Alright folks, here's my issue. I removed the rubber from my 05 Cavalier's HVAC knobs so they were clear. I then got the Krylon Fusion paint for them since that is what i read here that looks good. Well, I got the blue paint for it, and when I painted them, they look god awful. The light doesn't shine through them, when the light through the panel came through, you could clearly see any area that didn't have enough paint, etc. So my question, did I do something wrong? Not enough paint, too much paint? Or is the light in the back not supposed to come through?
More like wrong type of paint
For the HVAC knobs either use some colored Mylar (the stuff used in theater stage lights) or a light translucent paint. Fusion is
NOT light translucent. BTW, do you have any night pics of this? I'd be kinda interested to see what type of lighting effect you got going on there.
Anyway, to get the fusion off, soak your knobs in Denature Alcohol ands use a Q-tip to get into the little nooks & crannies. Once all the Fusion is off and they are dry use a light translucent paint on them. You can find that at any craft store for a few bucks.
Fusion is good for painting things like the radio Bezel, the Center Console 9not the arm rest part) and the door panel's. If you want the light to shine through, you need a different type of paint.
Ah son of a b*$@!...
Thats where I read about the Fusion for... I was going to paint my vents and what not with the stuff and I must have mistaken the two...
Alright, well with this light translucent paint, do you have any recommendations on a brand? Does it come in spray form, bottle, etc?
No, I don't have a night pic of it yet. Basically, the knobs are completely dark, except for the little arrow that points to defrost, vents, etc. Those are clear. So basically the whole knob is dark, except for the lit light arrow. It looks really cool in the day though. Least I know I screwed up though.
Do the knobs have, I guess you can describe it as, a "Halo" or "ring" around them? Basically light coming out from the space between the knob and the HVAC face plate.
THAT'S actually what I'm interested about. Your little "goof" gave me an idea for a HVAC knob mod that is different that what everyone else is doing.
As far as the paint, it comes in both forms. The bottle is a bit more of a pain because you have to use a brush, and if your not careful, you'll leave brush strokes
What I had the best result with on my cav was Testers self leveling light translucent spray paint. It comes in like a 4 ounce can, and was something like 2 or 3 bucks
No, there is no light ring. The only point where light shows is through the little arrow. Unless when the knob isn't slid on all the way, then there is a small amount of light coming out?
Thanks for the recommendation on the paint. I'll go pick some up. The pain is going to be getting the Fusion off the knob. I have this really good paint stripper though that'll work.
I just painted my clear knobs.
They look great, but I masked off the little notch/tab where it points to the selected setting. So that's clear, but not as bright. I'm going to sand that spot with some 220 grit to rough it up a little to "stop" the flow of light.
I used regular paint, but for a translucent appearance, I don't know.. do what someone else says.
I know it's JUST a Cavalier, and I'm sorry if I hurt your ego.
Use glass paint. It lets light shine through and stays a solid coler. It cost about $2.99 USD for a small tube which you can do about 30 knobs with.
“Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that’s even remotely
true.
Cannon fodder is my daddy.
^^^ yup
“Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that’s even remotely
true.
Cannon fodder is my daddy.
Stained glass paint... God d*am it... I was looking at that exact brand the day I was there! Well, looks like I gotta run to the Hobby Store after work and snag me some.
You said the paint thinners were eating the plastic? Hmmm.. What if I use a small amount on a rag?
Try testors paint. They make colors that are translucent. Just check in the section where stores like walmart keep their model cars and what not.
I wonder how hard it would be to change the color of the bulb behind the knobs.. It would make them brighter with no "restrictiveness" to letting light threw. The it would be easy to changes to a differant color! Maybe if I get bored tommorow Ill take it apart.
Speed costs... How fast ya wanna go??
<a href="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/pj1987">My old cars</a>
when i first started modding my car this is what i did...
not as complicated as some people's... i just colored mine with a blue permanent marker. looks great IMO. i ended up going to the junkyard and buying 3 more new knobs, and just peeling off the vinyl and keeping them clear... go with whatever you like though!
~Cole
BTW fusion isnt good for jack sh!t
Your knobs look totally badass, lol. Wish I would've thought of that? When it gets warm or whatnot, doesn't the marker rub off?
no... the knobs don't get hot enough for the color to rub off. i tried the same thing on my dome light... just coloring it with some blue permanent marker. however, it does rub off on the light... so as long as it isn't getting too hot it's fine. i've had my knobs all of last summer, it got into the high 90's and with a black interior it was pretty hot in there. knobs were totally fine though...
but...
to make mine a pure blue color i used a normal color blue permanent marker on the underside circle of the knob... then for the rest of the outside i used an "aqua" color. the straight up blue looked too much like purple on the black HVAC plate, and the aqua looked too turquoise...
whatever works though... you know? lol.
~Cole
Did you use a sharpy, or one of those big unnamed permanent ones? I was able to strip most of the paint from my knobs. I'll need new ones though since the stuff I used was pretty harsh on them. So I did your trick and used a dark blue permanent marker for now and the effect came out pretty damn cool. Though the knobs don't look perfect cause of the stripper and whatnot, the marker covers most and makes it look pretty cool. Thanks for the idea
Clay Daniel wrote:BTW fusion isnt good for jack sh!t
That's a retarded thing to say. Especially when you consider that a large volume of sucessfully painted interiors on this website were done using Krylon Fusion. If you had a bad experience with it, it's probably because:
a) you didn't prep properly
b) you tried to use it on a non-recommended surface (ie. soft vinyl).
c) you didn't follow the directions on the can.
d) all of the above.
Anyways, to get this thread back on track....
I painted my knobs with stained glass paint. Wiped em down with alcohol first, sprayed 2 coats , waited until they dried & then put them back on the car. Now they light up nice and blue.
took like 20 mins. It's one of the easiest mods you'll ever do.
"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." -- Steven Wright
Its not that Fusion is bad, the color on the knobs looked great, although they weren't see-through. I'll use the Fusion for my bezel and vents.
I still have to pick up that stained glass paint. I need to buy new HVAC knobs though. The stripper really need a number on them when I removed the Fusion.
