Satin Black dash trim

[chanceparker]

After the trajectory of yesterday's emblem idea thread, I hesitate to post this, but I painted my dash trim this weekend and I think it turned out well. I know many people don't like all that aluminum around the gauges so I wanted to post this in case anybody else is thinking about trying something similar.

It's a very simple, inexpensive, and completely reversable.

1. I pulled the trim off and wiped it very clean with lacquer thinner. DO NOT scuff it up. The paint will adhere fine and the trim remains pristine in case you want to reverse course.

2. I then masked off the indented area around the MMI screen. I have seen others paint the trim entire trim piece but I thought it would look better to retain some bare aluminum around the MMI screen. I like the way it turned out.

3. I sprayed it with 2 heavy coats of Satin Black enamel from Home Depot.

4. I finished it off with OSIR trim pieces to provide a bit more contrast around the gauges.

I like the way it turned out and again, pretty easy and completely reversable. If you don't like it, just wipe it clean with lacquer thinner and you can go right back to the stock look.

Flame suit activated...

[mungo513]

I like it. I've been planning on doing mine. Think I'm going to the whole thing black. I like those two pieces. Hadn't seen them before. How much did those run?

Sent from my SM-N900V

[chanceparker]

$30.

http://www.osirusa.com/mm5/merchant....ry_Code=S4B8IA

[chrisbryan89]

I think it looks great for such an inexpensive solution

[SwankPeRFection]

This actually does look good. I think what makes it is the Alu trim on either side of the cluster.

[Moto One]

Nice work.

Mark

[levigarrett]

Holy shit man, well done!! I've seen a few of these on here and I think your's is comfortably the best I've seen. How well do you suppose that will hold up?

Nice work!

[salyaqout]

Fantastic work.

[fritze18]

Turned out very well. I really like the contrast with the silver portion that you left. Good job

[SteveYem]

I like it....a lot. I'm going to copy this.
Exactly which paint did you use?

EDIT: Looking closer at your pics, I'm wondering how you were able to get such a clean line around the MMI surround area. Masking is one thing, but your color cut-off looks razor sharp. Any closer up pics or tricks/tips?

[chet]

Another +1! You can take the flame suit off. :)

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[Mops@Nemesis]

I very much like it!

[chanceparker]

Thanks for all the compliments.

How well do you suppose that will hold up?

I think it should hold up. It feels like a pretty thick, hard coating...plus that's not exactly a high traffic area.

Exactly which paint did you use?

I'm wondering how you were able to get such a clean line around the MMI surround area.

Just good old blue masking tape, a really sharp razor blade, and a little patience. For the most part, you can run the tape line right along the top edge of the bevel (if that makes sense). The only place you need to trim are corners. My technique was to apply the tape across the corners, push it into the bevel as much as possible, then run the razor horizontally along the surface above the bevel...I'm not sure that make sense but it really is just about being patient. The edge did turn out good but if you look close, it's not perfect in a couple of spots.

Another thing you could try for the edges would be to finish them off with some 1/16 or 1/8 pinstripe tape. I have done that in other instances and it works well. The only downside is that I've never seen Satin black tape, only gloss black, so you would have a slight variation in the satin paint and the glossier stripe around the edges. I think it would probably look fine though.

Good luck.

[ajpuleo23]

I think it looks great actually. Flows with the silver and rings in the wheel spot on. Might have to do this myself. Thanks

[getslideways]

Leaving some of it exposed was a great idea. By doing that, it gave a nice balance to the end result.

Looks like you laid that paint down buttery smooth too

[LakeShow]

Looks great! Blends in for sure

[levigarrett]

If I lived in CO, I'd pay you 5 bucks to do that to my car! I'm jealous.

[Cup of Joe]

sexy

[Dr GP]

Thanks for all the compliments.



I think it should hold up. It feels like a pretty thick, hard coating...plus that's not exactly a high traffic area.






Just good old blue masking tape, a really sharp razor blade, and a little patience. For the most part, you can run the tape line right along the top edge of the bevel (if that makes sense). The only place you need to trim are corners. My technique was to apply the tape across the corners, push it into the bevel as much as possible, then run the razor horizontally along the surface above the bevel...I'm not sure that make sense but it really is just about being patient. The edge did turn out good but if you look close, it's not perfect in a couple of spots.

Another thing you could try for the edges would be to finish them off with some 1/16 or 1/8 pinstripe tape. I have done that in other instances and it works well. The only downside is that I've never seen Satin black tape, only gloss black, so you would have a slight variation in the satin paint and the glossier stripe around the edges. I think it would probably look fine though.

Good luck.

I painted the entire trim on my 2010 with satin black Rustoleum. But I used the "universal " spray paint . Wasn't sure how it would hold up but i had no issues. IMHO, the Satin finish blends well with the other black pieces in the interior.

[catch]

looks good!

I would have gone glossy to match the panels below though

[b6onboost]

The B8 the panels are regular black plastic. B8.5s have all the glossy black touches.

looks good!

I would have gone glossy to match the panels below though

[b6onboost]

Definitely looks good, but I think it would be cleaner if the indented MMI portion was also painted black.

