Hey guys I'm trying to repaint my dash and need to paint a gauge pod & gauge surround and was just curious what paints yall used for that and what color matches the factory tan
thanks sean

 

Does LMC truck make replacement dashes (junkyard would work too, but that's double removal)? Seems like it would be a lot of work removing and painting it, but I'd also be interested in what any folks have done if they have painted their dashes.

 

If you can find a replacement I'd go that route, it's a lot of prep work to get the dash ready to paint and not have it flake off after a few months or crack when it bends when your re-installing it.

 

I've touched up my dash before. I went to an automotive paint place, thinking they could look up a code for the interior color. But they had to use a color scanner on a piece of interior that I could remove and bring inside. I used a hobby airbrush to paint it. The color match wasn't perfect. But it looks better than the black plastic beneath the paint. If I were to do this again, I'd go to a body shop and find a good painter to color match it better. Then I'd pull out the pieces and paint them all together for a better match.

 

Make sure everything is very clean & Prepped just as you would an exterior paint job.
Then Spray with a Vinyl Dye, Not Paint, as paint has to much solids in it. Use Lite coats, & after 3 or 4 let it dry well. then look for areas that you need to hit again. The longer it drys the more it shrinks down so do not be alarmed if it somewhat fills the textured areas.

 

Well, it depends on what part of the dash we're talking about. The instrument bezel, radio/climate bezel, A-pillars, console, etc. are plastic. They're painted from the factory, and can be painted just fine if properly prepped. Mine's held up great since I painted it. The only reason I had to paint it in the first place is because I had a 2x4 slide forward under hard braking and hit it.

The top of the dash is vinyl, and should be dyed, as Apittslife said.

 

I just assumed he'd be painting the entire thing lol

 

Thanks for all the replies everyone. The things I will need to paint are a single gauge pillar pod, a gauge cluster (got a custom one with 2 gauge holes on the left side) and the dash under the radio surround; its been flaking for a couple years and my ocd kicks in and i would knock the loose flakes off so its gotten worse.
So my best bet would be to use the interior/vinyl paint? I have a good friend that owns a body shop but wasnt looking to spend that much to do this...

 

It sounds like all of that is just the regular plastic. Not sure on the bits below the radio part.

 

So what would be my best choice to paint it all? A krylon for plastics or the vinyl/leather paint/die?

 

If it's hard plastic, just regular paint/Krylon. But if some of those pieces are the slightly squishy vinyl type material, then the dye.

But I don't own one of your trucks and don't know exactly what the last piece you're talking about is, so I don't want to be the one advising on that.

 

Ill probably just try the regular paint and if that doesnt work out Ill just have my buddy do it right. Thanks everyone for the help!

Oh and heres my new cluster surround. If anyones interested let me know and i tell you how to get one!

 

SEM is what I would use

 

sem?

 

http://www.semproducts.com/