Want to paint my wood interior trim, advice please

[b1x]

Originally Posted by martinbaltes

no reason for vulgarity, your response suggests a low rider would fit your mentality.

You DO realize that by your degrating coments to me you are insulting people who customize low riders.

To them, your the one with issues.


Thanks again to all those who help with feed back,forums like these help consumers so much
cheers

[martinbaltes]

learn how to spell. degrading, not degrating. comments, not coments.

[Weasel]

Ok now its time to shut up with the insults!!!!!

martinbaltes... you do realize that the OEM trim IS available painted in the same color as he is wanting, right? How is a different OEM style ghetto?



The graphite metallic interior trim available from the factory would look great with black interior in my opinion, even though I'd love to have the anthracite maple...

You are free to disagree, but straight up insults are... well, insulting. Try to have a little more class than that.

[NC_X5_Guy]

I agree 100%......anytime you paint any interior part with a spray bomb or body shop repair facility service its pretty much ricer world gone bad. For crying out loud, its a BMW, not a honda civic.........if you want a colored trim, spend the money and buy it.

[Weasel]

What I see is that to change all the wood grain out would be expensive, and the rattle can would look crappy. and like a high schoolers honda... which is why it may be worth trying to do a proper job and see if it can come out good as a DIY to emulate the OEM painted trim. And if it doesn't come out right and looks like shit... then you can still go and spend the money on buying the new trim. What the OEM was painted with was a very small hvlp gun, which is why I suggested pre-sanding with an extra fine paper and using a pro setup. with proper techniques it can come out as good or better than the OEM trim as the OEM trim is semigloss finish and with a proper job you can make it look as good as the exterior paint, or the semigloss. Depends on what finish is desired.

[NC_X5_Guy]

Be sure to get the door panels and all when you finish the trim, do it in body color and you'll be the king ricer on the block.

If you honestly want to try this to see how it looks for a low cost and a method that will not ruin your trim you have currently installed in there now.....go by a sign shop that uses vinyl, buy enough to cover all of your trim, 5 to 6 feet should be a plenty. Take off your trim pieces, cut the vinyl to fit, take a heat gun and lightly warm up the vinyl when you overlap it, this allows for stretching it to take out any wrinkles around bends, etc. Seen it done a time or two.......this will give you a look of how it would turn out. If you like it......have a professional paint them, or paint them yourself. However, I would use a very good quality base/clear coat paint method only. Remember to clear them really good, cause any application of any kind of chemical you put on your dash such as armour all, or anything like that over time is going to nasty that paint up if its not protected.

After you take the time to paint them the correct way and your labor, you might find OEM trim pieces to be much cheaper.

[BlackE32_SilverE53]

Originally Posted by weasel56

If you want to do this, I would recommend getting a good airbrush painting kit to do it. Presanding all the pieces with extra fine paper (600-1000 at least), painting it good, maybe a couple coats possibly with 1200 grit wet sanding in between if it doesn't lay perfectly flat (orange peel)Then clear coating a few times for a good deep shine.

I sometimes wish I could get the black (ebony) woodgrain like in the 6 series... that would be sweet!

, only add primer first, patience and lots of time to this equation.....

I am in the process of painting a few pieces in my X, so I guess according to Martin I have that lowrider mentality..... Ooh well, as they say to each thier own.... But time is really needed in this process because you need to allow time to dry, sand and re-paint. Thin layers. I have been working on my pieces for about a week now, but I did run into a big problem because I was almost about to start on my clear coating and set the pieces on a piece of wood and chair so they could dry out in the sun and the wind blew the wood off the chair scrathing all the pieces so I had to pretty much start over.

[realchef]

Painting the real wood is a waste.
There has to be source (eBay, wrecked car) for used trim. Paint the used trim and save the real wood. Most cars use either plastic or just a veneer.

Then, do as the Weasel suggests. Take your time, prep and sand the coats or it will look like a high schoolers Honda.

[jvit27]

WOW. I can't believe how condescending some of the responses are...

FYI the OEM painted trim pieces (graphite, titanium, etc) are plastic and matte finish, NOT clearcoated. The wood trim is metal-backed and glossy so they have a nicer feel to begin with. I've been considering painting my wood for the piano black look and my cars are FAR from ghetto/ricer.

My friend did it on his E36 and it looks fantastic in person.


Low rider... cmon. Don't be so ignorant.

[BlackE32_SilverE53]

Thanks, jvit27, well said!!!!

I would hate to see what they would have to say if they actually went to Germany to all the all BMW car shows...... Then they would see a whole lot of painted and covered with leather interiors......