Dash painting project - opinions and tips welcomed

[JPAloha]

I picked up a spare set of dash panels last night and plan to have them painted / maybe give it a try myself.

For those that have done this already what prep did you do to ensure proper paint adhesion (I presume a light sanding, cleaning but any specific primer types used)?

Also, I’m torn between painting them Bikini to match the Jeep and going with a white / pearl white for contrast.

PIcture of the Jeep and the panels as they sit - mine has the grey/silver dash panels at the moment.

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[Gregj]

Horrors! He wants to paint a Red Rubicon Dash! LOL! The color is off in that picture but people will pay good money for a Rubicon Dash. I am a terrible painter so I had a Touch-up Shop paint both of mine. Here is one in Firecracker Red with a satin finish.

And Hydro Blue with a semi-gloss finish.

Either way post up pictures when you are done.

Gregj

 

[jrohan07]

Well I tried to paint the Sport S dash to look like My Rubicon Red dash with a light scuff with 2000 sandpaper, Aluminium Spray can as a base and then this
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00296GLWO/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_6?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1.

The red color was 98% match to the OEM Rubicon Red but to my eyes it did not look as good as OEM.

Ordered this and used velco strips so I can easily remove the dash panels from Jeep to Jeep.

Bestmotoring Carbon Fiber Car Center Console Cover Trim,Dashboard Decorative Cover,Gear Shift Panel Cover for Jeep Wrangler JL 2018-2019
The red version is not even close to OEM red.

I asked this question in for sale red dash panels.
↑
What was the part number for all leather dash and trim?
From a different thread:



Leather (Sahara) panels:
6AC241A3AA Pad-Instrument Panel - Mopar
6AC261A3AB Air Bag Door W/ LEATHER

Red (Rubicon) panels:
6AB21SRRAA Pad-Instrument Panel - Mopar
6AB28SRRAD Air Bag Door W/ O LEATHER, RED

Gray panels:
6AB19SD5AA Pad-Instrument Panel - Mopar
6AB27SD5AD Air Bag Door W/ O LEATHER, GRAY

I like the look of the leather dash kits so I will order one of these.

 

[jludave]

any specific primer types used?

https://www.rustoleum.com/product-catalog/consumer-brands/specialty/plastic-primer-spray/

 

[The Fixer]

https://www.rustoleum.com/product-catalog/consumer-brands/specialty/plastic-primer-spray/

Rustoleum is quality stuff, I like their rattlecans. That being said, @BikiniJLR , make sure the primer/adhesion promoter and color/clear are all from the same brand. I made that mistake once and regretted it - I switched brands midway, and the clear had a bad reaction to the color and wound up looking like garbage. I had to sand it down and start over.

 

[jrohan07]

So I went to the local dealer for an oil change with the 2018 sport s and took a test drive on a 2020 Sahara fully loaded.
Got a great OTD price and then I threw in I want to see about trading in my 2018 Sport S.

Takes it for a test drive and comes back and says I can only give you $24,000 for your Jeep.
Why?
Because your grill is not stock, you painted it and your dash panels are not stock. You painted them to.
Really?
What if I put it back to stock?
$26000.
I have purchased 10 Jeeps from this dealer so beware of painting your OEM panels.

 

[jludave]

I can only give you $24,000 for your Jeep.

I got more than that back for my 2015 JKU and I changed out the grey interior trim pieces on the dash and doors with an OEM blue set.

 

[SchweeJeep]

I’m joining the thread with my recent experiment. I bought a set of door cup covers on eBay, and started playing around with the Metalcast paint. No commitment! Lol. You can see the result above.

I tried it with the silver base (the Metalcast product is a 2 step process with a silver ‘ground’ base), then knocked down the sheen with a flat clear on top. Very hard to photograph the paint well, but it’s not quite right...I plan to try again with a copper base coat.

Just in case it hasn’t been mentioned before, the Metalcast product is translucent, so the base is critical to the final look. To me, the flake of their ‘ground’ coat looks too large to replicate the OEM dash. Also...the first red layers look orange in color and deepen to red the more coats you apply.

The quest continues...

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