Options to Restore Plastic Panels

[bartsscooterservice]

On ‎25‎-‎2‎-‎2016 at 8:40 PM, charliekwin said:

Finally getting around to re-doing all the plastic panels that make up the hatch area.  They came out of the car black(ish) and quite dirty, so I gave them a good scrubbing and found out that they'd been painted -- poorly -- to cover up some pretty decent fading.  There's more cleaning yet to do, but this is what I've got to work with:

I have three options in mind for how to go about restoring/refreshing this stuff...

1.  Mix of boiled linseed oil and paint thinner.  This trick comes up often as a way to fix faded plastic. Pros: it's cheap and easy.  Cons: I don't know how well it works, or long the results will last.  And, if it doesn't work, how the residues of those chemicals would effect the panels for the next two options.

2.  Re-paint them.  SEM's Color Coat in Landau Black appears to be the most popular.  Pros: everyone who's used this stuff seems to love it and if done right, it should provide good results.  Cons: most expensive (though still only ~$100), but mainly a lot of work.

3.  Wrap/cover them.  I'm toying with the idea of covering panels with the same or similar vinyl that I used on the scuff plates.  

It might look good; maybe even really good...but it might also look weird or conspicuously out of place.  It would also cover up repair work I'll have to do on some cracked areas.  It would be fairly cheap and reasonably easy to do.  I haven't really come across anyone who's given it a try, though.

What do you guys think?

I had the same problem with the panels in my Mustang. Simply de-grease them, sand it with 500, then de-grease again and directly paint it with motip black matte, a few layers ( for wear )

http://www.motip.com/products/motip/automotive/universal-lacquers/lacquer-black/

Comes out like Original.

Edited February 28, 2016 by bartsscooterservice

[charliekwin]

After a lot of searching, I found Hexis, a vinyl manufacturer originally from France, that also makes a leather-textured product.  Hexis seems to have the same high level of regard as 3M and Avery, and -- most importantly -- their leather finished stuff is available through retailers.  Here's one of the finishes:

I think I'm gonna give it a try.  I'm not putting speakers in the B pillar, so losing those holes is not a problem. And if it works for the panels, I'm really excited about the possibility of using it on the dash.  I was going to give vacuum forming a try, but wasn't totally optimistic about it working  

[Namerow]

2 hours ago, charliekwin said:

After a lot of searching, I found Hexis, a vinyl manufacturer originally from France, that also makes a leather-textured product.  Hexis seems to have the same high level of regard as 3M and Avery, and -- most importantly -- their leather finished stuff is available through retailers.  Here's one of the finishes:

I think I'm gonna give it a try.  I'm not putting speakers in the B pillar, so losing those holes is not a problem. And if it works for the panels, I'm really excited about the possibility of using it on the dash.  I was going to give vacuum forming a try, but wasn't totally optimistic about it working  

That looks very promising.  I experimented with thin, flexible vinyl (stretchy fabric backing) for my dash project before deciding to go with textured paint.  I found that the vinyl simply did not have enough formability to contour around and into the gauge recesses -- even in bright sunlight and assisted with a heat gun (see photo).  Even if I'd been able to get it to form down fully into the recesses, it looked like there were going to be major wrinkles happening around the outsides of the pods.  The Z dash has some very challenging contours!  BTW, the vinyl I tried was the thinnest fabric-backed material I could find at the local fabric store.  I did actually find a manufacturer that makes a textured vinyl with the exact 'haircell' design used by Nissan in the Z.  It was 3-mil thickness IIRC.  The manufacturer wouldn't answer my emails, so I gave up.

That said, these new commercially-available automotive wraps are also only mils in thickness and they seem to have the ability to form around significant contour changes successfully.  Not sure whether wrinkling around the gauge pods isn't still going to be a problem, though. 

And if my dash repair starts to show cracks (it hasn't, 2 years later), I think this stuff might be my next strategy.  If you try it, be sure to post some pictures of the results.

[Namerow]

4 hours ago, gwri8 said:

Nice work! Question: Is the bedliner paint somewhat flexible and will it fill in small cracks?  I refinished mine last year with the Great Stuff and SEM bumper repair material. I also used SEM's Trim Black for the final stage. Since then it has developed small cracks (not wide ones) where repairs were done and I'm looking for something to conceal those. 

