Hi everyone,

A while back, I created a YouTube video showing how I used plasti dip to repair the plastic trim surrounding the window switches. Well, that worked for a little while. The finish wasn't a perfect match and I eventually lifted the plasti dip on accident, so had to remove it.

After trying a bunch of different paints to "touch up" the nicks in the stock rubber finish, I gave up with temporary solutions and took the plunge. I painted the entire trim. Here's the process I used and some before and after pictures.

Process:
1) Wet sanded damaged areas of trim
2) Cleaned trim with paint prep solution
3) Masked off the area
4) Applied ~4 coats of )
5) After paint dried, I applied Mother's Back to Black to get the paint to match the original.
Note: Any flat black paint will NOT match the original finish. The original finish has a slight satin finish to it.

Overall, a fairly straight forward process, but requires patience and meticulous prep.

Before:



After:




Plasti Dip Video:

Cheers!
Dennis

 

Great job! I ended up replacing mine with factory leather covered pieces, as my car has full leather and it looks more integrated. I'm not certain of my skills and taking on a job like the one you did, but you saved yourself about $700 as compared to my route.

 

any tips on replacing that piece? is it a complete door panel off?

 

Yes it is. Here are instructions:

http://rennlist.com/forums/diy-submi...l-removal.html

I didn't want to go through all this trouble and break something. The actually trim piece has plastic tabs that need to be melted to hold the piece in place. One guy used screws instead.

 

Yes, you have to remove the whole door panel and take on the risks involved to the rest of the panel, as far as scratches or breaking anything... collateral damage. In my case, I was fortunate that nothing got damaged and the installer didn't mind me overseeing all he was doing. The end result is beautiful but I would have gone with the repainting route if I could.

 

So you painted that trim piece while it was till on the door? You didnt take it off?

 

Yup. Exactly. If it were easy to remove, I would have just purchased a new piece for around $100.

 

I recently replaced the trim piece (part of my RS handle mod project):

- taking off / putting back the door panel is easy, I can do it in under 5 mins now.
- taking off the trim piece is NOT for the faint at heart. It requires drilling / melting the bolting points
- to install the new trim, I use screws instead of melting the plastic

 

Excellent DIY instructions!

Does anyone know the testors equivalent for the tan (Sand Beige I think) interior colour? I have a number of scratches on the armrest surround trim as well, besides the door trim.

 

I believe Testors has a sand biege color. Just google it. I don't know if it will be an exact match though. The other option is to remove your ash tray and bring it to Home Depot for a paint match. This wasn't a great match for my black interior when I tried, however, it might work for sand biege.

 

I understand where you say the plasticcoat lifted. Is that why you went the paint route the second time? You expect painted to be more durable?

Mucho thanks for the info, the same project has been waiting for me too long.

 

It appears to be more durable. Once you get a scratch in the rubber coating, it peels very easily. The paint is staying on very nicely. If you tried to scratch it, it would scratch, but not any easier than the original finish. It also doesn't peel. I'm really careful with my car, so don't expect any problems. The previous owner was not.