painting door panels

[Buddy]

I just painted my door panels with that fabric and plastic paint. I now and starting to see it chip off and i can scratch it easy. has anybody had much luck with this stuff. Also i did clean the panels really good, I even wiped them down with thinner and than let dry again. Do you have to put I light sanding on them or what. just looking for some tips. thanks

[beastie_3]

what brand are you using

[Buddy]

dupli- color

[beastie_3]

Thats why. Use SEM

[VileZambonie]

wiping it down with what kind of thinner? That's probably where you went wrong.

[bigfosty]

I have the same problem, this is what I have been told, but I haven't tried it yet.

Clean the panels really well, let them dry completely. Then start with the adhesive promoter. Spray a very light coat. Very light. You do not need to coat every square inch of the panel. Let it dry completely. Spray it again. Lightly. The point is not to saturate the panel, you want this stuff to bond with the panel. Then when it's dry start doing light coats of whatever color you choose. Same as before, do not saturate the panel. Just get a light mist on it, Let it dry. Repeat until the panel is done. If you just spray away the dye is just going to sit on top of the panel, it never really gets the chance to dry and is just bonding to itself leaving thick and thin spots that stick to your arm when it's resting on it.

Be patient, this might take a few days to get done, but I'm told it will work. I'll let you know when I get around to doing mine again, or let us know how it worked for you if you do it this way.

[got2haul]

Here's what I did:

1.  Clean the panels thoroughly.  Use a brush to get into the grooves.  I used ordinary dishwashing liquid as my soap.

2.  Blow off as much water as possible using a leaf blower or compressor.  Set in the sun to dry.  Let dry at least overnight.  I let mine dry for 2 days.

3. Use Adhesion Promoter as the primer.  I believe this is made by Duplicolor and is available at parts stores.  I followed the directions on the can specifically.  It's been quite a while since I've done it, but if I remember correctly, I only needed to spray one light, even coat over the entire panel and let it dry for maybe 3 minutes, before the first color coat went on.

4.  Spray a light coat of color.  I used ordinary rattle can spray paint, not specifically made for plastic, bought at Wal-Mart in the color as close to what I wanted as I could find.  I used a Satin finish paint.  Wait 3 minutes (used a timer).  Shake the can the entire time between coats.  Spray several more light coats, letting the previous coat dry 3 minutes before starting the next coat.  I continued to spray light coats in this manner until it looked like I wanted.

5.  Let dry for several days before reinstalling.

I did my door panels, my dash pad, my seat belt retractors, my floor mats, and the arm rests this way.  All the prep and patience paid off, as I have noticed no wear on any pieces EXCEPT the floor mat on the driver's side, and even that wear is minimal after a year.  I expect to respray the mat next summer.

[Buddy]

that looks great, nice job. While i painted mine. I went and bought some grease and wax remover let that dry. Than i bought some platic piant the non dupli color stuff. Foud this stuff in the paint department at the hard whare store. It looks great so far. I have installed any of the interior as of yet still alot left to do.

[78 Chevyrado]

I've got a theory as to why the paint always seems to chip off.

I don't see this problem very often on NEW door panels, Mainly on old faded panels.

Some of mine has chipped off, but on every piece of paint that came off there was also a tiny piece of plastic attached to it.  I think why they chip off so bad on old panels is because your actually taking off plastic.  You didn't notice them peeling or chipping before because the plastic is molded in a color so the color is all the way through, no matter how much comes off.

And yes my panels are worn a bit and have faded towards the top, and that's where the problem is.  I used the same paint on my excellent condition dashpad and it doesn't chip no matter what hits it.  same for the kick panels and lower parts of the door panels.

That's what I've observed anywho. 

[1980c10]

I sanded mine down after cleaning them and have pretty good results

[rwhit57]

I painted mine at least 2 years ago, and they still look good. I used Dawn dishwashing soap for the initial cleaning and the SEM paint. I have seen the best results with the SEM product.