i wanted to get a black arm rest for my 95 Eg Hatch cause my old one was in real bad shape, so i looked and everyone wanted like $80-90 for it. so i found one on Ebay for $20 bucks but it was tan. so i got it and decided to painted black. i went to Autozone and purchase grey primer, gloss black paint and clearcoat for about $12.

* -So the first thing you want to do is remove all the interior parts from the arm rest. After you got all the parts out from the arm rest wash it with water and soap, dry them with a clean rag or what ever you have around (Pic 1).

*- Get the primer ready and spray dont spray to closed to the arm rest, you want like about 12"-16" of distance from the parts that are going to be primer (let it dry for about 10-15min) once the 1st coat is dry look at it for any imperfections or if need it sand it down then apply 2nd coat of primer (Pics 2 & 3).

*- Get the gloss black paint and spray it, again you want 12"-16" of distance from the arm rest, let it dry for about 20min. look for any imperfections on the paint and apply 2nd coat if need it (Pic 4).

*- Once the paint is dried apply the clearcoat very important keep your 12"-16" from the arm rest. for the clearcoat you must allow like about 30min for it to dry, once its dry look for imperfections and apply 2nd coat (Pic 5).

*- Once all the parts are dried put them back together and install it in your car....

 

You spray painted in your living room!?! Bold haha, looks pretty good.

 

if i had done that my *** would've sleeping in my civic using the arm rest as my pillow lol. if you look at pic 4 in the background you can see some parts outside, i painted everything outside but it was too cold for the paint to dry. so i painted outside let it sit for like 5min then moved them inside.

 

why not use the vinyl dye?

 

i tried using that a long time ago but my kids are evil little monsters and they scratched it and you could see the diff color once it was scratch, with the primer it holds on better.

 

Gotcha that makes sense. Any lingering smell from the spray paint after reinstalling it?

 

I just did it today my house smell like a paint booth lol. ill install them back tomorrow but it shouldn't be that bad. if all else fails their is always febreze...

 

looks good

 

thanks