Soft touch interior plastics restoration- info here

[71camaro]

So, I'm sure like me, many of you have peeling plastic interior trims finished in soft touch that have aged very poorly. These parts make an otherwise still attractive interior look fairly low-rent. I have found the answer to restoration of these parts.

About two years ago I decided to try to refinish these parts. I bought a spray can of a product called Plasti Dip, a spray-on rubberized coating for tool handles and the like. I sanded down the parts to the abs plastic below the soft-touch and sprayed the parts. The result wasn't too good... The parts were black and rubbery, but also with some texture. I was unhappy with it.

This past week I decided to revisit this. Plasti Dip is also available in a sealed can for actually dipping parts, or for spraying out of different guns. I bought that form of the dip, as well as a thinner called tuelene. I mixed the dip and tuelene 1:1 in order to thing it to a viscosity similar to paint. I re sanded the parts and decided to see what I could do this time. Using an HVLP gun from a company called SATA, I sprayed the parts in a manner similar to how we spray a car at my family's shop. I layed down three coats of material, allowing a flash time between coats of about 10 minutes, just long enough for the Plasti Dip to dull in appearance. I then allowed the parts to dry for 4 hours before install.

Once the parts (door pulls and steering clamshell) were installed again I compared them to original parts (plastic at front door corners, seat trim, column position switches). The Plasti Dip sprayed through a gun and mixed in this manner is an exact match in feel and appearance. It's actually really nice. I don't have pics since I just decided to post this and it's 2 am here, but I'll get some.

If you're interested in doing this restoration I recommend it: I would have a paint shop do it, thoug, because the material does need to come from a nice gun to get a smooth finish (I first tried a primer gun we have that's cheaper and less well-maintained and the results were not nearly as good). A painter will also be more familiar with the way to lay the material down (pressure and volume settings on the gun, spray patterns, etc). If you've got experience spraying cars go for it, though, as it's literally the exact same process, just with that particular material mixed and thinned in that manner.

The short version of this post is that Plasti Dip mixed with tuelene 1:1 and sprayed from a good paint gun is 100% identical in look and feel to factory soft-touch trim.

[The_Laird]

Brilliant! I've been looking to get this done for ages. Now for a trip to my local friendly paint shop. Thanks for sharing - hope to see the pics soon

[ToreBj]

Anyone close to mine? I Guess it's time...

[notorious]

Following this thread with interest !

[ScottD3]

This problem has been effecting Audis, Skoda and VW since around 2000.

I've used Plasti dip for a while, started off with it from a can and moved up to mixing it like the OP has said with some very good results.
I've yet to do an interior but I should be doing the bits on my Dad's touareg this summer since we need to strip it down.

I've got several litres of Black and gun metal colours with the needed thinners.

I'm not dipping as much as I use to but I'm willing to dip for anyone on here if you want to remove the parts and post them to me.

The inside handle of my D3 has started to peel like the pic in ToreBj post.

71camero, I would not recommend sanding the old stuff off. The thinners you use for the dip works really well at stripping the old Audi stuff with the added benefit of not damaging the surface as the dip can bring out any imperfections with in the surface.

[The_Laird]

I took a printout of this post to my local friendly paint shop last night, together with my 'dark myrtle on platinum' door inserts and a set of old, trashed inserts for him to play with. Some are much worse that ToreBj's.

He's going to "get back to me". I'll keep you posted with before and after photos and, hopefully, the real thing on show at the meet in June.

[ScottD3]

Laird, They plasti dipping or normal paint?

Here's a close up of a B5 dash I did.

[Goran]

From what I read, plasti dip is not long lasting. On a BMW forum a few guys did their dashboards/doors and it started peeling with the smallest accidental scratch.

I have no personal experience with plasti-dip so this is all anecdotal.

Apparently there are tougher products out there. Dupli-Color.

As always, best to do your own research.

http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=39961

[ScottD3]

It all depends on how they applied it, the surface and how many coats.

I used a rattle at first but found it very thin and weak.

I now use a proper sprayer na xylene thinners, its stronger than the rattle cans and lasts a lot longer.

I've had my roof done, dash, door rubbers, wipers, engine parts, done other parts for people and even shoes. lol

The bits I did with a rattle can was crap in relation to the proper sprayer.

There's been a couple of different types produced like Plasti dip. I've only heard about a few and seen people trial it.
Each one never seem to peel off as well as Plasti dip.

If any one wants a sample, I'm more than willing to spray or dip something for you.

[Goran]

That's good to know, I may want my roof lining sprayed at some point. Now I know to avoid the rattle cans.