Interior plastic paint… worth it?

[Elwiscon]

Has anyone used SEM (or similar) interior paint on their Comanche? I’m close to start working on the interior, I’ll gut it in order to fix rust holes, bedline the interior, replace heater core, likely add an AC evaporator (my truck has no factory AC), add grounds, a kill switch, and some other wiring. Since everything will be removed I think this would be a good opportunity to change my interior color, my truck is white with the blue interior, which i don’t really mind but I saw a nice XJ with an all-black interior i really liked.  I'm restoring my truck to keep it somehow original with a few modern yet subtle mods to keep its 80’s character. If i decide to paint the interior I’ll be doing the proper preparation work, 

-Is it worth changing the color?

-How well does the paint stick?

-Has anyone had it for a while?, how well does it hold up?

-What products work best as far as long-term reliability?

-Would it be best to leave it original blue and unmolested?

I will be painting the truck white with black Raptorliner accents (grill, bumpers, undercarriage), so I think the black interior will look better. Any advice will be appreciated. here's a couple pictures, interior looks gray in the picture but it is actually faded blue

 

[eaglescout526]

 

Yes. I even did a whole thread on the colors that match the absolute closest or exact to our interior. Even SEM interior paint does damn well on exterior pieces as well. 

[Elwiscon]

9 minutes ago, eaglescout526 said:

 

Yes. I even did a whole thread on the colors that match the absolute closest or exact to our interior. Even SEM interior paint does damn well on exterior pieces as well. 

Thanks! I’ll check it out 

[ghetdjc320]

I will say that personally all the plastic paints/dyes have let me down except for the Eastwood plastic restorer. It’s meant for black plastic but will convert other colors to black as well. It’s a pretty flat finish but you can get it to about a semi gloss if you keep adding layers. This stuff “burns” into the plastic quite well and I haven’t had it come off anywhere. I went with original black plastic pieces for the kick panels and door sills but the b pillars and back of can trim were all original grey panels. I used the Eastwood coating on all the pieces for a good match. Really looks great and held up perfectly. No matter how I prepped or what products I used, I could never get the sem to give me any durability. That being said, the sem did give a great finish aesthetically 

[jpnjake]

8 hours ago, Elwiscon said:

Has anyone used SEM (or similar) interior paint on their Comanche? I’m close to start working on the interior, I’ll gut it in order to fix rust holes, bedline the interior, replace heater core, likely add an AC evaporator (my truck has no factory AC), add grounds, a kill switch, and some other wiring. Since everything will be removed I think this would be a good opportunity to change my interior color, my truck is white with the blue interior, which i don’t really mind but I saw a nice XJ with an all-black interior i really liked.  I'm restoring my truck to keep it somehow original with a few modern yet subtle mods to keep its 80’s character. If i decide to paint the interior I’ll be doing the proper preparation work, 

-Is it worth changing the color?

-How well does the paint stick?

-Has anyone had it for a while?, how well does it hold up?

-What products work best as far as long-term reliability?

-Would it be best to leave it original blue and unmolested?

I will be painting the truck white with black Raptorliner accents (grill, bumpers, undercarriage), so I think the black interior will look better. Any advice will be appreciated. here's a couple pictures, interior looks gray in the picture but it is actually faded blue

 

I’ve had pretty good experiences with Sem paint, I’ve used the burgundy, black, and agate with great success. 
The only thing is you have to get your plastics very clean of oils and silicon products, I had a center console that wouldn’t take paint because the Po had covered it in some kind of protective coating. 

[oleskool]

You can look at my Project Build and see all the interior pieces I pulled and re-sprayed with SEM paint.  Turned out great and holding up well after a year of use.

[Elwiscon]

6 hours ago, ghetdjc320 said:

I will say that personally all the plastic paints/dyes have let me down except for the Eastwood plastic restorer. It’s meant for black plastic but will convert other colors to black as well. It’s a pretty flat finish but you can get it to about a semi gloss if you keep adding layers. This stuff “burns” into the plastic quite well and I haven’t had it come off anywhere. I went with original black plastic pieces for the kick panels and door sills but the b pillars and back of can trim were all original grey panels. I used the Eastwood coating on all the pieces for a good match. Really looks great and held up perfectly. No matter how I prepped or what products I used, I could never get the sem to give me any durability. That being said, the sem did give a great finish aesthetically 

Thank you, I’ve used Eastwood chassis paints in my other jeep and it still looks great, I’ll look into the restorer. I’m looking for durability, as my Comanche will be used as a daily driver truck, 

[Elwiscon]

57 minutes ago, oleskool said:

You can look at my Project Build and see all the interior pieces I pulled and re-sprayed with SEM paint.  Turned out great and holding up well after a year of use.

I’ll check it out, thank you. I want to make sure the paint lasts, I have seen painted interiors peeling off after a few months, but I’m sure preparation is the key. 

[oleskool]

3 hours ago, Elwiscon said:

I’ll check it out, thank you. I want to make sure the paint lasts, I have seen painted interiors peeling off after a few months, but I’m sure preparation is the key. 

