Easy Off is absolutely the best way to clean the old paint from the plastic dash parts but don't use any abrasive to help. Instead use a plastic brush. This will leave the textured surface that the plastic was molded with and eliminate the need for painting the parts to acheive the textured appearance. ken
Ken- I do not care for the bare plastic finish- It really does not look right in the car and just does not look rich compared to the leather- The PlastiDip spray looks great on the flat panel surfaces and that texture paint looks incredible on the vents- I've had other 355 owners just marvel at the quality of the finish i got with those two spraycans... And my best results were with 0000 steel wool to leave a perfectly smooth and clean surface.
Very impressive work and write-up, Jay. I've tackled almost everything, but actual replacement upholstery work (e.g., dash recovering) and transmission work. Like Eastwood said in Magnum Force - "A man's got to know his limitations". How I miss having a large bay to work on my cars. I remember the pleasure it used to give me to get up really early on the weekends to do some project on my Ferrari. Now that I'm divorced, I'm in a Townhouse - 3 garages, but so tiny I can barely get out of the car.
Jay, people like you make people like me feel useless!!! Super Job!!! Fortunately people like Robbie exist so others don't find out how useless we are!
Awesome job, I printed out your guidelines and will attempt to do the work step-by-step on my 95' 355 and will let you know the outcome... Before I begin, I did have a couple of questions: 1-I read somewhere that Plasti-dip should be primed before spraying and that makes it 400% stronger and more durable. did you do that and do you reccomend priming with plasti-dip primer first? 2-I noticed you say the arrows were scrubbed off during the process and you replaced them with decals but what about the buttons on the center console? Did you easy-off them also and did the white markings have to be redone also? In conclusion, if it wasn't for your post, I would never have had the courage to undertake this project so thank you again...
Hi I did not prime the plastic before shooting the Plastic Dip- Mine looks great and seems to be wearing fine after several months. The buttons on the center console all remove and do not need refnishing- They are not sticky- you'll see.... Anything with white markings or parts that are backlit all are removeable- take your time and you'll figure it out. Had the car out at a big get together of exotics over the weekend and people were quite complimentary about the dash. Just gotta do my door handles at some point and I'm good!
The seats in all of my cars are pretty good- Could use a bit of touchup on the 355 drier seat. Doing Leather on seats is really a job for the pros...
Thank you for your answers....I guess I'll go at it without priming...The plasti-dip primer does not come in spray form so I would have had to brush it on and then sand it to get it smooth....who the hell feels like doing that???
Hey Jay..Im' new here...and looking forward to maybe someday buying a 348 or 355..and currently I have a 2001 Porsche 911 C4...and before it, I had BMW Mini Cooper S..and boy...do i HATE HATE HATE working and taking apart German cars... So tight...so compact..so difficult to work on...can't stand German engineering (because I work a lot w/ Jap cars and they are like a breeze to work on). My questions is...how are Ferrari's? Are they as bad as Porsches or are they much more simple to work with? Right now I have an Italian superbike MV-Agusta and boy I LOVE Italian Engineering there...wondering if Ferrari's are the same way... THanks
Ok so I got all my parts out and I'm almost ready to treat my sticky interior parts but I have a couple more questions: 1-Are your parts and the finish still holding up ok 3 months later? 2-How many cans of product are needed for the entire job? (easy-off, plasti-dip, rustoleum)? 3-Have you tested soot out cleaner, thinner or brake fluid before settling on easy off? 4-I know we talked about this before but my swtiches and buttons are also sticky/dirty. How can I clean them without damaging the white symbol and the electronics? Thanks in advance for your help Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
OK you're doing fine- Yes my parts look PERFECT almost a year later. The texture paint looks great and really like fresh molded factory plastic I'm really pleased. You only need one can of each- Really just part of a can. Everything gets thin, light coats. Don't use ANYTHING stronger than oven cleaner and mild elbow grease. Anything stronger will melt the plastic. I also would not use anything stronger than 0000 steel wool to remove the goop. It takes time but it's dead easy. The switches must be disassembled to refinish. The white type is on a removeable panel. There are two arrow shaped tabs that hold the switch toggle in place and there are springs mounted on each side- I would STRONGLY suggest you send them to Robbie at Stickynomore for replacement- he keeps refinished switches on hand- I did mine but I had a complete duplicate switch panel on hand so I could experiment first and I lost lots of tiny switch parts.