I also used the SEM Bumper-Bite bumper repair material.  Not my favourite filler, by any means -- I found it very difficult to work with.  Not all that flexible either. 

The Dupli-Colour bediner paint dries with a kind of 'dry rubbery' feel, but it coats more like paint than like the 'vinyl dye' stuff that I used for my hard and soft trim pieces.  I don't think it would fill hairline cracks successfully, but that's based on memory.  You could always experiment on a test piece and judge for yourself.  Try this:  apply some of the SEM bumper repair filler on a piece of cardboard, let it set, sand a smooth patch, then bend the cardboard to crack the filler, then try the Dupli-Colour bedliner spray to how good a job it does of masking the crack.  If you don't like the result, I think I would be inclined to fill those cracks with glazing putty and then spray on the bedliner as a top coat.

[grannyknot]

On 2016-02-28 at 8:51 PM, Patcon said:

That dash looks great! One of the best I have seen. I would love to know if he has any pointers for how to get the texture right and even and any other tips...

 

On 2016-02-28 at 11:07 PM, sweatybetty said:

i would like a link to that stuff also. looks excellent.

Guys, I p/u the dash today and it's just as nice as in the pics, he said he just followed SEM's instructions and that dash restoration thread that was so popular last year. I just went into the archives to find it but couldn't, there is so many. Maybe someone here has it on their bookmarked/favorites list.

Chris

[wheee!]

Hazmatts thread?

[charliekwin]

Don't want this thread to die on the vine.  I took rough measurements of the main panels (tail lights, quarter windows, rear hatch) and figure that 2 yards should be enough to cover them all and have some left over.  US Cutter (http://www.uscutter.com/HEXIS-30000-Cast-Vinyl-54in-by-1yd) knocked their price down recently.  For $85 shipped, I'm giving this stuff a shot.  Will report with results when I have some to report!

[grannyknot]

It looks like nice stuff, looking forward to seeing the results.

[rossiz]

one thing to keep in mind - a vinyl film thin enough to follow detailed textures/contours will telegraph any cracks/imperfections in the substrate. so in order to get a good looking finished product, you will need to ensure the dash is repaired as perfectly as possible. the other thing that will be interesting to see is how it handles the continued off-gassing and flaking/crumbling of the dash material due to UV exposure and extreme temp cycles.

[charliekwin]

Definitely right about surface prep.  I would expect the leather texture to hide some tiny imperfections, but just about anything will show up through regular vinyl.

I don't trust the dash to not crack further, so I've already planned on removing all the plastic and putting on a layer of fiberglass.  I'm don't think the factory texture + 40 years of accumulated gunk would make a suitable substrate for the vinyl anyway.

[charliekwin]

Vinyl was delivered during my lunch break. First impressions... Looks pretty nice. Touch won't fool anyone, but it does look nicer IMHO than the bare plastic. Reminds me a lot of the hard touch plastics used in economy cars. I'm optimistic that it'll make a nice, subtle upgrade for the panels without looking out of place.

Edited March 22, 2016 by charliekwin

[KiraK]

Hi fellow Zer's!

I have white interior in my 1972 z, that is very yellow from sun fade. Will the cleaning suggestions on this thread work to get them back to a more white color? 

I also have two interior panels in the back that are cracked. One behind left rear tail light and one that covers the antenna assembly. All very brittle, and were cracked when an attempt was made to get behind those panels.

Any options to try and repair? I am reluctant to replace with new panels as the new ones will be so much whiter than my old panels. I'd like to avoid a complete interior renew, as it would be expensive and the rest of my panels, dash are perfect.. Just old, yellow, and fragile.

Thoughts on how to get my girls interior as white and as close to perfect as possible, without a complete overhaul?

In closing, if anyone has original white interior panels (especially the ones I describe as cracked) that they want to part with, please let me know!

Your advice and experience always amazes, thanks in advance for any assistance!

Kira

The lil z lady

if there is an attachment, please disregard, I'm having trouble with posting. Thanks!