Clark's EM Padded dash painted

[joelsplace]

Clark's only lists painted dash pads in my color. Has anyone bought one that can comment on the durability of the paint? Doesn't sound like a good idea to me. Are they black underneath?
I think mine is dark aqua.

[junkman]

I have no idea what they paint with, however, I had a dash pad recovered by the same company that does the Clarks dashes, and the color wasn't correct for my car. I knew this from the beginning, so it wasn't a surprise. I had the local paint supplier color-match SEM vinyl paint and put it into a spray can. I properly used all the SEM products to prepare the pad for painting, and when I had a 70-degree day with no wind or rain, I placed it on 2 saw horses and painted it. That was a couple of years ago, and it has held up perfectly. I will say that doing it yourself isn't going to be inexpensive, but it was well worth it for me. I have been using SEM products for over 30 years to dye vinyl materials back to looking like a factory product.

[66vairguy]

I have no idea what they paint with, however, I had a dash pad recovered by the same company that does the Clarks dashes, and the color wasn't correct for my car. I knew this from the beginning, so it wasn't a surprise. I had the local paint supplier color-match SEM vinyl paint and put it into a spray can. I properly used all the SEM products to prepare the pad for painting, and when I had a 70-degree day with no wind or rain, I placed it on 2 saw horses and painted it. That was a couple of years ago, and it has held up perfectly. I will say that doing it yourself isn't going to be inexpensive, but it was well worth it for me. I have been using SEM products for over 30 years to dye vinyl materials back to looking like a factory product.

Junkman summed it up well. SEM has been making vinyl paints for a long time. Keep in mind the SEM paint is made to remain slightly flexible so it isn't as durable as a "hard surface" paint. I found a SEM color that matched my fawn seats to paint the seat "spears" on the side of the seat. The paint could be scratched (it was on metal not vinyl) so I coated it with Spray Max two part urethane satin (low gloss) paint. That was years ago and it still looks great and the satin top coat has proved to be very durable and has the same sheen as the vinyl upholstery.

[junkman]

The one thing that I forgot, is that you have to find a paint shop that can mix the SEM colors to get an exact match. The one that I use is in Stafford Springs CT, and they just changed the name when it was bought out by NAPA owner. Perfect match every time.