Buying oem door panels and painting inquiry

[PharmAstrocist]

Hey buddies,

Well I just ordered a new interior door panel for Krispy at newchevroletparts.com and have a few questions.

First, it didn't ask about color, anyone know what I'll be receiving?

Next, assuming that doesn't matter, is painting this thing easy or am I going to need to run it up to my shop? If so, what is the actual material.. plastic, vinyl? Is the paint some sort of spray I can buy at Lowe's?

I only bought one so I could experiment a bit first and then I'll replace the other.. both mine are terribly scratched and old and it's really the only step for interior I'm willing to try and do on my own. I can try painting the old one for practice as well I suppose.

Last, for the bezel which I also got, there was an option w/ lt and w/o lt. Anyone know what that means?

Here's a link:
http://www.trademotion.com/partlocator/ ... atalogid=2

I wish I knew more about or could see examples of the luxury, cloth, LT and SLT options... an upgrade would have been nice.

Thanks for any help!

[91AWDAstro]

If it's plastic or vinyl then I would recomend paint that is for that purpose. I would go to an automotive paint supply store if you have one in your neigborhood. Most sell products from companines like SEM that make paints specifically for plastic and vinyl. If not you can go on line to places like Eastwood automotive.

Here's a pic of my 91 LT van door panel. It's a combo of vinyl, fabric, and carpet. The upper portion is stock, but I reworked the lower half for the custom encoslure for my Focal mid bass. The orignal bottom half was just carpet with a plastic pocket screwed on.

[PharmAstrocist]

Thanks, that's nicer looking than my stock one, but it looks like it would have a lot of dummy buttons if I went that route. They actually e-mailed me back for my VIN this morning, so I guess that's how they intend to make sure the part and color is right. I didn't have it on hand when I ordered.

[PharmAstrocist]

crap...my bezel has been discontinued and deleted from the order!

[Rebel]

I've painted several panels and plastic trim pieces and have always used a product by Duplicolor. Get the one for plastic, works very well but make sure surface is very clean and I'd rough it up with a scotch brite pad before spraying. Do some test areas on something other than the panel to see how far you need to be from the piece being painted, take your time and don't lay it on to heavy. Keep the can moving, cover area completly and wait a few minute before second coat so the first will be a little tacky and less chance of a run.

Here's a piece I did a year or so ago with a texture product from Lowes. Comes in about 5 different colors, is very easy to apply and no runs. Dries very hard and can be covered with clear after drying.

When spraying the plastic parts of your panel you'll need a piece of sheetmetal or hard cardboard to hold against the carpet edge next to plastic. Tape won't work very well holding this down while you spray,,take your time and if you get paint on the carpet,,that is, if your panels have carpet inserts, just have a warm wet rag ready for clean up.

[PharmAstrocist]

I don't have any carpet portions to worry about, it's all just bare plastic.. hopefully that makes the task a bit more manageable. I'm definitely going to practice on the old panel first.

Will this technique work for the armrest as well? It's like a vinyl covered cushion... apparently that's also been discontinued.

[Rebel]

Yes, it will work on the arm rest also but make sure it is very clean.

[PharmAstrocist]

the arm rest is going to do some flexing on a regular basis... still same paint? no cracking expected?

[TheChopFather]

I used rustoleum plastic paint on my door panels when I painted them in which I also used on the arm rest and they stayed tacky and gooey so I cleand the off with some thinner and resprayed them with vinyl paint from auto zone and it worked like a champ.

[Rebel]

No problem with cracking on armrest if you get the Duplicolor for plastic. Autozone is where I picked mine up and pretty sure that's what Dennis got if he picked his up there.
There's another brand called Krylon for plastic,,have never used the Krylon brand for plastic but there other rattle can paint is great.