# interior decoration



## Guest (Jul 15, 2002)

i am looking to paint the inside of my 97 200sx. i want to paint the dash blue to match my rims, but being that the dash is made of vinyl, does anyone know what type of paint i should use to do this. and has anyone already done this process. also i thought maybe to use the same material used for decals and just cut to fit. but i am not sure if it will stick. any ideas???


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## rios (Jun 10, 2002)

if you use the decal stuff and cut it out, i hiope u have a lot of patience. ive tried to carbon fibre the interior of my car with film when i was going through my newbie stage, and i messed it up twice. it peeled off in 2 days on top of that.


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## AznVirus (May 8, 2002)

have fun with it, ive worked on my friends MR2 before and it was a pain in the ass.  best bet is vinyl paint, but i really wouldnt recommend doing it cause it fades or cracks over time. be sure you clear coat it as well and the area is clean before you spray.


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## Guest (Jul 18, 2002)

shit since we are on the topic does anyone know the best way of removing paint from the interior.. some dumb ass painted the interior before i purchased it.. looks like regular spray paint .. not to sure if i should use paint stripper...


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## Nostrodomas (Jun 15, 2002)

You might have to repaint everything. I wouldnt recomend useing paint stripper, get some Lacquer Thinner and try a small out of the way spot so you can see if the piant will come off. I'm not sure that it will. Plus even if you do get it off the original paint or dye will probablly have a white hase on it, but then you might be able to use some leather conditioner to remove that haze.
It all depends on what type of paint the guy used before you.

What exactlly does it look like right now? What's wrong with it and also what color?


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## Guest (Jul 18, 2002)

well you were asking what it looked like well this is what it looks like... ...but that is just a shot of the dash cluster.... you could just imagine the rest of the interior.. it is half done... so i have to ride in it for now like that... the paint looks clean no scratches in it or nothing.. i just dont dig it.... 


http://www.speedoptions.com/community_driverprofiles_view.asp?driverprofile_id=24563[/URL] 


they were taken a month after i purchased the car .. i installed the EL gauges in it.. and the clear corners.. but the car was bone stock before that..


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## Nostrodomas (Jun 15, 2002)

Dang the pic didnt come up, if you want to just e mail it to me.


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## Guest (Jul 18, 2002)

i know speedoptions doesnt let you link to it.. but try the link...


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## Nostrodomas (Jun 15, 2002)

Oh no, ok i see it now. The whole thing isnt apinted just some parts. Ya you will probally have to repaint that stuff. This is what you do, take some fine sandpaper like 320 wet/dry paper. Sand it down a lil bit, almost just to rough up the surface, or any flaws. Then take a vynil paint easier in a spray can, and paint them. You want to look for a satin black, i think that will match with the stock color.


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## Guest (Jul 18, 2002)

yeah i know how to paint it but i just wanted to take as much off as i can.. becuase it is actually pretty thick....


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## Nostrodomas (Jun 15, 2002)

Then just sand it down. I think that would be your best option.
Hope this helps you out bud.


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## Guest (Jul 18, 2002)

*i like it*

i kind of like the paint on the interior, but if you dont thats cool. but that is actually the look i am going for. but i would use a slightly deeper blue. just a shade or two. i am wondering what type of paint that is. if you have contact with the person who painted please ask them so i could paint mine. the only thing i didnt like was the white on white gauge cluster.


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## AznVirus (May 8, 2002)

if you want to take it off, use paint thinner and soak it up in them, afterward just scrape it off lighty (you can scar plastic easily).


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## Guest (Jul 18, 2002)

damn the guy actually did it with 98 cent spray paint from walmart.. he said he primered it with the 98 cent primer sanded it and then shot 4 coats blue on it.. damn dat shit does look cool but the white has to go.. i have a wife dat drives this car daily .. and she keeps dat shit dirty ass fuck.. so the blue will prolly stay but white def.. has to go..


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## nitestridar (Jun 29, 2002)

*how does this look*

http://hometown.aol.com/strap290/index.html

Is this what you would like to do???


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

*Re: how does this look*



selrider99 said:


> *http://hometown.aol.com/strap290/page3.html
> 
> Is this what you would like to do??? *


That looks freaking awesome, I want to do that to my car. What paint did you use and what steps did you take to make the paint come out even? Did you use a base coat and a top coat?


