I'm very interested in doing a lil diy project this winter break so I need to do a lil so called research before starting my own. ANyone has any pics of their painted tC? If anyone does, here's the time to show off!! Plus please list how you do it or what you use (name or brand would very nice and helpful)

 

There are a couple around somewhere... never did turn out really good imho...

The only things you can really paint are the trim around the dash and the middle "Waterfall' panel... the other textured materials are just too hard to paint well...

I believe they used krylon fusion, as it's supposed to work better for plastics.

 

krylon fusion eh? think they have it at some auto stores like autozone of advance auto shop?

 

btw, what kind of paint did ppl use to paint the engine cover and how did they do the letterings?

 

http://www.csupomona.edu/~dha/blaxconsole/default.htm

painted it black.

 

i did it and i think it came out pretty good. i used this Textured Metalic (black) paint i found at wal*mart (or autozone). took my time, sanded, painted, sanded again, sprayed again, cleared (only 1 coat cuz i wanted the texturedness to come through).

here is a crappy pic. ill take more tomorrow when i clean the interior...

 

that actually looks really nice. without the texture though it wouldn't be AS nice...

 

thank you it was an all day affair

 

I have no experience in painting or anything, so what do you mean by "sanding" again? sorry if i asked a dumb question.

 

i used sandpaper to smooth the surface, and prepare it so that the paint sticks to the plastic (which can suck if its not done right). that is probly the most important part in the process.

 

yeah... when painting plastic ou should always rough up the surface first. When i painted my interior on my last car i actually wet sanded the interier panels until they were as smooth as glass. like you said... lots of time involved. keep it up

 

Good job guys... but still not clean enough for me... Plastic is just too hard to get to paint and look as smooth as my picky eyes demand...

I love that blacked out look though....

 

are you talkin about mine? you should see it in person looks/feels so much better (even tho you can feel it from the pic lol) feels similar to the rest of the dash

 

hmm, just wondering, if you sand it with sandpaper, would that destroy the paint b/c the surface of the sandpaper is so rough.

 

Nope.... you use like 1600 grit wet-sanding... it's REALLY fine and the wet sanding removes the material as you go, which prevents groves and scratches... it is ESSENTIAL for a good paint job on plastic or metal for that matter...

 

Word of caution: Painting your stock interior peices decreases the cars resale value. Be careful, you may be doing your car more harm than good.

 

Resale? My Baby?

All the pieces you really can paint in the tC aren't INSANELY expensive to return back to stock... the gauge trim is somewhere around 40-50 and the center console can be bought for around 100 or less on ebay occasionally (Without the heater controls and such)

I have no resale value, except to another tuner... unless I take about 20 things off my car...

 

you ever hear about PRIVATE SELLING? obviously not

 

no seriously i thought you could only trade them in? jk

 

There was a guy that had his painted viper blue. It looked real good but was professionally done.