Sometimes I hate the trim in our cars...

[DieselDan]

I have spent hours trying to restore the peice of trim that goes around the instrument cluster on my car. It started off when I painted my dash, I removed all the trim and the peice behind the dimmer switch panel was cracked. So, I went to pull a part and got one out of another car. It was cracked, but not broken. So I got all the old funky paint off, which sucked. It wouldnt come off very easily, The paint on it was actually in pretty decent shape, but it was brown. Anyway, got all the old paint off with hours of scuffing and wet sanding. Used epoxy to reinforce the flat area where the switches go, and painted the thing. Primered it, surface had tiny cracks in it from when plastic gets old... Sanded the primer, painted it, cleared it. The clear hazed up, scuffed it again, painted it black... blah blah blah, all this freakin work for 1 peice of trim. Also, because this new panel was brown, I had to remove the old vents from my old black panel and glue them in, and the gray tinted plastic peice that goes over the message center was swapped too. Anyway, I trimmed the epoxy with a dremel, and checked and rechecked the fit of the dimmer switch, everything was good. Installe it this morning, and the flex from tightening the headlight switch cracked some of the epoxy on the panel, then the dimmer switch wouldnt fit right. In the end I got everythign to fit, but when I tightened the screws, the panel broke. Its in there, just cracked in 1 place, but it is separated. I'm just ranting, I've been working on and off on this panel for like 2 months here and there. And when I finally was finished, I chipped the dye on the dash, so I am in the process of fixing that atm.

Just wish all the trim in our old cars wasnt so fragile. I have so much time into fixing trim in this car, and it doesn't really show. You can never see the work because its hidden.

Anyway, just a rant, I feel better now.

 

[DieselDan]

For anyone that doesnt know, the center vents and message center cover are like melted plastic riveted in to the panel itself. You have to drill the plastic to remove them.

You can see that hazy spot on the dash, that is where I repaired the dye. The texture will match the rest when it dries.

 

[ripped camel]

Man, that sucks! I'd be so pissed I'd probably get my hammer out...

 

[ford nut]

The trim does suck, my whole door panel is falling to pieces, looks like chit.

 

[Kstills]

Ouch!

Wouldn't a vinyl paint work better then an epoxy? The vinyl should provide a great bond to the plastic parts (not sure about the ABS, I'll have to look that up) and it would certainly be more flexible then the epoxy.

Meh, looks like any vinyl paint would work with ABS also.

 

[DieselDan]

The part of the trim that was epoxy'd was the part that you won't see but is structural to the panel. It didn't get painted over.

 

[Sapperfire]

The panel behind my dimmer switch plate is all busted too, I put the cover plate back over it after swapping the switch, called it a day since it can't be seen....it's like
" hey guys I just pulled my seat skins off and cleaned the foam, looks great, then reinstall seat skin and you can't tell anything was done"
IMO, if it takes so long to fix something that doeesnt matter AND can't be seen, just leave it alone..lol

 

[DieselDan]

My main concern though was that it holds the bezel for the dimmer and headlight switch. It made my old one all loose.

 

[TheBigRedOne]

Oven cleaner works great to remove that rubber crap on the dash and doors. Just let it sit for awhile but keep any eye on it. It just scrapes right off with one of those yellow bondo spreaders. Then you can sand it.

 

[slickemhoundd]

was fun to meeee!