The Best Paints For All Types Of Plastic

Painters' Touch is the spray we used on the pink planter in our testing section, and it was very easy to apply. The big draw is choice. Rust-Oleum makes it in 42 colours across gloss, satin and matt finishes, so you can match a planter to a front door or pick out a bright shade for a child's chair.

It's a multi-purpose paint for indoor and outdoor use, so the same can will cover most other surfaces too. It dries quickly to a smooth, hard-wearing finish. The 400 ml can is the thing to plan around. When we used it on plastic garden furniture we got through cans faster than expected, so buy extra if you're painting a set of chairs rather than a single pot.

Plasti-Kote made 10607 specifically for plastic, and it goes straight onto the surface with no primer needed. That saves a step and a second can on jobs like garden chairs, where getting primer into every slat and joint is fiddly.

The brand says it works best on rigid plastics, which covers most outdoor furniture, storage boxes and plant pots. It's not intended for soft, bendy plastics that flex in use. The finish is glossy, which is easy to wipe clean outdoors but won't suit anything where you're after a flat, modern look. The colour range is small at five shades.

Hycote's Perfect Finish is a multi-purpose spray that suits touching up and refinishing small parts. Hycote says it gives excellent adhesion and durability on primed surfaces, so on bare plastic you'll need a plastic primer underneath first. That extra step is what earns the hard-wearing finish.

It dries quickly and resists discolouring and fading, which matters on anything that sits in sunlight. The size range is unusual, with 12.5 ml, 150 ml and 400 ml cans, so you can buy just enough for a scuffed trim piece or a full can for a bigger job. For the best finish Hycote recommends several light coats with full drying in between, and the choice is limited to five colours.

151 Spray to Plastic is another paint made only for plastic, and it sprays straight onto the surface without a primer. Skipping the primer is where the value comes from, since you're only buying one product for the job.

It dries to a glossy finish that the brand says resists all weather, so it's a good match for plastic left outside all year, such as bins, water butts, planters and garden chairs. The colour range is the smallest in this roundup at four shades, so it's more about refreshing tired plastic than making a design statement. As with any spray, give the plastic a thorough clean and a light scuff first and apply thin coats.

Rust-Oleum Universal is a brush-on paint and primer in one that grips most household surfaces, plastic included. It's also one we rate for painting metal garage doors, and having one tin that covers plastic, metal and wood is handy around a house.

Brushing makes more sense than spraying on large, flat plastic such as a uPVC door, gutter runs or soffit boards, where overspray is a nuisance. The paint resists staining and comes in a choice of colours and finishes for indoor or outdoor use. Coverage is fairly low at 9 square metres per litre, so allow for more paint than you'd expect on long gutter runs. It's touch dry in 2 hours, but Rust-Oleum says to wait 16 hours before the second coat, so plan for a two-day job.

The One is a water-based paint and primer that brushes onto plastic, wood, metal and most other surfaces without an undercoat. The brand says one coat is enough on most surfaces, which is a big time saver against Rust-Oleum Universal's 16-hour wait between coats.

Being water based, it's low in smell and cleans out of brushes with water, and the brand describes it as non-toxic. That makes it a good fit for indoor plastic like skirting trims, window boards or a child's toy box. It brushes on easily with few streaks. There are six colours, and it's the most expensive paint in this roundup, so you're paying for the one-coat convenience.