Vinyl paint is awesome!

[DuncLJ]

The Colorbond paint is excellent. I've used it on my Jeep as well as my truck.
I used this adhesion promoter.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005IUBMS6/?tag=wranglerorg-20

I did the dash, door panels and console over a year ago. I've done a few small touchups, mostly at the bottom of the door panel, but after touching up, they look like new again.

 

[Lilbomb]

Looks great Dunc!

 

[DuncLJ]

Looks great Dunc!

Thanks, my interior sounds very similar to what you have. It was gray but started to get an ashy white look to it. Looking forward to seeing your stuff mounted up.

Btw, I see you're from San Jose. I grew up there, moved away in 1990. To expensive and to much traffic, lol.

 

[Squatch]

I used Krylon Fusion semi-flat black on my heater vents last week. That and cleaning the ducts made them look brand new.

I used the Krylon Fusion paint on a Ford wagon I had. Looked fantastic! Then when the summer came around, the stuff softened up so bad from the heat that the vinyl of the back seat stuck to some of the trim panels it was resting against. It literally sounded like I was ripping the material when I was finally able to get the seat down. This is a paint that had cured for months, or so I thought. Anyways, just a heads-up.

 

[Rick deCastro]

Chris,
SEM makes paint products expressly for painting interior plastic/vinyl parts and is used extensively in the automotive restoration business to either make interior components look new or to change the color entirely. They have many stock OEM colors (but not Jeep khaki). They have products that can be custom tinted to match just about any color by their product distributors, a list of which is available on their website. Custom color product can be supplied in quart or gallon cans for use in spray guns as well as charged into "rattle" cans. I'm off to see the distributor down here (Space Age Paints, Mesa, Az) to arrange for '04 khaki paint in rattle cans to repaint my 04 Rubi passenger door panel after I repair the accursed cracks. I'll report back here with specifics after I meet with them tomorrow.

 

[Lilbomb]

Thanks, my interior sounds very similar to what you have. It was gray but started to get an ashy white look to it. Looking forward to seeing your stuff mounted up.

Btw, I see you're from San Jose. I grew up there, moved away in 1990. To expensive and to much traffic, lol.

If you thought it was expensive and crowded then you would freak out now. Lol We are selling next year hopefully and going to Reno area. Where are you at now?

 

[DuncLJ]

If you thought it was expensive and crowded then you would freak out now. Lol We are selling next year hopefully and going to Reno area. Where are you at now?

Fresno, only 2 hours away, but housing is 75% lower....crazy.

 

[AndyG]

Mar-Hyde is a good brand, tintable at body shop supply stores.

 

[twistedlv]

Chris,
SEM makes paint products expressly for painting interior plastic/vinyl parts and is used extensively in the automotive restoration business to either make interior components look new or to change the color entirely. They have many stock OEM colors (but not Jeep khaki). They have products that can be custom tinted to match just about any color by their product distributors, a list of which is available on their website. Custom color product can be supplied in quart or gallon cans for use in spray guns as well as charged into "rattle" cans. I'm off to see the distributor down here (Space Age Paints, Mesa, Az) to arrange for '04 khaki paint in rattle cans to repaint my 04 Rubi passenger door panel after I repair the accursed cracks. I'll report back here with specifics after I meet with them tomorrow.

@Rick deCastro You should do a How To thread on your door repair. I know a lot of us need to fix ours.

 

[mrblaine]

For the trim piece that surrounds the head unit and climate controls, should I do a flat black, semi-black, or gloss black?

I use SEM Color Coat in Landau Black with a couple coats of their Low Luster Clear over it to match the sheen of the rest of the interior bits.

If you are patient and spray several "dry" coats from a bit more distance than you would want for a full wet coat, you can add a very slight texture that matches the rest of the painted interior parts.

 

[mrblaine]

For those wanting to paint interior bits, it helps to know what type of plastic you are dealing with. The harder plastics for adhesion are the door panels, and the actual side to side dash pieces along with the floor console. They are in the polyethylene/polypropylene family and require the most attention to prep and adhesion promoters.

The vent trim piece at the top of the dash next to the windshield is ABS and you could just scuff and shoot it as ABS is very forgiving when it comes to painting and body putty and glazes.

The knee bolster under the steering wheel and glove box door is the same as the floor console and dash.

The bezel for the instrument cluster and the center bezel with the AC vents and radio is painted ABS. You don't even care that it's plastic at that point, just scuff, clean, shoot. (unless you sand through the paint then a bit more care is needed but not much since it is ABS)

 

[Buckeyebutch]

Chris,
SEM makes paint products expressly for painting interior plastic/vinyl parts and is used extensively in the automotive restoration business to either make interior components look new or to change the color entirely. They have many stock OEM colors (but not Jeep khaki). They have products that can be custom tinted to match just about any color by their product distributors, a list of which is available on their website. Custom color product can be supplied in quart or gallon cans for use in spray guns as well as charged into "rattle" cans. I'm off to see the distributor down here (Space Age Paints, Mesa, Az) to arrange for '04 khaki paint in rattle cans to repaint my 04 Rubi passenger door panel after I repair the accursed cracks. I'll report back here with specifics after I meet with them tomorrow.

