painting the centre console help please

[eamop]

hi all im looking to change the colour of the centre console including the rubber coated section housing the volt meter and the section around the gear stick. now i know standard paint wont last long on the rubber section but i cant seem to find anywhere that does rubberised paint in a silver type of shade so i was thinking of buying a spare centre section and peeling to rubber off to leave a hard surface to paint on any one know if this is possible or any better suggestions thanks folks any pics of finished jobs in this area appreciated

[colm_mcm]

As long as you use a rubberised primer I think you'll be ok.

For what it's worth, I don't think the upper console looks good painted.

[paul2508]

stewyd32 just did his, paint out of halfords did the trick for him,came out well too
here is the link
http://www.fto-ireland.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11454

[StewyD32]

.

The paint is still fine and didn't chip or anything yet, however i did put lacquer on 2 weeks ago seems it was getting hotter during the day and colder at night (I think that was our summer).

Very easy and cheap to do and had paint left over for the doors as well.

[eamop]

thanks for your replies i looked at that red paint in halfords alright and it looks good on his car because of the colour but mine is steel silver and i,d rather keep it a silver colour but the bottom half of the console looks sweet is that real cf or is it wrapped id go with that if not too pricey any thoughts on peeling the rubber off to paint with a standard paint and anyone know about rubber primer and painting over it with standard i would have thought it would still crack

[StewyD32]

I just used ordinary primer not rubber primer and it worked fine and still no cracks or chips.
As for peeling the rubber.... why bother when you can just spray it and it works. Its up to you as you'll be doing the work and might give you some more peace of mind but from my experience my way was easier and worked out fine.

The carbon fiber is the fake shrink wrap stuff. It is expensive for what you get but it does look good. Think it was €40 or €45 in halfords, but you can get it alot cheaper on ebay but you don't know if it will look like what the picture shows

[Uncle B]

Colm wrapped his old one in CF wrap, did a nice job of it.

Mines Steel Silver and has CF look console too, looks well I think

[eamop]

stewy how much cf wrap did you get for that money and was there enough to do both sections and uncle b any pics of your car

[colm_mcm]

you'll find it impossible to do the upper section in film cos the surface is so complex. it may be possible to do but you'd need to really know your way around a heat gun to do it. It'd involve a lot of streching of the film. CF pattern would be all distorted then.

[Dragonheart]

You wouldn't get into the 'eyes' of the units either up at the top. I had to cut separate pieces out when doing the Kevlar cloth, and another separate piece for the top. The top section would take a lot of heartache and messed up bits before it looks anyway decent to be done in one piece. Though if its cut properly and put into place properly in different sections it should be fine. The fact you wont be adding a few layers of resin over the surface though will make it obvious if there's a split in the material, unlike cloth, where the resin layers distort the weave a bit just enough to give the effect that its all one piece.

[eamop]

yeah never really thought of the distortion of the patern i think ill just give it a good sand to get a key for the paint and risk it with rubberised primer and standard paint if it peels ill just have to redo it or replace the part

[CJ]

The upper section is covered with a very thin layer of rubber compound, if you go at it too much, it will start to peel at which point you'll be looking for another upper section. Give it a good clean with soapy water and let it dry before applying a few coats of plastic primer.

CJ

[eamop]

ok thanks cj and everyone else for your comments

[StewyD32]

stewy how much cf wrap did you get for that money and was there enough to do both sections and uncle b any pics of your car

I don't know exactly how much i got for it but i had some left over but not much. Not enough to do anything else.

[Uncle B]

stewy how much cf wrap did you get for that money and was there enough to do both sections and uncle b any pics of your car

Car is getting fixed atm so here's an old one...


Brendan (gt94) had this before me so he may know where it was sourced from, I'm pretty sure I've seen them on ebay though. I don't think the CF look stretches back the whole way though, as in its just up to the clock/volt dials.

[eamop]

thats looks class but think i'll try paint first see how it turns out and then try this trickier option or bring it in somewhere and get it wrapped there are couple of places in naas that do full vehicle wraps im sure they could handle this

[colm_mcm]

I think the carbon film looks way better than painting. I'd be more into modernizing the interior subtly than painting stuff silver

[eamop]

I think the carbon film looks way better than painting. I'd be more into modernizing the interior subtly than painting stuff silver

i agree 100% but i dont think i'll try it myself there is a place in toughers bus pk in naas tha does really professional stuff so gonna get a price of them for the job they'll be able to wrap the whole thing i hope gonna get a price for the bonnett also but if its too expensive just gonna paint it for now