous "it looks good though." Most of my interior is vinyl wrapped so eventually I'll do the dash too.

As far as durability it is pretty good. I washed with dish soap first, dried in the sun, sipped down with alcohol, sprayed adhesion promoter, and two coats of color. Mine still looks new after more than a year but I usually don't have passengers. I image a bunch guys always ridding or kids tearing up stuff would scrape it up a lot.