I have been thinking about painting some plastic dash bits to, hopefully, enhance the look of the car's interior (switch panels and the black plastic bit in the intrument panel that goes around the clocks). Guess the obvious starting point is to wash the bits with soap and sand them, then mask off as needed and get some coats of plastic primer on, possibly with some wet and dry between coats.

I think my sticking point is what paints will work and look good. I guess a matt paint of some description would help hide any surface imperfections, but maybe a metallic or pearl finish could look good if it could be done so it looks perfect (I'm a bit of a perfectionist). Any suggestions?

Also, would it be a crazy idea to use glow in the dark paint on gauge needles? I am guessing just standard bright flourescent will be better as the glow effect would probably quickly wear off as soon as it's dark anyway.

Thanks in advance

If using a plastic primer, then your best bet is probably to use official Skoda paint - assuming you want to colour code to match the exterior? I've done my cam cover in silver, and it's come up OK. I did about 5 layers of plastic primer (didn't need to sand it down) then a good three layers of paint, with about 3 layers of lacquer once the third coat of paint had gone "tacky dry."

Interior components I doubt would need as intensive a painting as an engine component, so might be able to get away with a single primer layer, 2 paint, and 2 lacquer.

THe main thing to watch for is silicone.

If you have ever used any products to make your dash 'shine' i would be very careful how you go about painting it.

THey put silicone in just about every car cleanign product ont he market. It is just cheap shine

you will have to scrub the life out of it with soap and water then i would recommend using panel wipe ( available from any paint supplier) to remove any other wax, grease etc.

If there is still silicone ont he parts, the paint will not take ot it, not even primer! you will get what are called fish eyes, little holes will appear in the paint.

It might be worth taking the parts to a local body shop ( not a big coach workers) and get them done properly, as rattle can paint on interior plastic is not always a good idea, the sun can make it turn soft and tacky.

Rick