Transforming the Interior in a 2012 Ram 1500 Express – Customer Testimonial
Our latest customer success story is from our friend, Chris Karpinec. He used ColorBond to transform the interior of his new truck from an undesirable tan to a dark slate!
My truck is a 2012 Ram 1500 Express. All the Express models in 2011-2012 came with Dark Slate interior, however Ram decided to finish the top of the dash in Tan, and all the dash trim pieces in an ugly khaki color, still don’t know why! I loved my truck the first time I saw it on the dealer lot, but seriously considered not buying it because of the tan dash and khaki trim! In the end the deal was just too good to pass up…
As soon as it warmed up, I started searching for options to “colormatch” the tan dash. I knew I wanted to do the trim pieces in Silver to match my truck color, but I had to do something about the Dash. I first called automotive interior shops, but they all wanted an exorbitant amount to colormatch the dash, so I took to Google and searched for a DIY option. I heard of your product on a forum and checked it out after looking into Duplicolor’s interior paint. They only had a few color choices, and I knew a basic black would not match or do it for me! I was pleasantly surprised to see the ColorBond color chart and see my Dark Slate listed under the Chrysler options! I read through the website and decided to give it a try. I ordered 2 cans of #160 Dk Slate, and one bottle of the prep cleaner.
When I decided to order your product, I also ordered an upper glove box kit to get rid of the stock pocket that came on the Express models. I ordered a black kit since I knew I had the ColorBond paint coming, it saved me over $100 by buying the black glove box kit instead of the DK Slate kit which was for whatever reason like $112 more…
I first tried the ColorBond on the glove box kit and was very happy with not only the results, but the color match as well. I wouldn’t say it was a 100% match, but was extremely close! After tackling the glove box, I set out to do the ugly Tan Dash! The top dash cap in my truck is all one piece molded into the whole dash, so to take it out of the truck to paint it, the entire dash would have to come out! This was not something I wanted to do, so I went and bought about 8 painters tarps from Home Depot and some masking tape and one Saturday got up early and got to work! I taped off the entire dash area to prevent over spray, and used all 8 tarps to completely cover every single inch of my interior except the tan parts I wanted to paint. I honestly wish I had taken pictures of it, however I didn’t. That’s what everyone always asks about though is how I didn’t get over spray on everything…I think it took me about 3 hours to tape and tarp everything off! After everything was taped, I proceeded to the next step.
I followed the instructions on the prep cleaner and wiped down my dash to get ready for the ColorBond paint. I did the entire dash with about 1 1/2 cans using another half of a can on the glove box kit. I found many light even coats worked best. I think laid down somewhere in the neighborhood of 5-6 coats on the dash. After letting dry, I wanted a little more shine to the dash, since the finish was extremely flat. I applied a couple of very light coats of gloss clear on top. When I started pulling off all the tape and tarps, I couldn’t believe how great it came out and how very close the color was to matching! When I apply a gloss interior protectant to the doors and the rest of the dash, you can’t even tell the slightest difference! After numerous people riding in my truck and several car shows, not one has ever said it doesn’t match. In fact, most people think it is stock and just came that way!!!
In the 1 1/2 years I have had the product on, only once has it came off in any way, and that was when my dog was riding with me and got excited. He scratched the top of the dash with his nails, removing 2 small spots of the ColorBond. I easily repaired it with a Q tip and a bit of the left over paint I had. I really think you have a great product! I recommend it to everyone that asks what I did to mine.
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