I picked up a set of maroon/burguny(dark red) door panels out of the junkyard. They have the vinyl design around the window crank(upper portion), paded arm rest, and the vinyl map pockets.

They are in pretty good shape, but have some faiding in some spots on the plastic(almost white/greyish looking).

I was thinking of keeping the vinyl dark red and painting the plastic a brighter red.

Here's the thing.
My truck's interior originaly came with this color(dark red), and the sun visors, dash pad, seat belts, and a few things like that are still dark red.

But I painted my dash a bright red, and my seat covers, and steering wheel along with a few other things are bright red.

What would you guys think of a bright red door panels with dark red vinyl accents? It would basicaly match my interior, just would like some extra imput.....


Anything would be helpful, thanks in advance guys.

 

Check with your local auto paint store for some options and products available, you will be surprised.

 

Some times you can make that go away by heating the plastic with a heat gun or blow dryer.

 

Never heard of this before.....
Anything special about it?



I know I could paint the plastic, but how do you guys think it'd look?
I was going to do some prep work and primer then paint it, but didn't want to go into the vinyl dies, so I was going to leave them the same color.....

Keep them coming, thanks for the comments so far.

 

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...7&postcount=61


i've tried this on stress marks, i.e. the white/light grey spots with some success.

 

I think your two-tone idea would look good. The heat-gun method works well - plastic mfg shops use this method to fix defects. I used the heat gun to preheat my door panels before using the vinyl dye - it allows the dye to penetrate even deeper into the plastic for better scratch/abrasion resistance.

 

I would want some contrast on the door panels.

You could have always used vinyl dye for a better finish.

 

I think the two tone idea would look fine. I just have standard panels no vinyl in them. I just painted them with some red paint I picked up at auto store. It came out good.

 

Ok, I was thinking of avoiding the dye, but that's only b/c I have never used it before......
Who would have it, and would I use it on the vinyl or the plastic panel, or could it be used on both?

I was thinking of primering the plastic and painting it, but think the dye might look better if I knew what to do.


Thanks for the help guys. Glad to hear my idea sounds good....I was fighting about it in my head.... Would look good and match, but it wasn't anything Ford did, and no one would want the door panels after that.

 

The dye is just like spray paint except it smells worse and cost alot more.
The plus side is it sticks to the door panels extremely well and the sheen is perfect for ridgid plastic door panels, vinyl and dash pads. I sprayed mine over ten years ago and they look as good as the day I sprayed them. Get the good stuff from a auto paint supply store and properly prep the panels and you should be pleased with the results.
BTW make sure you get rid of all traces of Armor All or similar products from the everything before spraying....

 

Thanks for the info.

I'll look into it, and let you guys know what I decide.

 

I use lacquer thinner to clean..then use SEM plastic prep then cheesecloth wipe before dyeing.

 

The SEM looks like some good stuff, but where would I be able to pick some up?
And the Dye.... A big autoparts store, or only a paint supplier?


Thanks for the info, but one more question.
When putting the dye on a dark red trying to make it a bright red, it said I should use white as a 'primer' or the bright red dye will only make a shade inbetween the dark and bright colors? So dye it white then go over it with red, right?

 

spray the backside first, experiment in an area where nobody will care.

 

First off for dyeing things you need a way to do it.

I use this system as it is IMO the best out there.

http://www.prevalspraygun.com/

Vinyl Dye can be mixed and purchased in the OEM Ford colour at any Body shop supplies /paint store.
NAPA comes to mind.
They also have the Preval system.

You basically need to clean and prep plastic

The parts have to be THROUGHLY clean of grease/armour-all type products.

Plastic Prep gets the plastic ready for dye adhering.

Why would you make everything the same bright red colour ?