I am looking at painting my door panel inserts (where the door locks and courtesy light are) on an 87 coupe. Looking for some thoughts on it. I've seem some "Fusion" paint products, Krylon I think, at Wally World. They are supposed to be especially for plastic. I presume formulated to fuse with the underlying plastic for a better bond than enamels. Wondering what migh be the best paint and approach to painting these. I assume they are ABS plastic. Can anyone confirm that? I've really appreciated all the insight I've gained on this forum. Makes the fix/restore job a lot easier. Thanks to al concerned.

I plan to paint them to match the original color, remove the nicks, etc. just clean them up. Painted the door pulls and the accessory panels will look like sh.. without improvement or replacement. Thought that I can clean up the accessory panels rather than buy more parts. The list is already pretty long. Have new door panels and am doing all the weather strips. Next it will be seats and carpet. Thinking I'll try cleaning the carpet like I saw in another post and see what happens. Worst case is I have to replace it which was the plan anyway. No hope for the seats - new covers and foam is the only answer.

Spoke to Sherwin Williams (makers of Krylon) today and learned that the Fusion products are good on any plastic except polyethlyne and polycarbonate.

I thought I'd try a test on the insides of my old original door panels (same plastic) and see how it comes out. Picked up a can of gloss black and a can of satin black today and will try it in the next couple of days.

 

Either one of those products will work fine. The most important part is your prep. Lightly sand with some 320 or 400 sandpaper. If the parts have any silicone on them, that can be a problem. Products like Armorall contain it.

 

I used Duplicolor from advanced auto. I quickly wiped the panels down with fast eveporating laqure thinner to remove all oil and silicone and let them sit in the sun for 5 or 10 minuts to get them hot and painted 3 or 4 coats. Workrd great. I am still very happy with them after almost 2 years. They still look lke I just sprayed them.

 

I did mine last week. Cleaned with Pro Form plastic parts cleaner, sanded with 400, cleaned them again and then painted with SEM trim black (39143).
I'm actually doing all the dash and console, too.

 

What you want is SEM TRIM BLACK,its what its painted with or the closest thing to it.If you want it to look really nice,scrub the **** out of it in the sink with some dish soap.And when your done,scrub it again.Find an auto paint store,they will have the TRIM BLACK and ask for a fine scuff pad,this should be gray.Dont sand it,the scuff pad is all you need......................I posted this before I read the above post.

 

I agree, a fine scothbrite pad will work, but if your parts are anything like mine, you will want to remove scratches before painting. The trim paint seems to highlight scratches.
I'm using the trim paint as a filler for shallow scratches.

 

Buy good used ones from vette2vette, or the parts section.

Why paint them so you can paint them something fugly like red or yellow ?

 

I have also had good luck with SEM products. Prep is the key, especially door panels that get grease and body oils. I would clean them several times before painting, including good old hot water and soap.

 

No just don't want them to be the eyesore against the new panels, reubber, etrc. etc.