Space Age Paints, Is my go to place when I'm in PHX. I'm like a kid in a candy store in that place.

 

[mrblaine]

Space Age Paints, Is my go to place when I'm in PHX. I'm like a kid in a candy store in that place.

I used to have a lot of fun with the place I was able to get a lot of good stuff from. It was called The Paint Store. So, any time someone asked where I got the good stuff, the answer always seemed to confuse them.

 

[Twowheelz]

Mar-Hyde is a good brand, tintable at body shop supply stores.

Mar-Hyde is awesome stuff they actually used to call it a “dye” and it seems to penetrate the plastic. We used to repaint dashcaps for Porsche 924s and 944s because the dash cap brand brown did not match. Stuff hold up great . The SEM is really good as well

 

[Calvin.8]

For those wanting to paint interior bits, it helps to know what type of plastic you are dealing with. The harder plastics for adhesion are the door panels, and the actual side to side dash pieces along with the floor console. They are in the polyethylene/polypropylene family and require the most attention to prep and adhesion promoters.

The vent trim piece at the top of the dash next to the windshield is ABS and you could just scuff and shoot it as ABS is very forgiving when it comes to painting and body putty and glazes.

The knee bolster under the steering wheel and glove box door is the same as the floor console and dash.

The bezel for the instrument cluster and the center bezel with the AC vents and radio is painted ABS. You don't even care that it's plastic at that point, just scuff, clean, shoot. (unless you sand through the paint then a bit more care is needed but not much since it is ABS)

I'm kind of confused on the prep work you did before the actual painting. Such as how you scuffed everything.

 

[mrblaine]

I'm kind of confused on the prep work you did before the actual painting. Such as how you scuffed everything.

If you are asking about the center bezel, it is painted from the factory. Scuff with a red scotchbrite pad. Clean it with alcohol or Prepsall, let it dry, paint away. It is painted, prep is just like any thing that is painted.

 

[Calvin.8]

If you are asking about the center bezel, it is painted from the factory. Scuff with a red scotchbrite pad. Clean it with alcohol or Prepsall, let it dry, paint away. It is painted, prep is just like any thing that is painted.

Alright thanks. Thinking of painting mine this next summer.

 

[Rick deCastro]

Update for Chris, I went to the SEM distributor in AZ and the SEM guy was off on Saturday so I'll need to return to talk with him but I have found the original SEM product number which is 5545 for the Jeep TJ khaki interior. I can't find it anywhere but I e-mailed SEM to see about availability or at least the formulation to have their distributor mix and charge it into rattle cans. Meantime using a 1/16" drill bit I drilled crack stop holes at the end of the cracks to keep them from propagating further. I've reinforced the areas behind my cracks on the back side of the door panel with .025 aircraft aluminum curved to match the shape of the door panel and then bonded to it with 3M 2216 structural adhesive. Today I'll fill the cracks with a nice stiff mixture of JB Weld 50139 crack filler while I wait for paint info. More to follow...… As a general comment it seems Chrysler is really aggressive in discontinuing parts and support for their older products which doesn't speak well for them. Just for giggles I sourced a new door panel for my '04 Chevy Silverado in the original color and can buy them from the factory all day long with no problem at all.

 

[MountaineerTom]

I came across this, about 3/4 of the way down the page.

https://www.semproducts.com/manage/html/public/content/cms/formulas/cc_master_2014.pdf

 

[Lilbomb]

Ok so here is the update, interior is done! Well almost....I'm not too fond of the glove box grab handle. I had some Rustoleum paint I used on a KLR650 and it looked great on that. I decided to try it on one piece and it's not dark enough for me and after a day or two it's still sticky, it's not vinyl paint although it says for plastic. Anyway, I will be either buying a new handle and doing it in black or leaving it the color it comes.

As for the black color I chose, not sure that was the right choice either now. It looks killer....don't get me wrong. Really really good. But, it gets dirty fast, just like a black car. So I have a feeling I will spend a lot of time cleaning it, but we will see.

When you look at the photos you will see a photo a of Jimmy G's product I used called Almost Wet. I have had that bottle for a couple of years now and used it on a dozen motorcycles when I detail them and the Jeep. You can see I have hardly used 1/4 of the bottle, a little goes a very very long way. He is local to me in Gilroy CA and his products are top notch. You can see the before and after on the plastic around the steering wheel in one of the photos. I used that stuff on the heater vents and the center console around the stereo as well.

You will also see how I painted the center of the stereo where the airbag is. I wasn't sure how to remove it completely so I just threw towels all around it and did it right there in the Jeep. Came out great! I did disconnect the negative terminal on the battery before I did it though, just to make sure it didn't punch me in the face while painting it. lol

Now to get me some carpet and new seats and the inside will be pretty much done besides a new audio system some day. I should have taken photos before I took the dash apart but I didn't think about it.