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## nitestridar (Jun 29, 2002)

yo this was easier than i thought...... I used 4.99 paint from autobarn.. . small cans it took about 6 of them....aztec red..
well it was a pin in the ass for me because i had to rip off the damn wood trim. then i used 600 wet dry sand paper and sanded each pc down a little so the paint would stick then i put about two to three coats on each pc... the only bitch is the plastic part that goes around the gagues and the pc on the door handles... becarful when taking the door handle pc off i cracked two of mine(thnk God for the 96 gxe in my yard)good parts car....
but it was really easy did every thing right in my own yard...


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

few more q's:
What brand spray paint does anyone recommend I use that I can find at my friendly neighborhood Home Depot?

Should I use a bottom coat?

Selrider99: what do you mean by bee careful when taking off the door handle piece? Do you mean the piece that has the window controls or the lever that unlatches the door? What should I do to avoid a problem?

What color do you guys recommend I use? I have a Teal car w/white wheels, Red doesn't match anything on my car, yellow would stand out too much. I have blue neons all around, but a blue color wouldn't look good. I'm thinking between white or silver. White to match my wheels or silver to match my Importintelligence gauge and HVAC faces. Any OTHER ideas?


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## nitestridar (Jun 29, 2002)

1997 GA16DE said:


> *few more q's:
> What brand spray paint does anyone recommend I use that I can find at my friendly neighborhood Home Depot?
> 
> Should I use a bottom coat?
> ...


yeah the part unlatches the door!!! what a pain in the but that was... i used a flat head and pop they came out...

go with silver i like that silver color!!!!


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## Guest (Jul 22, 2002)

*LOOKY HERE!*
























I primmerd and sanded the panels down about 4 times before I took them in to my paint guy and had them color matched, They are like a glassy finish.....


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## nitestridar (Jun 29, 2002)

did you do the glove box?


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## Guest (Jul 22, 2002)

*No,*

The thaught had crossed my mind but I didnt want to over do it. I wanted little Subtle things that tie in, I am getting ready to cut and shape some aluminuim diamond plateing to replace the floor mats, and a rear trunk peice to replace the carpet. Pretty soon I will be making a c/f pass through door for the opening behind the rear seats. I have some of the speaker pods to paint and install as well as a dual gauge pod that sits on the stearing colum.


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## nitestridar (Jun 29, 2002)

nice!!! be sure to post up the pics when done...


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## sentragtr20 (Jun 8, 2002)

You can always get vynil paint from Advance Auto..I bought some from there.. Painted the interior blue/black. I have a white sentra decal on the dash.. When i get finished I will post pictures..


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

got a question for you, where did you get the e-brake handle? do they make them for our cars of did you fit one on for an acura or something?


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

*Didn't really get any answers for these*


1997 GA16DE said:


> *What brand spray paint does anyone recommend I use that I can find at my friendly neighborhood Home Depot?
> 
> Should I use a bottom coat?
> 
> What color do you guys recommend I use? I have a Teal car w/white wheels, Red doesn't match anything on my car, yellow would stand out too much. I have blue neons all around, but a blue color wouldn't look good. I'm thinking between white or silver. White to match my wheels or silver to match my Importintelligence gauge and HVAC faces. Any OTHER ideas? *


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## nitestridar (Jun 29, 2002)

1997 GA16DE said:


> *Didn't really get any answers for these
> *


What color is your interior? 

I used paint made by "dupi-color import auto spray"

I used 3 coats of spray and it sat right into the grooves of the plastic perfect..... i am going to buy a clear coat spray to protect it i will let you know how that works out!


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

my interior is grey with c/f sticker surrounding the gauges and HVAC and silver metallic gauge and HVAC faces. I'm thinking of keeping the interior on a greyish scale (white, silver, grey, c/f) and at night have blue lights (neons, gauges, interior lights).


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## nitestridar (Jun 29, 2002)

i bought those neon screw lights off of ebay and installed them under the dash on both sides and also under the back of both fron seats... i have them setup so that they turn on with my parking lights ......at night i get a nice strobe effect ,they blink about twice every second!!!! Looks really cool and my kids love them!!!


