Paint vs Replace

[Peter Pescatore]

Hello all,

Just a quick survey. I am in the midst of replacing some faded interior parts (white) in a 65 coupe. I am trying to do it "right" and have slowly been replacing the faded original stock parts with nos parts. But to tell the truth the nos parts fit very disappointingly and with regards to being "stock" thickness or spec, forget it...no way!

So simple question what truly is doing it "right" . The original pieces are just faded and could easily be repainted...so what do most of you folks do?

[Duke W.]

Re: Paint vs Replace

Paint 'em! The old paint books listed three different interior acrylic lacquer paint codes for the three shade/gloss interior paints on my SWC, but the formulas weren't around, so the PPG dealer mixed up three match to sample blends based on samples of each that I provided. The interior had very little fading and I was quite pleased with the results.

Duke

[Joseph S.]

Re: Paint vs Replace

I always paint. As you, I'm generally disappointed with the quality of restoration parts. I've stripped and re-painted every piece of painted interior parts on a '66 coupe and '65 roadster. I also went the custom paint mix route and use a two-stage airbrush....excellent finish. I'm very pleased with the results.

[Jerry Clark]

Re: Paint vs Replace

Hi Peter:

I'll cast my vote for painting the originals also. The fit AND finish or most currently producer GM replacement interior panels leaves a lot to be desired in my opinion.

jer

[George Daina]

Can't beat the real deal....

even if faded. Go to your PPG dealer, they have paint chips of interior and exterior colors and can mix the correct shade if they still have the formula and paint. I was lucky, I am restoring my son's 82 Regal Turbo, replacing all the interior plastic trim from pieces salvage from the bone yard. Went to my PPG dealer, he mixed a pint of the correct laquer, got a spray can of plastic prep, applied the correct shade of laquer, looks like a brand new piece.

[Jeff]

Are you sure you can't clean them up? White is...

...pretty forgiving. You might try white polishing compound or Soft Scrub first.

If not, it'd be much better looking and much cheaper to spray them. You can do them over as many times as you need to get it right and can respray them, thereafter, if they get dinged. You can even spray the seat cushions, depending on how bad they are and what use you intend to give the car.

I once redid, (not restored) a 67 coupe and took it to Carlisle to sell. Some guy spent an hour telling me that he could definitely tell I had sprayed the interior trim (which I hadn't) but that he knew I hadn't sprayed the seat bottoms because you can't do that without them cracking. Oh, yeah.

JP