Stripping/painting dash

[Joojie]

When I bought my Beetle the dash was all scratched up. The previous owner apparently left their dog in the car and the dog went to town on it. The steering wheel is chewed, the e-brake handle is gone, the shifter knob was toast and of course the lovely "soft-touch" coating looked like hell.





After calling around to junkyards with no luck or asking way too much for a dash, I decided to try to paint it. I tried a few different things and found a method that worked quite well.

1) Remove all smooth dash pieces (I'm sure there's somewhere around here to find instructions for that)


2) Sand the pieces with ~150 grit sandpaper. The smaller parts can be done by hand, but I did the big pieces with a sander. I was worried it might tear the plastic apart, but it did a pretty good job.

Any large scratches don't need to be completely sanded out, the primer will take care of them. If you sand too much you may end up with big ugly dips in the plastic.





This is what will happen if you try to prime the parts without removing the soft touch coating

3) Tape up the vents in the center section, they're plastic welded so I didn't want to bother taking them out. Lay the tape across and then just cut around the edge carefully with a utility knife.


3) Spray the parts with a high-build, sandable primer. Spray trouble areas a little thicker so they can be sanded to blend in.


4) Allow the primer to sit for 4-5 hours and then sand the pieces again with 400 grit wet sandpaper. In thinner areas the plastic may show through with sanding, this isn't a problem, just make sure you have a nice smooth blend between the plastic and the primer.

5) Let the pieces dry and paint with Krylon indoor/outdoor spray paint. (I used black in a satin finish and a chrome finish for the door handles)

6)Make sure you let the paint cure for at least 24 hours before you put the parts back into the car. It will look and feel dry but it'll scratch and scuff VERY easily if it's not completely dried. (I had to resand and repaint a few pieces) Next I plan to paint the radio surround 'cyber green'...and get my windshield replaced

[Think_Sideways]

Wow! That looks GREAT!! I can't believe how many scratches there were before! Great job!!

[scarabY2k]

Great work and a nice write up.!!!

[red turbo 03]

Nice job and even nicer write up Joojie, I plan on repainting mine and I'll be referring to this for pointers, Thanks

[vdubing]

SWEET!!! That looks so good! Im about to do mine too and will for sure be checking this info out through my painting. Thanks!

[Cataspleena]

Oooooo Thanks! this is an awesome write up! I plan on doing this to Punky after my husband fixes some other things on her. This will definitely help a LOT! That looks awesome BTW!

[The NEW Ringo]

Well that is a great job and write up. You give me hope for my dash. I woder if the paint you picked gives off a glare from the sun? It looks to be a higher gloss than the rubber coating? Are you having issues while driving the car?

thanks

[MyOtherRidesAVette]

Originally Posted by The NEW Ringo

I woder if the paint you picked gives off a glare from the sun? It looks to be a higher gloss than the rubber coating?

I use the Krylon for other things (business related). They used to have a Semi-Flat Black, now the closest, and I'm assuming what the OPer used, is Satin, The Flat or Ultra-Flat is probably not going to give a desireable look. I don't think the glare off Krylon Satin Black will be an issue. It's what I would use if I were going to do this with a rattle can consumer paint, but of course I wouldn't. Krylon does seem to have better bonding properties than any other brand I have used, which is the main issue.

Btw, to the OPer, very nice job!

M.

[Blugg]

Originally Posted by The NEW Ringo

I woder if the paint you picked gives off a glare from the sun? It looks to be a higher gloss than the rubber coating? Are you having issues while driving the car?

thanks

Glare

Couple of video's of my Bug and the Glare

To be honest it never ever effected me when driving. I always said it was like wearing shades, you just get used to the difference.

New Beetle Sun Glare - YouTube

Click to watch the 2nd one below