I am looking to have my dash sprayed or do it myself this year. Does anyone have a guide or a how to spray dashboards. I'm looking for maybe a pastel white Thanks
Rub it down, prime and top-coat. How much you have to sand it will depend on how badly the existing surface is damaged. Paint doesn't fill scratches. UPol Zinc 182 primer is cheap and covers well with a few thin coats, very easy to use and you can get away with top-coating without sanding if you don't leave it long. Top-coat - get a mixed up can from "wherever" as they have a proper fan shaped spray pattern which is easier to paint with and avoid over application, so again user friendly. dean_butler asked me the same and I think he followed above advice? He's just done his dash and posted up pics.
I followed zed instructions on spraying and am now very confident and have sprayed 80% of the inside of our van and it looks superb. Its all in the prep. Spraying in short 1 second spurts gently is the way forward. Also a bit of small cardboard in your free hand to shield bits is handy.
Also something to note... If you're spraying your dash top too, then spray it in a matt or satin finish, as high gloss in bright light conditions reflects up onto the windscreen, and can obscure up to 2/3rds of the screen!! Glossy tops do look very nice, but they are also very impractical!!
I recently sprayed the dash top on ours using upol satin black in a 'power can'. Got it from a car body paint supplier- has a good fan spray thing- lots of light coats not letting each fully dry off before then next- came out lovely.
dean_butler Nice job chap, I need to do my dash but had thought I would need to remove it, after seeing your pics I'm liking your way better
May seem a daft question but here goes: I hear about padded dashes especially when talking about imports. Mine is a US import. How can I tell if it's padded, and how padded is padded!? and would this cause me any problems in stripping it down and spraying it?
Padded is padded - if its not padded then its metal. My advice would be to get it all powder coated - only cost me £40 and I saved that easily in time and spay cans.
I agree with Paul, keep the dash top satin black otherwise you'll just have a reflection on your windscreen all the time.
But once again what exactly is a padded dash? Mine has a black covering on it but wouldn't say its padded.
I've not really got any proper pictures of my padded dash... just some snaps of me pulling the wiring out for ref But you can clearly see the vinyl on it... gives it a different finish to the rough finish satin paint!!
This is more what mine looks like. I spoke to someone at a show who have painted theirs (bare metal once painted) and they said they had stripped the covering off (but didnt say it was padded) - so this is what I assumed they meant. Does the non padded type have an original covering?
