Hey, I searched and couldn't find what I was looking for. Over the winter, I want to smooth out pieces of my interior and have them painted. A few questions I have:
1. Is the smooth texture achieved by using fiberglass to fill in the grain of the plastic?
2. What's the best thing to use?
3. What are the best type of sandpaper grits to use?
OK, maybe I do need a how-to! Any help would be appreciated. Thanks all--
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well on mine, i uses fiberflass resin and hardener.... i first would use a low grit to ruffihn the pieces up, then use a paint brush( many of them at that) then mix it up and paint it on. once its fulluy dried you can begin ur life to hell sanding..lol... start out with a 150-400 grit , get all the non smooth parts out, then you can put anotrher coat on... u may have to repeat this process many times, then when you th9ink there is enought resin on it and you madse it all smooth you then us a high grit, like a 1000-2000 grit, then prim it then paint it...... trust me if you have a lot of time do it.. if not dont do it... i have not had my full interior in my car for over 3 years!!!!!! i just dont have the time any more
Thanks for the advice, I might start small and see how I like it...where's a good place to get the supplies?
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Ok heres what you need to achieve a smooth fiberglassed texture on your panels. If your panels are all plastic meaning top and bottom,(the older style has vinyl on the top) you will need a paint gun perferably, degreaser, primer, reducer, base coat, clear coat, hardener, sandpaper( 80 - 1000) grit, and a polish of some type to polish the clear coat after you wet sand it. Wipe the whole door down with degreaser to get all the oils off the doors because this will casue the base and clear to bubble and cause imperfections. Clean with water and let dry. Sand the door down(plastic) till you get some of the texture out of it. Use a high grit to get the roughness out of it after you use the lower grit. Spray it with primer, let dry and then wet sand it with like 400-600 grit. KEEP THE PAPER WET AT ALL TIMES. THE WETTER THE BETTER. Repeat this process till you get a smooth fiberglass like surface. Paint with base coat. Block sand the base coat to get thr orange peel out of it. Use 800 grit and wet sand. Wetter the better. repeat with base till you get complete coverage with the base coat. DO NOT WET SAND THE FINAL COAT OF BASE. Wait about 30 minutes or till the flash time that is on the instructions. Apply clear coat and let dry. Wet sand again with 800 to remove the orange peel and repeat clear till you are happy with the coverage. Wet sand with 1000-1200. WETTER THE BETTER. Polish with a buffer till its nice and shiny. Fiberglass should only be used it you are trying to achieve a mold or type of curve. I fiberglassed the carpet and bondo'd it to get it smooth. Here is a picture of my door i did. let me know if i missed anything guys.
what about the very top dash that is all vinyl? You would have to FG that right?
^^ you dont have to FG it.. mine is covered with resin, and my other is sanded down grainless, just have to watch your depth..
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Wow....thanks for all the tips guys. I think I'm going to need both the resin method and the sanding smooth method. I have an 04 Fire, and I want to do the bottom of the dash similar to sndsgood's. I want to paint the bottom of the door panels, and reupholster the top. I'm not going to do the painting myself, I want it perfect so I'm going to do all the rough work myself and send it to a body shop for paint.
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