Painting plastic

[cactusjack]

What have you had good luck with as far as painting plastic? Not ABS, not nylon, just good old-fashioned hard plastic. Like plastic trim in a vehicle. It's white, I want to paint it black.

[blowndodge]

Rustoleum.. ??

[cactusjack]

Rustoleum.. ??

I was wondering if there was some special primer or paint that needed to be used. Plastic tends to contain oils that makes it hard for paint to adhere.

[ringadingh]

If its inside a vehicle there is special paint available to match the colour somewhat. Ive used regular enamel based paints on plastic and they worked well, such as tremclad or rustoleum. You have to be carefull with laquer based paint as it can eat the plastic depending on what type it is.
Outside plastic paints for cars have a addidive in them so the paint is flexible and won't crack.

[fakebikerdude59]

I've used the Rustoleum plastic paint and primer from Home Depot with pretty good success. I go over it with 800 grit paper wet first to help adhesion.

[phred]

There is a primer (used to be anyway) called XIM. It came in spray cans and could also be bought in gallons, I believe. I've used it before to paint plastic and the results were amazing. I tried to scratch the paint off after everything was cured, and it wouldn't come off. The only other prep work I did was to lightly scuff up the item with sandpaper, and clean thoroughly.

[phred]

Here's a link to the stuff
http://www.ximbonder.com/products_detail.asp?id=30

[skiman]

Fusion works great I was suspect of it at first but after seeing it used and sanded I'm impressed with it becomes part of the plastic going into it not on it

[zoom45]

I think there is a plastic adhesion promoter called bulldog. I think you can get it or something similar from the Eastwood Company.
http://search.eastwood.com/search?w=adhesion+promoter&p=Q&ts=custom

Zoom45

[speedbyu]

I used vinyl dye for the interior on a '75 corvette I restored. It came out very well and matched perfect. Just prep the piece with a wax/grease remover first and spray it on. You may not be able to find the interior color in rustoleum.

[timebandit]

Fusion works great I was suspect of it at first but after seeing it used and sanded I'm impressed with it becomes part of the plastic going into it not on it

I do commercial signage with the fusion and the stuff is amazing http://s2.images.proboards.com/grin.gif

[hammer]

Speedbyu, would that work well on seat vinyl? I was going to try and get a closer match for my tank bid and trunk cushion.

+1 on the Rustoleum plastic paint and primer but I like the looks of the adhesion promoter. It makes sense to me.

[mikey911s]

I use BullDog on all my ABS and no problem whatsoever.

[speedbyu]

Hammer, it should work on your seat with no problems. Just take your time and make sure it is clean.
Bill

[hammer]

I have not seen anything like that locally Bill. Can you let me know what product you used and/or where you bought it?

Thanks.

[speedbyu]

I bought mine from a Corvette catalog years ago because of the shade of brown I needed. I found these as well.

Eastwood company
http://search.eastwood.com/search?w=vinyl+dye&p=Q&ts=custom

Oreilly auto parts
http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/search.oap?keyword=vinyl+dye

Advanced auto parts
http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/PartSearchCmd?storeId=10151&catalogId=10051&langId=-1&pageId=partTypeList&suggestion=&searchTerm=vinyl+dye

[hammer]

Thanks, that's great!