painting A pillar pod?

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Texas Mustang - Interior dye & prep

Well, if you need to match up interior colors, here's what I was told:

painting pillar pod

First thing you need to do is find the correct shade of tan from a chip book of your local paint supplier. there are several shades of the same int color(ex. '91 ford code p is smoke and dk smoke,same letter on door but 2 diff colors and 2 more gloss levels). wipe pod off w/hot soapy water and rinse. spray sem plastic prep,part # 38353, on and wipe off. Next, get a grey 3m scuff pad and very lightly scuff pod. Respray w/plastic prep and dry 1 direction. Excessive wiping causes static. Spray 2 coats of Klean Strip Bulldog #PO123 and spray int color on within 10 min. I would recommend using the 5 degree gloss version of int color. If it is too dull you can always put something on it to shine it up. But if it's too shiny the glare will be annoying. We put high quality int paint in aero cans all the time so you should be able to find someone local.Hope that helps.Lee

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Link to original thread, as posted on Corral - click me!

I put an Autometer pod in my girlfriends Explorer. Supposedly they all come in black and will have to be painted to match. The in the Explorer is tan. I went down to the Auto Zone and bought some of their interior dye (rattle can). They had like 4 different shades of tan. The first can I tried was too light. I got lucky with the second shade as it was pretty close. Now that it is installed in the truck, you can hardly tell the difference in color. Painting the pod was easy. I just wiped it down real good with rubbing alcohol, let it dry, and sprayed it. Seems to stick real good.

From what I have heard, you can get interior colors in spray cans directly from Ford...

I took my car to a professional piant and body shop and they were able to match my interior paint. The fisrt applied a primer coat followed by two coats of the finsh paint. Looks great! See pics in my signature.

I got the Ford spray paint that matches my interior. The sticker on the door jam will have the interior color code. Go to the parts counter and ask them to order the can of spray paint that matches the interior.

Then rustoleum makes a plastic primer for $5 at the home depot.

Scuff it up a little bit with fine sand paper and then clean all the dust off and dry if wet.

Prime it, then let it dry overnight and then sand any rough spots or imperfections. Use a tack cloth to remove paint dust.

Now, the directions that come with the pillar state that this is a cover and NOT a pillar replacement. So it says to drill four holes (One at each corner) through the cover and your original a pillar. They give you the push pins to secure the cover into place once the pillar is lined up and the holes are drilled. So paint those push pin heads as well. And fit the cover and drill the holes before you lay the paint down. You might also want to drill a hole in the original pillar to let the wires through for the gauges.

Paint it with several light coats of color, letting each coat dry to the touch.