Hello,

I have a 2008 Subaru Tribeca Limited that has a few small scratches on the hard silver/grey plastic on the headunit / dashboard. Can someone recommend a paint (preferably something not in a spray) that will match the standard silver/grey color? One of the scratches is actually down to the black plastic underneath the silver coating. Any advice on covering the scratches would be most appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

BD6675

bd6675,

The best method is to remove the entire plastic dash trim plate and fill the scratches with appropriate body filler, sand the entire trim plate, and then spray paint the entire plate to the desired colour. It sounds daunting, but its not, and you can do the entire job yourself, and reinstall the trim piece the next day. Bear with me.

These dash trim plates usually pull straight off the dash when pried along the seams. The neat part is that all of the switches and knobs usually aren't attached to the trim plate, and stay behind, meaning that you can fix and paint the trim plate and still drive the car. Usually as well, the dash vents are attached to the back of the trim piece and just clip on, so they can be removed. I'm giving you a link to download the US factory service manual for your 2008. Download the manual from the link (takes 10 minutes or so) and then search the body section for the interior trim section, and the pictures will show you where the clips for that trim piece are located, and will also show you how to remove the piece without breaking anything.

Then take the trim piece to an automotive paint supplier shop in your city and get them to make up a spray bomb to match the silver colour needed (less than $20). Also get a small tube of body filler pin hole filler, and one sheet each of 320 wet/dry (grey coloured) sand paper, 800 grit wet/dry and maybe 1000 grit as well.

Then fill the scratches and sand them down with 320, then 800, and finally lightly sand the entire trim piece with 1000 to remove the shine so that your colour coat will adhere to the plastic well. (Ask the paint guy if you need to use a primer paint before your colour coat is applied. Then let it dry overnight and reinstall the trim piece.

Here's the shop manual. Check out the interior dash section I referred to and have at it. Its not rocket science. It really is a DIYer kind of job. Good Luck!

                                                                http://jdmfsm.info/Auto/Japan/Subaru/Tribeca/2008/

        

Thanks for the thorough reply, gbhrps. I will give it a shot.