Painting Interior Parts for aluminum look

[JoeA]

Does anyone have the procedure for painting the interior pieces. I would like to know what is involved, sanding, prime, spray, clear if any.

Which arctic silver to use?

Any advice would be helpful.

[Eric (Plug Guy)]

We do this for a living.

Trust me, it ain't pretty. We use 14 levels of finish on the products we sell, and they are stunning when completed.

Email me anytime and I'll price out what you might want, then you can compare to doing it yourself. But I can promise the finish won't be the same.

eric@bumperplugs.com

Oh yeah, alumalook is not arctic.

[996Pilot]

I too would like more info on doing this. Trust me - it ain't rocket science either. I've painted my fair share of every methl-ethyl-nasty multi-part death mix that is out there on tons of different substrates on my airplane and other things - your right - it ain't always easy but hey, not all projects are.

Does anybody know the proper color/material to use?

Dan

[drpaulmarsh]

Eric is da man! As far as I am concerned he is the paint god... I would recommend him any day... I also participate on other forums and he is highly regarded there as well...

Just my .02 cents

Paul

[Alex4747]

Does anyone have the procedure for painting the interior pieces.  I would like to know what is involved, sanding, prime, spray, clear if any.

Which arctic silver to use?

Any advice would be helpful.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Eric: How much for the piece that surrounds the key ignition in Aluminum? email me at alex_garcia@mindspring.com

[LVDell]

Step 1...remove the part to be painted.

Step 2...send to Eric

Step 3...Receive part and install

Step 4...Thank God you didn't paint it yourself b/c you will never get a professional look in a DIY save money kinda way. That's why there is so much crap on eBay that is painted in somebody's garage.

Remember, you are not a paint professional. Leave that to them......it is not like trying to change the oil like the pro's. Paintwork is a science.

[Jinster]

Eric, does your finish actually look like brushed aluminium?

The reason I ask is I am comtemplating getting my interior done too. But taking it to the local automotive paint workshop would end up giving my interior a glossy silver look that looks like the exterior of the car - which is quite different to the aluminium look which I can only best describe as "cool, thin, sharp and non-reflective".

[Scouser]

I hope I don't P1$$ Eric off here but.......

Living in the UK doesn't make it easy or cheap to deal with the Plug Guy despite that fact that I would love to be in a position to do so. The fact is, with import duty, VAT etc it just isn't cost effective.

So......for the small cost of buying a used black one on ebay and several cans of paint, primer and clearcoat.....and a very dust free room.....and a lot of patience......I painted my own console.

I must say it is a very good job. Not one Porsche owner has yet said "Oh you painted that yourself then". In fact even my OPC say it's as good as the ones they supply. It has been on my car now for about 6 months and has no scratches or cracks appear and it seems to be very hardy. In any case, for the cost it was well worth the experiment and if for any reason it goes horrible on me in the future then I will just put the old one back on.

Sand it down first and finish off with a light sanding. Needs to be very smooth and the old paint mostly removed but not necssarily all of it. Clean with white spirit and let fully dry. rub down one more time with very light sand paper. ENsure final surface is dry and dust free. No harm to go over it with another light wipe of white spirit but let fully dry. Use 2 coats of primer. Prime very lightly not heavily. Allow overnight between coats. Lightly rub down with sand papaer and wipe off excess dust with light spray of spirit. Then 3 coats of paint. Again very lightly between coats and let dry for at least 48 hours between coats. Use the finest grade sand paper and very lightly rub down the surface. Then a final coant of paint. Leave for a week! then 2 coats of clearcoat. Leave for a further week and bobs your uncle!

Yes I know, why this and why that. Well I don't know but that's how I did it and it worked fine for me.

BTW, my colour is difficult to work with as it is a pearlescent metalic Zenith Blue. If I can do it anyone can do it. But I have to admit that if I lived in the US, I would not even begin to attempt this since Eric is da auto paint guru.