Dash Repair

I have a 98 reg cab tacoma with the tan interior and the previous owner went crazy with a drill srewing stuff to the dash and center console. I took some epoxy type stuff and filled in most of the holes but now it's killing me looking at the spots and was wondering if anyone has ever used some kind of touch up paint or something similar on the dash. If so, what did you use and where did you get it. Thanks

 

I just primed and spray painted mine semi-gloss black.

It's holding up fine, and it's not a perfect match.

My only complaint is that it shows dust a lot. I just have a microfiber cloth in the truck at all times and wipe it down in the morning (I'm anal when it comes to clean interiors)

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/1st-gen-builds/98326-madjik-mans-laugh-him-build-4.html

 

Was it just regular spray paint or was it that paint made for plastic?

 

This is what I used

 

I've seen that stuff before. Thanks man.

 

Just a little advice: let the paint cure for about 4 or 5 days (or whatever it says on the can for "maximum plastic adhesion).

My lack of patience led me to putting the dash back together after 2 days and I had one small chip on the piece just to the passenger's side of the e-brake that meets up with the stereo/climate control face trim.

Nothing noticeable (other than from my OCD) but clearly an indication I didn't wait long enough

 

As with any paint work prep is the key. If your epoxy fill repairs are not blended and textured to match the dash then they are still going to be most likely visible when you paint everything.

Been there done that on thinking paint will fill in and blend. Yes it will to a certain extent, but then it is too thick and the texture does not match the surrounding area so still visible.

I'd also recommend a quality degreaser to wipe everything down clean and a tack cloth to get dust and dirt off. You don't want a bunch of fish eyes popping up in your fresh new paint. Most quality automotive part stores have the stuff or you could try a home depot/lowes. You can certainly find everything at an automotive paint outlet, but then I feel cost would probably be more.

On plastic kicks etc that I've painted I always tended to use primer sold specifically as plastic primer (probably the same stuff as regular primer and just a marketing ploy, but made me feel betterl to see "plastic primer" in big letters across the front lol).

Paint wise only advise is to ensure you do not get anything with too much shine. Reflection of the dash in the windscreen is a bugger and soon becomes annoying and/or unsafe.

Remember, light coats and build up your finish. Practice spraying the paint on something else first so you can get a feel for the correct flow rate, speed and distance the particular paint needs to go on smoothly. Also pay attention to weather conditions as these will effect how the paint reacts and drys.

Other than that I'd say go for it. I've painted many a door panel and kick panel doing custom audio work and (knock on wood) never had any real issues.

Cheers

 

Sem products .

 

Thanks guys for the info. The crappy part about this is there are 3 holes right in the center of the dash on the passenger side air bag part where they put a fold out cupholder! Thats going to be the hard part because I really dont want to have to pull the entire dash out to paint it.

 

That's the only way to do it.

I've contemplated painted the upper part of the dash flat black, but don't want to take the whole thing apart either.

So it's tommy two-tone for me

 

It will be a while before I do it but I will post pics when ever I get it done.

 

X2 they likely have you're exact paint code to match your dash too. I used their paint on my 86 Chevy and it matched perfectly.

 

Subscribed.

 

Just looked at the Sem products and I am deff going to try this stuff out.

 

I used SEM paint to paint the console in my el camino from black to maroon and it came out good but the color is a little lighter. you just have to clean it really good before you spray it. SEM paint touches up really easily to and isn't to glossy or to dull either.

 

Looks good man. The part I'm dreading is tearing out my dash. Has anyone ever done this before? Is it a pain? I dont think I can but I only need to front part of the passanger side out.

 

That's all one piece... called the dash panel

part # 55301-04020

I had everything but that off a few weeks ago. Getting to that point was super easy. I've read some write ups to change out the gauge cluster lights which walks you through taking the whole dash apart. Seems easy enough.

Search for those gauge cluster light threads and I'm sure you'll find it

 

I have searched on here and google and can only find how to remove the cluster. Nothing about the whole dash. I might see if I can just throw a dash mat over it but I dont think they come all the way down the front of the dash.

 

The Sem web site has how to do video's on most of there products.