I am interested in a set of door pads for my Dart, 4dr parts aren't that easy to come by. Problem is, they are black and I need them to be tan to match the rest of the interior.

Has anyone had success with that drastic of a color change?

I repainted my plastic trim in the 'Cuda with great results using the SEM process, however that was black over black.

I went from white to black on my Challenger.

I found that if you wipe the plastic/vinyl down with a heavy dose of acetone right before you paint it the adhesion is better. It softens and opens up the plastic to be ready to bond with the paint. Just painting according to the instructions had spots peel in very little time.

Just be sure the acetone is dry enough to paint over.

I had good luck with the Eastwood products. Going from white to black, though.

Did you try their adhesion promoter?

This was back in the days of old... Before you were born and all they sold was the dye, you young whipper snapper.

Still I would whole heartedly suggest the acetone cleaning because the Acetone will remove all traces of oils & wax as well as soften the surface getting better adhesion.

As plastic ages the surface oils evaporates and it dries out. There isn't a way to replenish the oils lost in the surface but the acetone will help dissolve the surface and get better adhesion. Not dissolve enough to melt or distort the surface though. It evaporates long before that happens.

I did the vinyl seats and after 50K and 10 years there was no spots worn off enough to see white through. A couple scratches but the wear was minimal at best.

I've used SEM over the decades, dosen't matter, light to dark, dark to light... here's my 70 Charger interior, the seats upholtery, headliner and lower door panels are white Legendary repros, but the upper soft pads, arm rests, seat plastic hardware/trim, back window trim and other assorted panels and metal/plastic trim pcs were all black originaly, color changed with SEM, I DON"T use the adhesion promoter, I've found that causes the finish topcoat to take forever to fully dry (weeks)...

I just "wash" everything in lacquer thinner and clean white rags several times to leach out any oils/silicone/etc and make the surface "raw" for good adhesion (just allow some time between washes to let the vinyl/plastic "breath" as lacquer thinner is very aggressive), I recommend you spray from a gun for best results, and thin layers, allowing for flash time between coats, avoid one coat coverage and thick build up, for all light colors I finish with a final coat of SEM's satin or low lustre clear depending on what sheen your trying to achieve, the Low Lustre clear is basically invisible and does not alter the color/tint, and aids in cleaning without disturbing the color fastness...


I did this interior over 14 yrs ago and it still looks as fresh as day 1 with ZERO issues...

Mike

Mike, as DAYCLONA stated use the SEM product! They sell a adhesion promoter and it real helps. More money then the off the self brands, but the results are well worth the efforts and extra expense.

I used a wax/grease remover, applied adhesion promoter, then interior color of your choice. My panels turned out awesome

Adhesion promoter!!! Works awesome. I did my steering wheel, leather wrapped. Hands on it allll the time. Absolutely awesome.

I changed colors and used SEM spray with great success. Lasted quite awhile until some peel started on steering wheel, which I cleaned often. I did not use adhesion promoter. Love SEM sprays, never tried their dyes.

I cleaned first with Isopropyl Alcohol.

Try adhesion promoter imo.

Can you get SEM in colours other than the standard white, black etc.? If so, where?

Thanks
Dave

I scrubbed a set of green '68 Charger seats with trisodium phosphate, water, and a Scotchbrite. Emulsifies all oils and silicone, and most importantly, washes it all away. The acetone or lacquer thinner method just dilutes the contaminates as you wipe the surface. An autobody supply shop mixed up a quart of SEM to match the white rear seat I had, and it turned out great. No bleed through of the green, even in the pleats of the '68 seats, and it didn't peel or wear, but I sold the car in a couple years.

Amazon has some options.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=sem+color+coat


The off white that is in my Dart is probably fairly close to this one [close enough]

https://www.amazon.com/SEM-15003-Phantom...=sem+color+coat

thanks for the feedback all, I will see how this goes!

I had a paint store that sells SEM custom mix colours for me and put it in spray cans, so the answer could be yes, depending who you get yours from. They also carry about 15 premixed colours in stock in spray cans in case you don't need an exact colour match.

Call or email SEM, but yes, they can do about any color on the dyes for special order. I wanted to do dash, glove box lid, arm rests, and fiberglass door panels on my '73 truck, to the original green from that year. They said they did not have that color. One of the 4 arm rests had a section with the original color showing still. I sent it to them, and they matched it. Turned out well.

Heres the solution and it works great. Buy a rattle can of the SEM white. It covers the black with ease. No need to cover it perfect. Just get it even. A fog coat and a second pass will do. Shoot the tan over the white using a detail gun in the same session. You won’t need near as much tan. It will cover evenly and really pop. I learned this trick from my paint jobber. Tried it both ways and the difference is very clear.

Next time I will. But I was impress without the promoter.