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## Guest (Jul 22, 2002)

*Its ichibahn*

Alot of grinding and testfits and a little cutting to get it to fit right.


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## sethwas (Apr 30, 2002)

Hey Cranium-bro,
(couldn't resist) You said you brought them to your paint guy and he had them color matched. What type of paint did he use? If I go to my paint guy, what should I tell him/them. And since I keep my car 'new smell' clean, what products do you use to clean them?

Seth


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## Guest (Jul 22, 2002)

*Well!*

I think it was the regular auto paint with some flex agent. As far as cleaning just use diaper wipes... Pretty much anything will work.


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## Guest (Jul 23, 2002)

so i bought my paint. i begin my project at 6 tonight. i will post pics of the finished results, as well as giving a how to on the project. i will let you guys know how it comes out.


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## nitestridar (Jun 29, 2002)

*you hope..*

yo we are getting big t-storms.........i hope it doesn't start till later...


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

bigsad said:


> *so i bought my paint. i begin my project at 6 tonight. i will post pics of the finished results, as well as giving a how to on the project. i will let you guys know how it comes out. *


What kind of paint did you buy? try to get some shots durring the process.


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## Guest (Jul 24, 2002)

ok so i am finished for the most part with my project. i still have a few small things to do (i.e. glove box). but for the most part it came out good. it took from around 6 30 until 930 or so. starting and stopping some. i will post a how to on it....but that will have to wait until tomorrow. (whew, im bushed). anyway, here are links to the pics, since i cant directly load them here (dont know why though.)
drivers door 
full view 2 
full view w/ door panels 
pass. door 
now keep in mind that i still have a little painting to do. also remember that it is night in those pics and the flash of the camera is making the blue seem lighter. the blue is actually close in color to my rims. anyway let me know what you guys think.
later


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

very nice. What kinda paint? did you sand or base coat when you started?


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## Guest (Jul 24, 2002)

its cool... mine is sorta like that.. but the asshole dat did mine decided to paint some white shit too.,.. will post pics later..


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## Guest (Jul 24, 2002)

i just used a all purpose interior exterior paint from home depot. cost 1.79 per can, and i did all of that with the one can and still have some left. i sanded the pieces first with 600 grit wet/dry sand paper and used a primer. after the 2 coats of primer i started painting.


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

cool deal...spray paint, right?. since I'm asking you alot of questions....What kind of primer did you use? and should I use top coat or will that be too glossy?


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## Guest (Jul 24, 2002)

i used a medium gray primer. i dont remember the name on the can, but i found it at auto zone, 2 cans for 3.99. and i may put a clear top coat on it today. i am just concerned about chipping the paint getting the pieces out again. np about all of the questions. we are all here to learn from each other


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## Guest (Jul 24, 2002)

ok as i said before here is the how to on the paint job, complete with pics
custom paint job 
hope this helps anyone who is interested in this.


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## nitestridar (Jun 29, 2002)

bigsad said:


> *ok as i said before here is the how to on the paint job, complete with pics
> custom paint job
> hope this helps anyone who is interested in this. *



i just finished the clear coat and not its nice and shiny......

look real good


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## sentragtr20 (Jun 8, 2002)

I need to post pics of my interior...


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## nitestridar (Jun 29, 2002)

what color did you do yours???

got any pics???

di you do it yourself???


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

I'm going to do mine on Wednesday or so in silver. I'll post pics too. Looks like it's an interior painting craze.


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## bwolf123 (Jul 24, 2002)

*Interior painting*

Are you looking to paint the dash itself? I painted the trim around the stereo and gagues etc and it gave it a nice accent. For the dash itself, you might be better off getting an adhesive material to cover it. (Autozone, pep boys etc)


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

neah, I'm going to do just about the same as the others. I'm doing the back too (not sure if anyone is really working on the back). and I'm going to get everything I can possibly paint and still have it look good.


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## nitestridar (Jun 29, 2002)

i painted just about every thing you can pull out easy...
i did the back 2 doors and the door steps.....

I would like to paint the plastic pc that inbetween the two doors that hold the front seatbelt .......