If you do use Plasti Dip spray, you might look into some Plasti-Dip primer. It goes on clear, and increases adhesion by 400% (I think that's the number they claim). Only problem is that it doesn't come in a spray can, just in 1 pint paint cans, so you need a paint gun. They say you can use certain types of automotive primer with Plasti-Dip, which may be available in spray cans, but I never tested that. I shot the primer using an HPLV gun (automotive-type paint gun). That said, it was really difficult getting a good finish. The Plasti-Dip would craze unless the surface was prepared absolutely perfectly. Gave me a whole new level of respect for the work Robbie does. I still had fun, and still (eventually) ended up with something I was really happy with. Lots of hours, and lots of bad solvent-highs.
Hi Jay, I was wondering if you can guide me and describe for which parts would you simply use the rustoleum spray, use plasti-dip or use both by following the list below? Here is my list: Door handles Switches Shifter trim(6sp) Ashtray bottom & frame Ashtray cover Power mirror switch trim Steering column (upper and lower) Dash vents Handbrake handle Trim for switches Radio trim Speedo/Tach surround Gauge surround
I also followed your instructions to remove my binnacle but I found something that I did not read in your post. There were 2 red leds at each end of the binnacle and the were glued to the back (no screws, nothing mechanical holding it in) They came off pretty easily but the only way to put it back will be to cut the wiring and make a removable connection so I can glue the lights before putting the binnacle back in when it's time to remount it. Here is a front diagram showing the corresponding location on the front and you can see the hole in the back of the binnacle down in the last photo. The manual says nothing about these lights. Do you or anyone here know what these are? Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Sorry, but didn't see this thread, but here are my responses, and I hope they help: 1-Are your parts and the finish still holding up ok 3 months later? ANS: Yes, they are holding up very well, and better than expected. I would HIGHLY recommend using Plasti-Dip primer. If not, when the plasti-dip finish gets a scratch, it peels off like plastic wrap. I used 4-6 fogging-type coats of the plasti-dip spray on all of the plastic switch covers, switch mounting plates, vents and steering wheel surround and they came out with a great finish that looks and feels perfect. Spray from an 8-10 inch distance and start the spray in a sweeping motion before you hit the parts and let off the spray after you cover the parts to avoid the nozzle spitting and leaving bog droplets on the surfaces - just put a very misty fog onto the parts and do 4+ coats of it instead of using the stuff like spray paint to cover the surfaces fully like with paint. 2-How many cans of product are needed for the entire job? (easy-off, plasti-dip, rustoleum)? 3-Have you tested soot out cleaner, thinner or brake fluid before settling on easy off? ANS: I used 2 full cans of plasti-dip and never used the rustoleum or easy-off (always buy one more can than you think you will need). And I was wary of using easy-off, so I used regular old Windex, toothbrushes and elbow grease to take off the sticky stuff. Windex worked great, especially if you let the parts sit in a bath of it. 4-I know we talked about this before but my swtiches and buttons are also sticky/dirty. How can I clean them without damaging the white symbol and the electronics? ANS: I wouldn't necessarily recommend this, but I removed the cover from my switches and popped out the little symbols before painting them - I numbered switch body, symbol piece and switch so I wouldn't mix them up. If you do remove the covers, be very aware that there are springs inside - you need those, so don't lose them! Btw, I just stripped the actual switch levers and left them as bare plastic - you cannot notice the difference. This thread and others were very helpful to me, and all the parts I did came out perfect. I would post up pictures, but you wouldn't even notice the difference from the stock parts in pictures. Best of luck and hope that my notes help David
I do not remember any little red LED lights- Do you have a built in radar Detector?? My Binnacle and the two others I have helped with were just the four multi-conductor plugs. As far as the finish goes- Anything that is flat should get the texture spray- it goes down PERFECT and will hide any little inconsistencies- Anything that is molded like the switch bodies and the vents look better with Plasti Dip. I've also gotten really tremendous results on my 04 Maserati Spyder using SEM 15243 Satin Black flexible color coat with SEM 29863 Plastic Adhesion Promoter first. The nice thing about the texture paint is it's Idiot proof and on things like the steering wheel surround I was able to repair a crack with plastic weld and the final product is absolutely perfect- something that would require traditional bodywork techniques with any of the other finishes.