What are the options for plastic cleaning prior to painting?

Are 'plastic primers' the go?

Is normal paint then applied over the primer?

1st) Clean the plastic you wanna paint
2nd) Spray the plastic primer 2 -3 coats
3rd) spray your colour of choice 2 coats, then sand back if needed to remove imperfections
4th) spray your colour of choice again 2 coats
5th) finish of with a top coat clear, the more top coat clear you put on the shinier result you get.

Note: leave about 10 - 15mins in between coats and leave paint to dry over night to avoid finger prints / scratching etc when putting it back in

be careful with glossing plastic. Alot of the time it makes everything look really cheap... and painted. notice how most "plastic" in cars have a matt or satin finish? there is this special vinal paint that works great on plastic, i am unable to remember what it is called but if you go to your local automotive paint store they will know exactly what you mean. its not cheap (about $80 a litre) but you can spray it straight on (no primer at all) and all you have to do prior to painting is give what your painting a wipe down with thinners! it has this special binder in it that sticks like crazy. i did most of the plastic in my EB and after it dries you can honestly flex it in half and the paint doesn't crack.

get your self some wax and greese remover cost u about $8.00 for 500ml,
then go to your local paint shop or even auto barn, get your self about 3-5 cans (depending on what your doin) of MOTOSPRAY VINYLE SPAY cost you about $13.00 a can



take your plastics out and wash with hot soapy water, dry off with clean rag, then wipe down with wax ang grease remover(you wont need to much of this) then wipe the wax remover off with clean rag, dont let the wax remover dry once you put it on, so do small peices at a time, after your finished cleaning make sure you DO NOT TOUCH where your gonna paint as the oils in your finger may not let the paint stick.

then go ahead and paint, i did about 5-7 light coats on each plastic and they came up f**k beautiful

Thanks for all that so far.

I was concerned about using thinners or some other aggressive cleaners because they might damage the plastic. But the parts have some well ingrained stains. I might check out the wax and grease remover, but if something i already have (sugar soap, methylated spirits, mineral turpentine?) works i would do that.

I agree that glossy plastic looks cheap, and i reckon Benj's for example interior painting looks very nice, but am concerned that matt and even semi-gloss paints on top of a rough plastic surface will hold dirt. I wonder if gloss paint on top of the rough plastic will look semi-gloss? I'll check out vinyl spray.

Fully flexible and bonded paint with no primer sounds great but $80 is more than i was planning on spending, but i'll look into it anyway. I'm only really doing the painting because i don't reckon the stains can be gotten out, and there is also some uv damage.

Would hobby enamel paint be okay to use ???
I would like to paint up some of the interior bits on my AU XR6.
If its not okay ive got very expensive lexan R/C car body paint thats extremely flexible and stick like **** will that do.
also any tips or advice if i want to use my air brush to paint it on.

Thanks in advance for the advice

P.S. sorry for using your thread i just thought it would fit here

ive heard alot of people say not to use enamel paint

thanks ill probably use the lexan paint as its extremely felxible and is ment for plastic

As long as you use a primer - almost any paint is usable. I have painted plastics in the interiors of quite a few cars and have found that acrylic is the best.

Cleaning - you can use a variety of different cleaners, but possibly one of the best I have found, is prep-sol alternatively the cheapest version of this is a mix of metho-lated spirits and water. Either will work great as it cleans the surface and flashes off, not leaving a residual on the plastic.

I find one medium-light coat of primer, then 5- 6 light coats of your chosen colour works well. Just make sure its a nice hot sunny day and the area you're working in is away from the wind!! To get out blemishes you may find in between coates - rub the shine of the paint away with 600-800 wet and dry. This'll remove most belmishes while not taking away too much paint. By the end you should have a smooth and blemish free piece. Its then up to you if you want to add a clear gloss. More often than not a gloss paint will do fine. But if you want to give it that "wet" look -hit it with 2 - 3 coates of clear and rub backs with wet and dry in between the coates.

Just make sure you leave the pieces to dry overnight before trying to reinstall them, otherwise you'll get finger marks and rub marks everywhere and its a pain in the a*** having to start over!!

Hope this helps.

What's used for the softer parts of the interior, centre console, arm rests e.t.c?

Theres a few products out there like vinyl/interior paint, but I wouldn't really suggest them as the softer parts of the interior (ie. dash) usually expand and contract with the heat and cold temperatures a hell of alot more than the harder plastics do (obviously). All what will happen over time, is that the paint on the soft parts will crack and start to chip away, not to mention any possible effects the primer or paint will have on the vinyl.

My suggestion would be to re-upholster these particular parts. You can pick up vinyl and the cushioning fairly cheaply from places like spot light (or any fabric shop for that matter) and its a case of going to the wreckers removing a dash from the same model car as yours, taking off the existing vinyl and putting on the new stuff. Reason I say buy a spare one from the wreckers and do it, is becasue if you stuff it up, you always have the one in your car in its original condition, that and you can still drive the car. Alternatively, if you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself, you can go to any car upholsterer, and for the right cash (which can be pricey) they'll do it for you...

Thanks for that, luckily my best friend is a motor trimmer

best idea is to take your car to a panelbeaters and ask them how much to spray the parts you want i got s**t of my interior colour matched the same as the exterior paint cost me $50 all i had to do was remove the parts and drop them off depends if you wanna paint it yourself or not $50 i figured i could get all the primer and paint for that then would of had to find the time to do it myself couldnt go wrong imo