misshaley

We are in the process of freshning up the dash pad in our 63 conv. and there is quite a difference in the colors of the dash (vinyl dye) and the speaker grill (paint) Is this supposed to be? We did careful prep, used primer first, and applied over 9 coats of vinyl dye (Corvette America, Roman Red- 35) to the dash. The speaker grill was primered and painted.

The dash still looks like it could use a few more coats, but seems to have a pink / rose cast to it.

Our interior is still original so I do not have a point of reference for color to a new Roman Red interior (due this winter)

Any thoughts?

DansYellow66

Nine coats of dye are a lot of coats. If you don't like the appearance now I suspect it's the dye color and not the coverage. Unless your applying real light, dry coats I would be worried about losing the vinyl grain detail. By using adhesion promotor first, you can probably paint the speaker grill cover with the vinyl dye by using light to medium coats and get a match to the pads. I think most vinyl dye is really something like an elastomeric lacquer paint anyway. If you decide to look for a different red dye, see if your local paint store handles SEM vinyl dye. They make top notch vinyl and plastic dye products.

Dan

KyleDallas

SEM ..... Haley, have you thought about going down to the
junkyard and getting a dashpad/plastic to practice on??? Might make
for a nice test piece before spraying you and your husband's Vette parts..
If you went to a Pick a Part type place where you pull your own parts
you might get out of there for less than $15... especially if you got a
broken dash.. The boneyard owner might even give you a scrap dashpad
for free if you told him your intent..... good luck... I have used spray
viynl on some motorcycle seats that afterwards saw quite a bit of
riding..... and they held up quite nicely... Kyle

misshaley

Thanks for the suggestion to go practice... i know i'm a "girl" but I paint / spray quite well. No offense taken. There is no loss of texture that I notice, although I agree that is too many coats for coverage. My problem is not with the application, it is with the color/coverage. I spoke with Corvette America today and they are going to check the lot for color issues and call us tomorrow. It seemed to be quite thin/transparent as it was applied, and the color quite rosy compared to the exterior and non faded areas of the original interior.

Grey Ghost

I agree I know camera flash, lighting conditions, exposure, etc...can make tones look different in pictures. If it looks like that in person. It is wrong.

Let's dig up some pics and post them of a red interior.

stratplus

I would be interested to see what CA says. I just bought a couple of cans from Corvette America, Roman Red- 35) to do my 60 dash this winter. I am changing it from black to red.

tentuna

I used Corvette America dark blue dye on my dash, but stripped all pads, cluster and glove box and all else so I was just spraying the fiberglass dash. Color match was perfect when new pads and door panels were added. But, what I noticed was the conditions for dying had to be perfect to get temperature and humidity or the dye hazed, the color would have a slight milky appearance, could that be what you are seeing, also I used very light coats and don't remember how many, but it seemed I went through can after can. Stay with it the results will be great when you are finished.

KyleDallas

Sorry if I wasn't clear...I did not mean practice because of experience..
.... simply because it allows you to get an idea of paint or spray viynl
quality without your good piece being the test piece.... I have used some
of my dad's old ready to go to Goodwill dress belts as test sheets
with spray viynl also.

misshaley

OK, heard from Corvette America this morning. They said it is possible that the can was not mixed correctly and did not have enough of the color included in the mix. Said that the Red (35) is a transparant color and will take many, many coats to achieve the desired deep Roman Red color. They are sending out another can today and it should help the problem. We are to let them know.

I will let you guys know when it arrives, and if it helps. Thanks for the insight.

By the way... the coats that have been applied do not seem to have haze, it seems like a pure color, just more rosy than it should be. There does not seem to be much transparancy, since the faded color of the dash before we started was very orange.

buddyepa

MISSHALEY:

You are now my hero. I want to change the black in my '65 vert to blue when I get the car back from having it painted it's from the factory Nassau Blue. And I see you are painting and dying with the dash, etc, still in the car. I was not looking forward to the conventionally advised "pull all that stuff out to change the color". I shall follow your progress with great anticipation. I have assumed that the metal parts of the dash would be painted and the vinyl dyed. Am I wrong thinking again? I do that a lot, it seems.

DansYellow66

I may be telling you something you already know but I would pick up a tack cloth and use to tack off any dust and overspray between coats. It gives a much cleaner finish when done. Most auto part stores and even Walmart usually have them.

Dan

misshaley

Buddyepa, I'm glad i'm someones hero... But lets wait until this little project is over and looks good first. I did remove all the chrome around the interior of the windshield, the glove box, and all the ***** and trim pieces first. Dual purpose... first for the paint, and then to take a peek at the birdcage. Happy to report that the birdcage looks great! Thank goodness. Then spent the better part of the evening taping. You cannot be too picky here if you are leaving the dash intact, it needs to be perfect, especially around the clock and radio. Now if i can get this paint color resolved.... Just waiting on the new can from Corvette America. Hopefully it will be here by the weekend. At any rate I have a carb in 100 pieces to keep me busy in the meantime.

BTW, good point about the tack cloth, very necessary... expecially in my garage!

buddyepa

Excuse my ignorance, but what is the birdcage?And is the color spray you used on the vinyl, paint? Or as I recall, dye that you are spraying on both the metal center and the padded items over the instrument cluster and gloove box? :o

buddyepa

misshaley

Did Corvette American come thru with the new cans? My '65 has been returned to it's original Nassau Blue so I will be thinking about the dash and console soon. It is all presently black. Since the interior upholstery will be it's original white, I am interested in your experience with the color change.

misshaley

Corvette America sent out a replacement can of red dye. I resprayed the dash last nite with 2 coats and what a difference! It is the right color, and covered in 2 coats better than the 8+ coats from the previous can. And the color is red, not pink. There was definatly something wrong with the first can. That being said, I am very happy with the outcome with one exception. It was almost impossible to get good coverage on the inside edge of the passenger handle area due to the limited space available without having removed the dash. If I look close, it seems just slightly more orange along the edge. Since this was not a color change, just a rehab of the original red dash that had faded orange, it is not a big deal and i'm sure no one will notice it.

I went back and forth about paint vs dye for the speaker grill and ended up priming it and spraying it with dye.

Having done this... would i recommend doing it this way again (without removing the dash). Yes, if it is just a rehab of the original color, but a total color change from black to white... I would think long and hard.

John 65

Thats a lot of prep work, just did mine several weeks ago also. By any chance was it a damp foggy day when you sprayed this, as I know that would cause that fazy look also. Good luck with the next can and keep up the great work.

dkleather

Could you post a pic of the dash in final color? This is a job I've been putting off and had convinced myself that the pads had to come off especially because of the limited space between the windshield and the highest arc of the pads. I didn't think I could get the spray on the pad in that area and do a decent job without runs or bad coverage. I've got all the supplies but as of yet, not the guts to do it !! Yours looks great!!

buddyepa

misshaley

I am glad the second set of rattle cans did the job! I am encouraged by your experience. The dash of my now nassau Blue '65 should be blue as it was originally. I don't think there ever was a year with a white dash, but I could be wrong. Hopefully, going from black to blue is not impossible.

Did you also spray the lower piece that has vinyl and has the shifter and ash tray? I could not see that area in you photo.

buddyepa

misshaley

re the area behind the passenger handle(or the Oh Sh...t bar), do you think spraying some of the dye into a container and using a brush would work for that area not accessible by spray can?

Several of us are hanging on your every word as the voice of experience.