Yes, prep is everything.  SEM makes vinyl and plastic prep which should be used before paint.  It softens the material to help the paint bond to the plastic etc.  Also cleanliness is key / scuffing the surface.  SEM also sells a nice no residue soap that works great.  Gray Emory Cloth is your friend too.  I detail out some of that in my a few post in my build thread.

[Drahcir495]

SEM is what I use to get parts like the center console to closely match my blue interior. Stuff is awesome. Mine has held up well the past 10 years. I don’t see that color blue often. I think the blue is the best interior color but I’m partial to it lol. 

[Elwiscon]

9 hours ago, oleskool said:

Yes, prep is everything.  SEM makes vinyl and plastic prep which should be used before paint.  It softens the material to help the paint bond to the plastic etc.  Also cleanliness is key / scuffing the surface.  SEM also sells a nice no residue soap that works great.  Gray Emory Cloth is your friend too.  I detail out some of that in my a few post in my build thread.

I’m planning to throughly clean up the interior pieces once I disassemble it, with hot water degreaser and alcohol, a light sanding and adhesion promoter, I’ll look into SEM products. Thanks

[Elwiscon]

4 hours ago, Drahcir495 said:

SEM is what I use to get parts like the center console to closely match my blue interior. Stuff is awesome. Mine has held up well the past 10 years. I don’t see that color blue often. I think the blue is the best interior color but I’m partial to it lol. 

I like the blue, reminds me of my childhood family car, an 86 RamCharger my parents had with the same color, but It doesn’t quite match with a lot of exterior colors, I may give it an original white paint job, but I'm also considering silver or even “light khaki” to match my TJ. A black interior will match any color, but will take away the Comanche’s originality, on the other hand, I’ll be able to fill and paint over some dash cracks and other imperfections such as faded, chalky surfaces so I’m still weighing my options. A painted black interior with new gray carpet, seat upholstery, etc will definitely improve its aged interior. 

[ghetdjc320]

I should probably qualify my experience with plastic paints and dyes (including sem), I have done all version of the above prep work with my interior plastic pieces. It helps for sure, and yes, it will hold the color if you don’t actually put any wear on the item. But I’m talking about being able to actually scuff a panel with the abrasive tread of a shoe and not peel off the color layer revealing the base material color. No product other than the Eastwood stuff has accomplished that and even that stuff has its limits. It’s the closest thing I’ve seen to actually altering the material color itself though while still being a spray-on coating. Kind of like the difference between acid-staining concrete or using some kind of floor paint, one penetrates the substrate and the other just adheres to the surface. Proper prep will make any product work the best it can. Try to follow the manufacturers TDS if they wrote one. Again, I’m referring to wear-resistance and not how well a product color matches a factory trim color or how long it adheres to a panel. 

[schardein]

SEM is great stuff.  I've found it to be very durable.  I sold my K5 Blazer back in 2020, but it had interior parts painted in 1998 using SEM that still looked like new.  If the part starts to show wear, like around a window crank, or the top of a console lid, or whatever, it isn't a big deal to give it a light re-coat every 10 years or so.

 

In the first pic (1998), the door panels, dash pad, center console, A pillar plastics, and all overhead trim have been done with SEM.

2nd pic 2020.  

 

[Elwiscon]

12 hours ago, ghetdjc320 said:

I should probably qualify my experience with plastic paints and dyes (including sem), I have done all version of the above prep work with my interior plastic pieces. It helps for sure, and yes, it will hold the color if you don’t actually put any wear on the item. But I’m talking about being able to actually scuff a panel with the abrasive tread of a shoe and not peel off the color layer revealing the base material color. No product other than the Eastwood stuff has accomplished that and even that stuff has its limits. It’s the closest thing I’ve seen to actually altering the material color itself though while still being a spray-on coating. Kind of like the difference between acid-staining concrete or using some kind of floor paint, one penetrates the substrate and the other just adheres to the surface. Proper prep will make any product work the best it can. Try to follow the manufacturers TDS if they wrote one. Again, I’m referring to wear-resistance and not how well a product color matches a factory trim color or how long it adheres to a panel. 

Thanks for the tips, I’ll probably paint the dash, door panels etc in black, so factory-matching the colors isn’t really important, i don't think those areas see a lot of wear like scuff plates and such. If i go that route and change the interior color I want to make it right and once. I’m gutting the interior anyways to fix the floor, replace the heater core, andan AC eveporator and do some electrical wiring so I figured it will be a good time to paint the interior plastic. I’ve seen well-done dash paint jobs that last, and others that start peeling off within weeks, I’m sure it’s mostly about the proper way to prepare the surfaces, just like any paint job.

[Elwiscon]

11 hours ago, schardein said:

SEM is great stuff.  I've found it to be very durable.  I sold my K5 Blazer back in 2020, but it had interior parts painted in 1998 using SEM that still looked like new.  If the part starts to show wear, like around a window crank, or the top of a console lid, or whatever, it isn't a big deal to give it a light re-coat every 10 years or so.

 

In the first pic (1998), the door panels, dash pad, center console, A pillar plastics, and all overhead trim have been done with SEM.

2nd pic 2020.  

 

Nice K5! The dash looks great after 22 years.