Seat Back Trim Paint and Removal

[cv_72mustang]

Hi,  Looking to spruce up my front seats 'rear' plastic trim sections. They are really faded but in good shape, no dents or cracks.  Trim is Black.

I found  this product on WCCC site - STEM Trim Black Paint 39143 . 

1. Has anyone use this product? 

 2. How to pull the panels off without breaking them.   

Thanks 

 

[Kilgon]

The back seat panels have two screws at the bottom and then clips on the sides.  You can use a door panel tool or just work your fingers underneath and they should pop out.  The SEM's Trim Black will work but I would recommend using an plastic adhesion promoter - SEM's 39863 and SEM's Landu Color Coat 15013.  This is the black color for our interiors panels and seat backs.  Hope this helps.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

I just did my back panels on my 72 vert build. I get my materials from NPD they are close to me. The most important thing is to clean the parts extremely good. Wash with hot water and us Dawn dish washing liquid on them. After that also wash with lacquer thinner. DO NOT use acetone it will melt the ABS plastic. The black for them would be the charcoal metallic black used from 1965 - 1973. 

When you start to spray them if you get fish eyes in the paint stop and wipe the paint off with lacquer thinner and clean them again. If anyone ever used Armorall on the interior it is almost impossible to get them clean enough. 

Some pics of the rear panels I did and the paint from NPD. I use on consoles also. Mine is ginger but they will have the black also. Mine was a perfect match. The part of the panel that is behind the rear seat back was not sprayed and matches perfect.

 

[bdennis]

Digging up a old thread.

David, did you have to do any repair work to the panels before painting?

Mine are brittle with scratches and paint chipping off?

Looking for any threads on how to repair the original ones. 

I have a fold down rear seat car, so need to repair the rear ones as they are not made.. So figure I should repair them all.

Thoughts?

 

[Aus73Mach1]

Hi Brendan,

My rear back panels had started to fade slightly. These had any paint scrubbed off and then cleaned and wiped down with Wax & Grease remover. I then sprayed them with flat black 2K paint with flex additive, no undercoat. The amount of flex additive actually determined the level of gloss finish. As per the photo of my rear seat belt install, the finish ended up the same as the new rear front panels. I did all the plastic pieces in the car using this method. The 2K paint won't scratch off like a lot of other paints. Scratches are hard to remove but new paint seems to make them less noticable. Any cracks were back blocked with a piece of plastic panel glued with Sikaflex. Any holes were also treated the same way. Hope this helps.

New and old side by side.

 

[bdennis]

Thanks David...

 

[bdennis]

Just looking to get stuck into the back trim parts on the Mach1 Sportsroof. I have them out. 

Unfortunately, they are quite chalky and in places they are chipped away and about 1/2 the depth of the plastic is missing due to age and damage.

It looks like someone before me has had a go at respraying them but did not try and repair them.

I could get the Scott Drake panels that fit next to the seat but the reviews of those are fairly bad due to poor fit.

I also need the back sections that go behind the seat back as mine has a fold down rear seat. Getting old but fairly good originals is probably going to be cost prohibitive due to shipping to Australia. 

Has anyone repaired old panels that are flaky and damaged by doing a vinyl wrap and or using fiberglass to fill the imperfections?

Im not looking for show quality.. Just something that fits that looks nice.

The added challenge is that the trim is medium ginger. So it shows all the marks..

Thoughts / advice?

 

[Fabrice]

You have close up picts of the plastics?

I have restored last year different plastic parts with good results. From torching them ( from say 20cm, relatively fast, you can revive them if they get that whitish/dry look and get that semi gloss back), plastic welded console that was broken in many places, the container in the console, 2 grilles.. The hard part is to find donor plastic of same color if you have holes/missing materials. I have on each side of the rear panels on my 71, 2 huge holes that were made for speakers to fix. Fixing the hole isn't the hard part, finding a flat gingen piece with the grain is...

On some, like the deluxe door handles in ginger color, that had turned dark brown/almost black, carefully using thinner to remove the oxidation and some ancient spray worked great.

Thinner might sound aggressive, but in practice, you feel when plastic gets sticky and you have plenty time before that to clean them real well. Plus when they do, you simply stop and wait till the thinner evaporates.

Many ways to bring them back to life and you always can paint them after that, may the result would not please you.
 

 

[bdennis]

Thanks for the info.. Here are some pictures of the issues I face.

In this area the plastic is cracked and if flexed chunks of caulky plastic come out. 



This is the top ridge that then is in front of the sail near the back window. As can be seen, caulky and missing bits.





Here are scuff marks that I think someone has covered by painting the trim. the colour on the outside does not match the inside or original colour. Is not far off but not the same.. Of is sun effected.



I think I will need to full the holes with some epoxy and just not worry about the grain.

Thoughts?

 

[SteveO_71]

Here is a video on how to duplicate plastic grain. Havent tried it but it looks interesting.

 

[bdennis]

Thanks for the link. My challenge is that it is not one small crack.. About 40% of each of the panels need repair.

I may have to forgo the texture and just sand back the panel in order to fix it then paint it.

 

[RIBS]

For older model Mustangs I have seen padding and vinyl fabrics wrapped… is that a possibility to basically upholster the faded parts?

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

I have a 72 vert that the PO put vinyl on the rear side panels. It was a PW car and for some reason he cut the wires to the switches in the back and covered over the holes. What was really bad is the fact that the plastic panels were not chalk and looked great. He took 36 grit and sanded them to glue the vinyl to them and ruined them.