in case anyone was wondering how the center trim would look painted flat black (nav pod not painted, I can barely notice the difference in color)):
dash trim in flat black
- Thread starter nicholas421
- Start date
Not bad, actually 
Looks good!
Spray can or professional?
Spray can or professional?
Malibu Rapper said:
spray can from pep boys.
when i bought the car it had that nasty carbon fiber sticker on it. when i removed it i realized why the previous owner had done it... the trim was in terrible condition. the bubbling was pretty bad so i started peeling the metallic stuff off. i finally decided to take it to a pro but they said it was beyond repair. i did the best i could but there are several imperfections.
Malibu, respectfully you're starting with something newer & in better shape to begin with - the foil de-laminating (or bubbling / crinkling) is quite common on older cars (sometimes severely) and in that case there really is no option but to peel it off. What makes sense is to not necessarily strip teh whole thing but stop at an area where transition is less noticable (like at the sides of the ashtray) & feather the edge appropriately.Malibu Rapper said:
Of course if there is no initial problem with the foil, then certainly it makes no sense to remove any of it.
You must be careful sanding the plastic with the foil removed however - it will disappear in a hurry if you're too aggressive with an overly coarse paper!
Does the foil actually bubble? The foil underneath is an electroplating with a copper base then it looks like a nickel plating on top of it that is really unstable hence they covered it with the tinted plastic. I've seen bubbling on some older cars and it looks like it's just the plastic film. The plastic strips easily with the Jasco graffiti remover and it the electroplating is resistant to the graffiti remover. But if you have bubbling and can see down to the bare white plastic then I know the Jasco will eat the plastic up.
I've never had the mispleasure of working with the really beat trim pieces. But going down to the plastic I still think is a bit extreme. That's a lot of sanding. Maybe we can find more better living through chemistry by using muriatic acid to strip the plating.
I've never had the mispleasure of working with the really beat trim pieces. But going down to the plastic I still think is a bit extreme. That's a lot of sanding. Maybe we can find more better living through chemistry by using muriatic acid to strip the plating.
Yes, unfortunately - seen some sad cases! I've also seen it on the vent grille surround and the door trims.Malibu Rapper said:
Actually easier to just peel it off - if you start with a piece that's already de-laminated it's easy to begin there & just keep picking (use a stanley or exacto to get an edge if necessary) & tearing strips off. It's tedious but I can do the top half (from ash-tray on up) in about an hour.Malibu Rapper said:
In order to fill in the old deck cut-out area for a replacement single DIN head I actually prefer to strip the foil to ensure a good bond with the filler & to keep it planar on the top surface.
So taking off all that material you actually end up with a smaller and lighter console trim. :wink: It reminds me of the situation I have whenever I paint my rooms. The room gets smaller, not because of the color of the walls but because of the layer of paint on the walls. The paint just ends up eating into the living space... drives me crazy...
You must love dusting, then.Malibu Rapper said:
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