22 replies to this topic

[Gunnsie]

Hi All,

We are in the process of changing the interior in our Mini.

I was just wondering if there is a simple way of changing the colour of the top and bottom dash rails without having to take them out of the car. They are grey at the moment and we want to change them to black.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

Chris

[Mini 360]

I did it. Masked off everything and painted. Voila one set of black dash rails. The paint lasted about 3 weeks before flaking o I wouldn't recommend it. Take them out and exchange for black ones is my advice

[R1minimagic]

I have some from a 1996 Cooper in very good nick, I PM'd you

[Gunnsie]

I've been informed that to change the top rail I'll have to take the windscreen out. Is there a way of doing it without taking the window out?

Cheers!

Chris

[AVV IT]

There is a little known way of spray painting flexible surfaces such as vinyl with celly so that it won't flake off. It involves adding 4-5 drops of oiive oil (from a pipette) to 150ml of celly top coat, pre mixed 50:50 with 150ml of standard thinners. I'm not going to pretend to understand the science behind how it works, but it's something to do with the oil atomising with the paint and giving it a rubberised quality when dry. It does work really well and I've used it a few times to respray vinyl/leatherette door cards and seats in the past. You have to get the quantities exactly right though, too little oil and the paint will just flake off, too much oil and it either wont mix properly or it won't adhere to the surface and will just peel away.

Obviously to use this technique you will need a spray gun, an air line and a compressor, as well as all the paint, materials and the skill to use it all. Realistically it's therefore really only suited to people who have the skill, equipment and left over paint to make it viable. In order to make a decent job of it, you would also need to remove the padded top and lower dash rails from the car in order to spray them. At which point you may as well just replace them with another set in the colour of your choice. That would make for a better and longer lasting result and would also be an awful lot less hassle.

I've been informed that to change the top rail I'll have to take the windscreen out. Is there a way of doing it without taking the window out? Cheers! Chris

I've never done it myself, but I understand from others who have that it can be done with the windscreen in situ, it's just that it's an awful lot easier to do it with the screen removed.

Edited by AVV IT, 29 November 2011 - 05:12 PM.

[RobWill116]

You can actually buy flexible vinyl paint, so no mixing celly paint with oil. I used this flexible vinyl paint to change to grey dash rails to black, and they look a lot better than normal black rail themselves! No flaking as its flexible. Just go to a motor factors, or best bet a motor paints specialist. Hope this helps.

[Youngowner93]

I just had mine recovered, surley that easier than painting and will look 10x better?

[1990minicity]

No, use vinyl paint. You can get it in Halfrauds.
It really is awesome stuff.
Mine were grey then i sprayed them black, its lasted 3 years so far with no problems whatsoever.

Before:
http://images.shiply...oads/996949_big

After

As i said, 3 years with no issues

Jesus

Edited by 1990minicity, 29 November 2011 - 06:07 PM.

[Gunnsie]

The vinyl dye spray was the sort of thing I was originally looking at doing, but wasn't sure if they were any good. 3 years seems pretty damn good to me. Might give this a go first, then if I balls it up I'll look at getting a set of black rails and replacing them. A fair amount of masking up is gonna be involved I'm guessing.
Cheers for you help!!

[twrminisport]

Take the top one off to do it and the doorcards etc.
The bottom one involves copious amounts of masking tape

Jesus

[surfblue63]

Here's my dash rails when they were grey.



I sprayed them black with paint from Halfords about 4 years ago and they still look like this.

[Gunnsie]

That looks brilliant Surfblue, exactly the shade of colour I'm hoping to get. Totally changes the look of the inside of the car. I went to Halfords last night and bought a can of their black flexible vinyl spray. Gonna take the seats and stuff out the car this weekend (as I've got a black carpet to go in once the dash is done and some new seat covers when they arrive), so will start masking off all the other stuff and try it on a inconspicuous area.

Chris

[samsfern]

Halfrauds sell vinyl paint, its pretty good, but if your dash rails have been sprayed with "dashboard shine" then they'll be very difficult to get the paint to go on without reacting, no matter how well you clean them off.

[sixtyeight]

what you want is vinyl dye, not paint!

[Gunnsie]

This is what I bought (although they have changed the label design): -

http://www.halfords....tegoryId_165495

It quotes "Penetrates surface & gives permanent colour finish".

So surely that is the same as dye isn't it?