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

I was thinking of doing that too, but that might be too much.


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## nitestridar (Jun 29, 2002)

i wish i could do my auto shift knob..... it would look really nice then....


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## sentragtr20 (Jun 8, 2002)

I have every thing done except the two front doors and the dashboard.. I cant seem to get the dashout... Now i have to take the back,left door panel off. When I put it on it knock the door lock thing off. i have electric door locks and now the door will not un lock.. Hard to get the bitches in the car with only one back door..


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## nitestridar (Jun 29, 2002)

are you painting the whole door or just the door hadle part?


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

I think he's painting the whole damn car.


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## nitestridar (Jun 29, 2002)

damn he is the man i didn't have the ball to do it....


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

well, there's a fine line between color accents and all out solid color interior. I prefer not to cross this line.


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## nitestridar (Jun 29, 2002)

i have black interior (dash doors ect.,,)but my floor and roof are grey... i wanted to change the interior carpet from grey to black but the shop wants a couple of hundred and they want my car for a week!!!! that sucks


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

magik marker


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## sentragtr20 (Jun 8, 2002)

Go to an auto parts store and get some fabric paint..


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## Guest (Jul 25, 2002)

Bravo! Bigsad did a great job, of not only painting the interior of his car, but the pics & step by step directions were very detailed. Even if you're not going to paint the interior of your car, take a look at the pictures and you'll learn how some of the pieces come off, in case you need it some day.


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## Guest (Jul 25, 2002)

*wantag20*

hey thanks for the credit. i really appreciate it. i just hope it helps anyone else looking to do things like that. if anyone else would like to post a how to on something just send me some pics (if you have them) or just the detailed description and i will post them. since almost everyone here isnt sponsored (no offense if you are), this can be a way to help reduce costs on how we modify our cars. or we can just get a cable access show on how to do things as well (just joking). also feel free to email me if you want to join my website. or just join up. thanx.


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## Guest (Jul 26, 2002)

*You know I would be bown for a how to show....*

I hate to see people making the same mistakes I made when I first started out modding my car and have learned just about everything the hardway on my my car. BUT I have helped do the work and installs on many cars and take pride in the My work.


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## UnderDog (Jul 14, 2002)

Great idea, but seriously, get away from that heinous MSN wysiwyg HTML editor website production pile of nonsense. Yuck.


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## nitestridar (Jun 29, 2002)

my car happend to be the first car we tested the painting on....
I wish i had a howto....


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## sethwas (Apr 30, 2002)

This topic has been done 

Seth


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## nitestridar (Jun 29, 2002)

damn seth,

you really brought this one back from the dead


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## zakezuke (Mar 22, 2003)

As far as paint removal goes... i've enjoyed very good luck with brake fluid for the cheeper paints. This would include that 98cent walmart can o spraypaint. 

If not that, then Washing Soda also seems to do the trick given enough time, or even Castrol Super clean also tends to remove paint as well. 

I've painted a few dashs my self using off the self cans. The solutions I've used that have worked included
1. Bumper black (autopart store duplicolor solution)
2. Dip it (hardware store tool covering"
3. Spray on truck bed covering 

As far as painting plastic, using off the shelf solutions i've used
Duplicolor self etching primer + sealer + truck and van paint

I have this on a van where the grill where it was in total crap shape. After 3 years it needs a touchup in one spot.


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## krylonkoopaa (Sep 13, 2002)

ive taken out and sanded and primeredthe center console were the ebrake is.
the door trim im gonna do the plastic piece were the seat belt is. i wanna paint over all the light gray i have in my car. i wanna do black or color mach the teal on the out side i like the teal color also 
but i was wonderin g i grabbed som krylon gloss black paint but i dont know if i wanna use that though


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## nitestridar (Jun 29, 2002)

damn i was thinking about the seatbelt plastic thing as well..

if you do it post pics


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## krylonkoopaa (Sep 13, 2002)

i have almost all of the peices that i wanna do primered already but im afraid to paint them myself


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## nitestridar (Jun 29, 2002)

don't worry about it to much..

i have painted mine twice already.

1st --- red looked good but got dirty 
2nd--- graphite I love the new look with the graphite..


pics will be posted soon


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