I had my paint supplier mix some vinyl upholstery dye for my dashpad .
I dyed the dashpad and I have about half a pint left .
The dashboard is steel , and is imbossed with a " leather grain " .
I have sandblasted it , and coated it with epoxy primer several months ago .
What I'm wondering , is if I could " paint " the metal dash with the upholstery dye .
Two advantages ;
1. I'm sure it would match the dashpad .
2. I would save buying a $160 quart of paint .
Disadvantages ???

 

I think it should be fine over epoxy primer.
I painted some over rattle can primer and it turned out pretty nice.

 

Matt is correct. It will stick to good primer, and have the correct color and gloss.

 

I painted mine with SEM Landau Black 15 years ago and it's still good. Use lots of thin coats

 

Thanks guys !

 

The only difference (that there should be!!) is the addition of a flexerizer. That lets the paint be a little bit flexible to move with upholstery. That paint works fine as regular paint, but paint without it will crack on upholstery. Note that some bases, like PPG DBC, don't need a flex additive (according to my jobber shop).
Note that your epoxy will need to be woken back up since it's been a few months.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by " woken back up " .
I scuffed it up with a red scuff pad , and washed it down with Prep-Sol .
Anyway , the deed is done , I "painted" it this afternoon , and it looks good .
I may put on another coat , because that stuff is very thin . And it doesn't hide very well .

 

A dye is something that is absorbed by a porous material to color it, paint is applied over a surface. SEM is a paint, and as a liquid, is partially absorbed by porous materials, but it also puts a surface finish on the part. If you are using a true dye, it will only color the material, and becomes part of the material. The surface texture will not change. You still require a surface finish to achieve the desired look. A true dye will not act as a paint, and does not work on metal, because the metal is not porous. That is where the plastic carrier in the paint comes in. It holds the color in suspension and adheres to the prepared metal surface.

 

Read the tech sheet for the epoxy. Some of them need a fresh coat after scuffing, some can just be scuffed.
Or, it is what it is.

 

I don't know what primer you are using but most primers age harden when exposed to UV ( and no top coat). They can get so hard that the finish coat won't adhere and will peel at the junction of the two coats (primer sticks top coat peals). I'm not a automotive paint guy but I have worked in a related industry for many years and have seen this issue come up many times. Talk to your paint rep and see what he thinks about the combation you are using....Tedd