The instrument bezel on my '03 Disco has been badly busted since before I owned it. I tried, with no luck, for over a year to find a reasonably-priced black one that didn't have the clips broken or the screw holes cracked-out. I did, however, find a couple good beige ones at the salvage yard for next to nothing, so I decided to paint them. I'm pleased with the results. The finish seems durable. I can scratch it with my nails and flex the plastic without anything coming off, and it's a pretty close match to the original. For about 1/2 the price of one used and broken bezel on ebay, I now have two good black bezels and enough product left over to take a swing at the fender flares . . . though I'll use bumper-paint for the color on those. Here's a few lessons-learned for other first-timers considering similar projects.

PREP: Tape the piece as necessary, then sand thoroughly (especially for older pieces) . . . don't just scuff it up a little. After sanding, clean the piece thoroughly with soap and water, isopropyl alcohol, or an appropriate plastic cleaner. Allow to dry. There are different types of plastic, and some pieces are older than others, so test any sort of cleaner or astringent chemical on an out-of-the-way spot before going whole-hog on the entire piece. I used isopropyl alcohol, and it worked great on my pieces.

ADHESION PROMOTER: Cost about $8 at an auto parts store. "Less is more." Use several very light coats and allow plenty of time (longer than the recommended flash times on the can) between coats. This is where I first noticed the difference between the bezel I sanded and the one I just quickly scuffed-up. The adhesion promoter reacted more strongly to areas where the harder, exterior layer hadn't been removed with sanding, and it resulted in what looked like cracking - similar to a cracked-glazed finish you see on some types of ceramics or pottery (the folks at the specialty paint store called it "crazing"). I eventually ended up sanding that piece down again and starting over - with much better results the second time. On the advice of one of the vendor-reps from my local specialty paint store, I waited 15-20 minutes between coats on my second time around. Bottom line was insufficient surface prep, applying coats too heavily, and/or not waiting long enough between coats of adhesion promoter could all result in "crazing."

TEXTURE COATING: $28 at the specialty paint store. This is a completely optional step that the detail-oriented will probably want to include. After sanding the bezels, their texture was gone. I wanted it to match as closely as possible to the original, so I applied several light coats of texture coating. It wasn't a perfect match to the texture on the original piece, but it was pretty close. If I were going to do it again and wanted a closer match, I'd shoot the texture coating from a little farther away. This would result in a slightly finer texture. I applied 3 light coats and went with the flash times recommended on the cans.

COLOR: $9 at the paint store. I applied 3-4 light coats of flat black Nason paint and went with the flash times recommended on the can. Nothing special here . . . just tried to match the color to the original and went with the paint the folks at the store recommended.

CLEAR COAT: $29 at the paint store. I would have skipped this step if the finish on my pieces were a little closer to the original after applying the color, but, even going with a flat black, my pieces were a little more glossy than the original, so I applied several coats of a matte-finish clear coat to try to dull the gloss. I think it worked well, and it may add a little protection to a piece that is going to get baked by the sun?? I applied 3 light coats with 15-20 minutes between coats.

The pictures show a comparison of the original piece and one of the bezels I painted. Hope this helps someone.

 

Thanks Warren for the well documented post.