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I ended up using Express Paint for the source of the paint instead of colorbond. Colorbond now only list a "shale" and not the Medium dark neutral. Is Shale the same? I don't know, but I took the option that matched the writing perfectly as opposed to taking a chance on "shale" being the lighter interior color and not the darker. Problem is, the express paint does not have a flattener agent and the finish came out too glossy. I will probably take a scotch brite to the finish to dull it out slightly. If I did really light dust coats I probably would have achieved the finish I was after but I laid it wet without really thinking about it in the moment.
A little heartbreaking after sweating in the garage for about 3 hours lol
I wouldn't mind repainting my stereo dash - so that might be the next project to test the shale color. Worst case scenario I will redo the steering wheel if the shale color works out and knocking down the sheen does not.
I love the shale interior but it would certainly be easier to live with and repair a black interior or even the two tone variants with black uppers.
I ended up using Express Paint for the source of the paint instead of colorbond. Colorbond now only list a "shale" and not the Medium dark neutral. Is Shale the same? I don't know,.
The colorbond 153 medium dark neutral seems to be scarce on Amazon but it is a perfect match to the dark shale interior pieces.
I ended up ordering directly from colorbond themselves here:
I don't know how but I missed this when looking. I even had my wife look and we both missed it. Thank you. I will order some soon and plan to do the stereo dash and address the steering wheel if I can't remedy the sheen.
I let the paint dry/cure to avoid gumming and lightly buffed it with an ultra fine scotch brite. I am happy with it now and thankfully don't have to start over from scratch.
I picked up some colorbond for the stereo dash/console.
Color match is not nearly as good as it seems in some of the alternative posts. The express paint on the steering wheel is a near perfect match whereas the colorbond is a tint of a shade off, more grey/green.
Love the finish and the paint seems super durable but not thrilled on the color match. It's close ENOUGH.
I am thinking I may strip the airbag cover back to black and paint the bezel black to make the interior feel more cohesive.
Because I can't leave anything alone. Documenting so maybe someone can avoid the mistakes I've made. First attempt was to match new wheel and airbag stock for stock, I used the wrong paint but the color match was spot on. I wanted to repaint my gummy radio bezel while doing some shifter work but the LVP color match was off a tint. So I decided to take the airbag back to black and paint the radio bezel black to bring in more black elements. I then scratched the steering wheel and took it back to black too. I honestly like all the looks here but it's much easier to take care of not worrying about how delicate a painted surface is.
Eventually, I might paint the console shale to match the seats, I think that would look slightly better, but I honestly might just rock this for a while. (I still need to figure out the shifter boot with the new ****)
PS. It's kinda crazy how just 91% alcohol completely destroys both the stock painted airbag and this LVP stuff. Nothing else was used to strip this paint back
Just my personal opinion but I prefer the color scheme, in post #27.
Probably my preference too, unfortunately the paint kept on healing, so the mild scotch brite pad would remove the sheen and the hot summer days would then bring back that sheen in no time. So I wore through the paint trying to get the finish I wanted on the airbag (despite using an entire can, 8 coats). If I were to do it again I'd want like a 2k matte clear over everything painted.
Painted surfaces that you touch are just not ideal and I was skeptical going into the project and why I did not paint the MAIN touch points initially.
If I knew colorbond LVP would be a perfect match I'd probably go through the work of pulling the wheel gain to repaint, but it was not a good enough match for my OCD.
Did some minor adjustments, painted the traction control panel black and shortened the shaft a bit on the shifter to eliminate the locking nut look. I got lucky and the length was perfect for alignment. Also took a lighter to the threads on the steering wheel as someone had previously suggested as I never did it pre painting.
Overall pretty happy with the overall look and feel. I don't think anyone would even know it did not come like this from factory if they weren't a corvette aficionado.
and another update. Me basically talking to myself here but that's okay lol
OCD is not kind on the shale interior owners. I was originally looking for a black Center console (I even ordered two that were just not in good enough shape for my liking) to match the look of what would be a light oak interior center stack. Because I could not source the center console (yet) and I don't think painting would be sufficient, mainly due to the egress/ingress feature of the seat sliding against this trim, I am leaving the interior as is.
The main reason I ended up here is not being able to color match parts/leather easily. Black is easy. Many components were just tired on this car and needed an update and preferably to a higher quality replacement. I am still working on cleaning the original carpets to throw back in, the drivers side still needs another round. The console lid was slightly damaged on the leading edge, thus it got leather wrapped - this was worth doing just for the increased comfort and reduction of creakiness.
