Refinishing the airbag
As documented in many places the surface of the airbag cover is not the best part of the car. Mine was heavily scuffed and as sticky as a wet postage stamp. A few weeks ago I pulled it and sprayed it with black plastidip. I was unable to get the sticky surface clean enough and end up with an unsatisfactory amount of schmutz showing throughout he plastidip. Last night I figured out the solution: lacquer thinner.
Once I pulled off the previous coat of plastidip, I used a wash cloth with lacquer thinner to try to clean the schmutz sticking to the original airbag coating. I noticed the coating starting to discolor and realized the black on the airbag is actually a coating over a base grey plastic that is the actual airbag cover. After a few minutes of scrubbing I had this:
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After another half-hour of scrubbing:
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This left an excellent clean surface for the plastidip which looks factory fresh. I opted to plastidip the outer ring black as I didn't have anything that would match the silver.
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Once I pulled off the previous coat of plastidip, I used a wash cloth with lacquer thinner to try to clean the schmutz sticking to the original airbag coating. I noticed the coating starting to discolor and realized the black on the airbag is actually a coating over a base grey plastic that is the actual airbag cover. After a few minutes of scrubbing I had this:
After another half-hour of scrubbing:
This left an excellent clean surface for the plastidip which looks factory fresh. I opted to plastidip the outer ring black as I didn't have anything that would match the silver.
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I thought about that as well. but there is a bit of coating in the crevasses that I couldn't get out and I didn't think the color went with the rest of the interior. The pictures are accurate. so if you have a storm car, maybe it would work. The silver paint around the edge trim is also difficult to get off.
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I used nail polish remover on the silver and it came right off. I also plasti dipped the ring black.
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Joined
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342 Posts
Interesting. I had tried acetone on the black coating last time and it did nothing.
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