[chanceparker]

Definitely looks good, but I think it would be cleaner if the indented MMI portion was also painted black.

I have seen a few done that way and I think it's too much black, but that's just my taste.

IMO the ideal would be just a metal "ring" around the MMI screen like on the left-most air vent, but that's beyond my abilities.

[Schadenfreude]

Came out nice. I've been meaning to paint mine since last summer and never got around to it

[Nels2012]

Looks very nice, the amount of silver in my all black interior has always bothered me a little.

[b6onboost]

Yeah, I didn't realize the upper dask trim on the B8 and B8.5 were different.

On the B8, its all sliver. On the B8.5 there is much more black around the screen and hazard button as well as a metal 'ring'. Also just noticed the B8.5 has metal trim around the guage cluster whereas the B8 does not.

So if you had B8.5 trim, you could black out the silver and be left with just the metal ring as you mentioned.

I have seen a few done that way and I think it's too much black, but that's just my taste.

IMO the ideal would be just a metal "ring" around the MMI screen like on the left-most air vent, but that's beyond my abilities.

[SteveYem]

Any tricks or tips for removing the dash trim without causing any damage?

[chanceparker]

So if you had B8.5 trim, you could black out the silver and be left with just the metal ring as you mentioned.

Except B8.5 trim won't fit in a B8. That was my first move but it won't work.

Any tricks or tips for removing the dash trim without causing any damage?

Just start from the bottom with a flat screwdriver and go slowly. There aren't very many clips so you should be fine. Also note that the trim ring round the left vent is a separate piece and will likely fall out and give you a panic attack:)

[getslideways]

Just start from the bottom with a flat screwdriver and go slowly. There aren't very many clips so you should be fine. Also note that the trim ring round the left vent is a separate piece and will likely fall out and give you a panic attack:)

wouldn't a cheap trim removal tool be better than a screwdriver, as to prevent denting, nicking, or marking anything:

http://www.harborfreight.com/5-piece...l#.UyM464U-cw4

[chanceparker]

If you want to spend the extra $. Trust me, you can do it with a regular screwdriver with no issues.

[SteveYem]

I gave this a try this weekend and the results are so-so. I masked off around the MMI screen area just like yours, but the line that I have is very rough, even on the parts where the masking tape was straight. It almost looks like little bits of the paint came up when I pulled off the masking tape. Any tips for this?

[chanceparker]

A couple of things to try:
1. Make sure that you have wiped the trim pieces down very well with lacquer thinner before painting them.
2. Maybe try pulling the masking tape off before the paint is fully dry, when it's still just a little tacky.

If neither of those work, then I would try using pinstripe tape to mask the break line (then us regular tape to complete masking off the trim).

Hope that helps.

[Brooklyn]

Not bad brother. You may have explained this and I missed it, but why go with the paint over something more easily removed like plasti-dip?

[chanceparker]

Plastidip doesn't match the OEM soft-touch black paint on the center stack as well...too much texture and a little too flat. That's the only reason as I have used Plastidip in plenty of other applications and it works great.

[MrFunk]

Anyone have these on the OE silver trim? Wonder how it would look...

http://www.osirusa.com/mm5/merchant....ry_Code=S4B8IA

Edit: Reason for the question - I have a set sitting in my garage I was going to use with a black Piano trim set I was hoping to buy. The vendor went dark on me and I never ended up buying the set - but now that I think about it I think they would look nice even with the silver trim. I've lost interest in painting or swamping the trim for black - silver is fine for me... I'll stick them on and post some pics for anything interested in seeing how they look...

[shadycrew31]

I've been wanting to do this but will most likely wrap it so I can go back to stock if I trade up.

[chanceparker]

I've been wanting to do this but will most likely wrap it so I can go back to stock if I trade up.

It's paint...you can take it off with lacquer thinner if you want to go back to stock. That's exactly why I didn't scuff up the trim prior to painting it.

Anyone have these on the OE silver trim? Wonder how it would look...

Your link doesn't work.

[MrFunk]

Ops...
It's the same trim you have - http://www.osirusa.com/mm5/merchant....ry_Code=S4B8IA

[SteveYem]

A couple of things to try:
1. Make sure that you have wiped the trim pieces down very well with lacquer thinner before painting them.
2. Maybe try pulling the masking tape off before the paint is fully dry, when it's still just a little tacky.

If neither of those work, then I would try using pinstripe tape to mask the break line (then us regular tape to complete masking off the trim).

Hope that helps.

Thanks for the feedback. I thought about pulling the tape off before the paint was fully dry, but ultimately decided I would likely accidentally touch some other part of the wet paint in the process so it was better just to wait.
I did a thorough wipe-down with lacquer thinner and let it air dry a bit before painting, and adhesion seems to be good. Before I get into stripping it off and trying again, I'm going to try carefully scraping along that edge to see if I can even it out. I actually did one little spot with my fingernail (gross, I know) and that seemed to work pretty well. Smoothed it out enough so that I could barely see the imperfection from the driver seat.

My Osir silver trim pieces should be here on Wednesday so hopefully I can get it cleaned up before then.