Trailblazer Dash

Any one have any ideas on what i should do? My problem is that i am paintind my dash and all interior panels to match exterior. The dash has some soft spots on top that are covered with vinyl. I tried scuffing dash and using high build and sanding primer with 320. I then painted with base coat/clearcoat. The dash looked great for about a week, then it started to crack where the dash is soft. What should i do. The rest of the interior looks great.

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mexicang

Maybe put a THIN layer of bondo and sand down. This will need to adhere to the dash, and give you a base to paint onto. Try this if your comfortable with bondo and sanding.

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U dont think it will crack out because i sprayed a fiberglass filler primer on the dash first to get rid of the texture, then shot paint and clear. The crack is all the way through to the rubbery dash. This is the only place it has done it.

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mexicang

well the local shop here just did a hummer and the "oh shhh" bar is soft like the stuff ur talking about and they painted it and it cracked just as urs did... what they had to do was actually resin the dash.. they did that as the resin is hard as u should know and then they sanded and painted it and everything looks beautiful... so i recommend u resin and if u have to lay a layer of glass over it then u won't have no problems with it cracking after u paint it..

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S.O.B custsoms.. South Omaha, Nebraska

I don't know exactly what you are talking about but it almost seems like you needed to remove the rubbery part first. was it vynil with foam material underneath of it? Resin will crack even worse if the surface isn't porous. You might need to take the vynil area off and apply a bondo/fiberglass (kitty hair) onto the surface then use light coats of bondo to make it smooth then paint.

dont resin or bondo, neither will bond with plastics or vinyl. you need to go to an automotive paint supply shop and get a special primer and then add a flex addative to the paint

suicidecustom wrote:

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dont resin or bondo, neither will bond with plastics or vinyl. you need to go to an automotive paint supply shop and get a special primer and then add a flex addative to the paint

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a flex addative isn't going to stop that from cracking.. at least with my expierence and the painter that i go to who has had this problem in the past a few times...  they usually shave down the vinyl, so that there is very little flexable material left and then resin and F.G. over it...

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S.O.B custsoms.. South Omaha, Nebraska

If you're wondering why flex additives don't help it's because it eventually evaporates from the finish. Flex additive is for allowing the paint finish to be flexible for a short period of time so you can reinstall a part. For example, flexing a bumper cover while fitting it back on the vehicle. Once it's in place you don't need it to flex anymore.

Your finish is probably cracking because high build primer shrinks over time, like body filler, glazing putty, etc. Even if it didn't shrink and crack, it would probably lift over time. I would take ragoal12's advice and peel the vynal off. Whatever padding is left behind after peeling off the surface I would leave there and just let it soak up the resin. Smooth it out with duraglass or bondo. Then you can prime, paint, and clear it.

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