Advice on removing paint from plastic panels

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Jhenry70

Jhenry70

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Hey FABO I got these interior plastic pieces off a 72 Duster I found at a PicknPull. I know, I was surprised, I pulled everything of her I could carry! Anyway, I want to dye these black, as I was giving them a good scrubbing with a green pad and some mild detergent I noticed that these seem like they have second coat of paint on them. As you can see in the pics where there's two shades of blue. On the A-Pillar trim its pretty grainy and comes off almost powdery...

I scrubbed them for quite some time and I've only got about 30% of the bad paint off. Anyone ever have to deal with this and do you have suggestions on what can be used to efficiently revove that coat of paint and not damage the pieces any further?

I know if it doesn't come off anything I do over it won't stick. :banghead:
 

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The oven cleaner, as mentioned , or if you have a container large enough to fill with Castrol Purple Power and soak them.
 
Jhenry70 said:
On the A-Pillar trim its pretty grainy and comes off almost powdery...
Click to expand...

That chalkiness is quite typical on these old plastic parts.

Clean them as best you can, let dry thoroughly. When you are ready to dye them, use the adhesion promoter AS DIRECTED, then dye them with light coats giving it time to flash in between.

I did some A pillar trim, kick panels in my car and they turned out quite nice and have not flaked off.
 
Thanks for all the comments. Somehow knew this would be a common "Struggle" amongst us DIY'ers. I had a shop dye my dash and interior panels on a Malibu back in the late 80's lasted about a year before it started peeling off. Want to avoid that happening this time around!
 
I "think" what appears to be a 2nd coat of paint is actually original from the factory. Clean them well & again a 2nd time before applying "Adhesion Promoter"......Then paint them with an interior dye designed for plastic.

Be careful about scrubbing them too much as it may effect the grain.
 
6pk2goDemon said:
I "think" what appears to be a 2nd coat of paint is actually original from the factory. Clean them well & again a 2nd time before applying "Adhesion Promoter"......Then paint them with an interior dye designed for plastic.

Be careful about scrubbing them too much as it may effect the grain.
Click to expand...

I do believe you are correct... The kick panels and column piece cleaned up pretty easy. On closer inspection the pillar trim had major sun damage and break down of the original finish. the grain and texture on the pillars would come off with fingernail scrape. I spent a couple of hours with some hobby tools and some razor blades to "Shave" scrape the crumbling grain off down to a usable clean surface. Had about a cup worth of material come off the two pillar pieces. They have been completed now with the adhesion promoter and SEM paint. They're not perfect by any means but look good enough to use until I can find better ones at a later time.

Thanks everyone for the help!

Jerry
 
1. I used wax/grease remover
2. Duplicolor adhesion promoter
3. Duplicolor interior black

They look fantastic.

Also, I have been using SEM paint with excellent results. I did my duster seats and they came out like new! Hint: Humidity has to be less than 51%
 
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