What color should I paint my dash?

[kneedownnate]

Seriously, the thought just hit me.  My 80 is down due to a massive heart attack and I wanna do some other stuff before the heart transplant.

Truck is red and will be painted with dupont centari red/red.  Interior is typical tan/beige on trim and dash but 2 tone red/yellow since it used to be yellow back in it's alaska days. 

Back when my poor little 81 2wd toy was still running strong (it was the latest heart donor ) I kept trying to make the interior nicer.  I hacked up the stock dash but wanted to return it to stockish condition so I snagged a dash from pnp.  I don't remember what color it was, but I know it clashed worse than my current color scheme so I decided to spray it charcoal gray.  It looked good, especially with the dash pad I'd dyed medium gray around the same time.  I miss driving that truck

Anyway, should I leave the dash how it is, paint it the stock color again or paint it to match the truck? 

[kneedownnate]

Not the best pic to show the color red.  Lemme see if I can dig up a better one, but I'm pretty sure all my pics are of the truck dirty, as it should be

[kneedownnate]

Forgot I had one of the dash.  Needless to say if the dash gets pulled the rats nest will be neatified (tm).

[BLACKDOG]

so what color is it?  is it a darker yellow? or brownish/beige    Kinda hard to tell because the pic was taken in the dark.  IF its brown, and in good shape, I'd leave it  

[CTENG in KS]

Red truck...beige interior....

BLACK DASH!  SHINY...I like shiny stuff.

[TurtleTappers91]

I'd go with black/grey.
puke color does not do it for me...

[TacoStewie]

hot pink

[kneedownnate]

Sorry stew, I promise I'll leave the pink dash up to you

I may be up for the black dash, I just wanna look into other options I haven't considered and see if something will look better than what I have now.

Nothing will clash worse than my tan/beige interior and my gray driver seat and maroon (sp) passenger seat

[jimbo74]

DO NOT PAINT THE DASH SHINEY!!!!!!!

the PO of my red truck decided to do that..... it was so bad that midday i couldnt see through the windshield because the dash reflected the sun straight up into my view.....

[alwayzbroken]

Like this

[Wermz84]

hot pink

with purple polk-a-dots!    

[kneedownnate]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooo... no shiny dashes.  I'm a huge fan of flat colored tops, but there's no reason not to have a shiny paintjob staring back at you too!  I used to put 303 on my dashes but stopped doing it cause the glare would drive me nuts.  I'll still use it on the front on the rare occassion I clean the dash but will only clean the top with a mild cleaner and rag and leave it dull.

When I say I'm painting the dash I mean the metal dash itself, not the top pad.  If I found a top pad in good shape I'd possibly dye it as I did my old one, but there's no way I'll make it shiny 

[Wermz84]

I like dark greys myself.  mellow, always look kind of clean, and go with most colors. 

[kneedownnate]

So nobody has any input on painting the dash red?  Keep in mind I mean just the metal dash, not the top pad or trim.  However I may think it'll look I'll just never know till I shoot it and install everything. 

Dang, the more I think about it the more I lean toward buying the spray gun kit off the mac truck :pullsouthair:

[brainlessfool]

hot pink

with brown pin strips   

[fatt_matt]

umm i'd go   falt red... darkish red...

hmmm...  maybe even  eggplant, or some calm beige.. or even california sunfaded brick!!

[kneedownnate]

Interesting.... but the only reason I was proposing red was cause I'd be painting the truck and interior already and could do the dash at the same time.  Only other option I have in the red family is a burgendy-ish color, and whatever color it ends up being will not be flat, it'll be glossy

[kneedownnate]

So it looks like I'm snagging some plumb crazy and midnight blue fairly cheap.  Not that I'd paint the dash either color, I'm just happy to be getting a good deal on more paint!

[TRHS1980]

If the truck's red and you're going to paint the interior red then I'd think a black dash would probably look best. Otherwise, I'd just spray the dash the same color as the rest of the interior  .

[kneedownnate]

Black probably wouldn't look too bad, but if I were to do it I'd probably go with a heavy metal flake, kinda like a bassboat!  I'm just weird that way...... and in other ways too

[unclejpl4x4]

CARPET TIGER STRIPS  or LEPOR PRINT

[kneedownnate]

You go to the strip joint too much

[RN37DD]

Go with OD, tan or grey. a color that still looks good if ya get dirt, mud, leaves and good used parts inside your truck.. as it shoud be. 

[kneedownnate]

If I get mud inside my truck I surely hope I don't get it on my dash   I've grown tired of trying to wedge the longbed through trails I shouldn't be on already, so I'm building this one as more of a pretty capable dd and will be building a shortbed as a more dedicated off-roader.

I'm gettin snaked on 4 of the quarts I bid on on ebay, but it looks like I'm still getting my plumb crazy.

[te51levin]

I am not above a little visual interest, but most of the time I like the interior to be as unobtrusive as possible.  I guess I'm easily distracted and would rather keep my eyes on things happening outside the vehicle than on all the pretty lights and colors inside it.  Maybe I'm just getting old.  Of course, for years I favored the African Safari Rally look and painted the hood flat black, too...

The pad ought to be dyed (not painted - use SEM vinyl dye or similar - Paint Mart has it) flat black for minimum glare.  Since you haven't thrown me a truck yet, I'm not sure what portion of dash is made of metal and can be seen with the pad and trim installed, but if you must paint it and want a unique finish, I'd suggest something like black wrinkle paint, or Hammerite in a neutral color.  Bright colors in the interior can get obnoxious in a hurry.