As my car is 20 years old and was once adorned with a horrible stick-on woodgrain package I have been less than pleased with the gouges, scrapes, and sticky residue on my interior plastics. I decided to start with the black trim under the cluster and the shifter panel, the latter being the worst in the car.

As seen here it was in pretty rought condition, all the normal wear and tear plus plenty of extra damage accumulated over time...


A closer look shows the gouges and scrapes...


Some adhesive remover got rid of the remants f the woodgrain, followed by a good cleaning with Dawn dishwashing liquid and a scotchbrite pad...

 

To fill in the gouges I used what I use on my models, Evercoat Eurosoft, a plastic filler that won't shrink. It has another advantage, it can be sanded much smoother than bondo but is used in the same manner...


A large lid from a 1 gallon ice cream bucket makes a great mixing pallet as the hardened remnants will pop right off when you're done...


It's been a while since I've used this stuff and I don't claim to be an expert on bodywork so forgive my fairly heavy application...


Sanding first with 220 removes most of the excess filler and shows the areas that have low spots and the gouges...

 

Successive sanding grits ended at 800 which left a smooth, satin sheen to the part so some final paint prep in order...


A light coat of Krylon "Fusion" flat black paint makes certain the panel is smooth.


Final sanding with 2000 grit before the last coats will ensure the finish is perfect. This paint is durable and I've used it several times before. Here is the final finish for the console and cluster panels...


As good as this paint is it is still paint so I will be more careful with placing items on them down the road. One thing you may be questioning, "How do you replace the writing on the panels?" The answer is at your local model train hobby shop. They carry dry-transfer lettering there in many, many fonts. I will be making the trip there tomorrow!

 

cool man i like the flat black console alot,

mine really isnt damaged but has tons of little scratches

would it be possible for u to show me how to remove the console piece? id really appreciate it man cause id like to do the same thing as you did here

 

I have seen something similar where they polish the plastic, but they didnt have the gouges or nicks you had. It turned out looking alot better, but I am leaning towards yours evn better. Thats alot of work. How are you going to keep the future scratches down or to a minimum?

Overall nice work, I also second the Fusion paint and the finish look.

 

Hey bro, good job! It turned out really nice...and most importantly, you did it yourself.

 

Very nice!

 

That looks great! I assume that you worked on the tan plastics also... what paint color did you use because it looks as if it was factory?

Also Are you going to do the clear coat for protection? Or are you fine with the flat black?

 

I use a paint from SEM called "trim". It's about $15 a can here at a paint specialist but the color is perfectly muted and near factory black for plastic.


I've used it more for exterior parts (blacking out grills, etc) but it works for everything.

 

I'm sure there are other threads that detail the console removal but in short, put on parking brake, push "shift lock" button while pulling shifter into neutral, pull down the sleeve at the shifter base exposing the 2 screws, unscrew them, pull up shifter handle and remove sleeve, gently pull the console plate up near the ashtray edge, after it's loose remove connectors for the controls and lights.

 

Other than waiting for the putty and paint to dry this whole project only involved about 2 hours of disassembly, sanding, painting, and reassembly.
The fusion paint has a unique quality in that it bonds with the plastic so it is more durable and scratch resistant than normal paint. If you tried this with normal enamels, especially in flats, it would mar the first time you bumped it.

 

Sorry, I didn't paint the window switch panel. It was being cleaned as it had gotten quite gross, I used Soft Scrub Orange to clean it, it came out perfect!

I will have to clear coat the dry transfers, that should give it a slightly better sheen...

 

I've never used that but I'll check it out! This will all be redone this winter after I modify the console and center stack (adding iPod holder, phone holder, 2nd cup holder, moving the A/C panel, new shifter, installing a double-din media receiver) and I plan to stay with the factory look.
How has that paint done with sun/weather exposure?

 

Perfect. There are other alternatives as well such as this:

http://www.autobodytoolmart.com/spra...k-p-17248.aspx

 

Looks very good. Placing this on the ToDo list.