dynamho

Has anybody had experience sanding the ugly flashes on the silver plastic front door trim? The flash is in the seam where the trim piece meets the door handle element.

Are the OEM plastic trim pieces painted silver or molded in silver from the factory?

I will post a photo later for clarification of the flash's location.

azrakain

I believe they are painted/coated with that silver. I had a scratch on mine. Now all the silver is red though. I don't recall seeing the flashes (seams) when I painted them though.

hihoslva

I don't remember seeing any "flashes" either - but I'm not 100% sure what you're talking about.

Anyway - it looks like a lot of the plastic trim on the car is actually brown plastic, coated with the "silvery" color. So saning any of it would not be a good idea.

bmorton

None of my silver pieces have any visible flash (excess plastic from the molding process) on them. I can confirm that the silver is just painted on, though. When the dealer installed my tape deck they obviously didn't tape the silver radio surround the way you're supposed to and scratched the silver plastic with the radio removal tool. The silver paint scratched off and it's a dark-coloured plastic underneath.

hihoslva

Okay - I figured that's what the "flash" was - the excess from the mold.

I think the radio trim and shifter surround are the only parts with black underneath - the window switch panels and door handles are brown plastic under the silver.

And bmorton - you should've made that dealer replace that trim for you. It scratches easily, and they should know that, and should take proper precautions when working on your car.

dynamho

The flash is not easy to see. One has to be level with the seam to see it. To be sure, it's more like a flash stump than a full blown flash. I'll take a photo ASAP to show you.

Thanks for the info that the trim pieces are painted. I'm going to follow Azrakain and Hihoslva and paint my trims after sanding them.

Azrakain, I love the glossy look. Did you spray clear gloss over the red? Can you let me know what type of paint you used?

bmorton, you're lucky it was your trim that got scratched. At least that's replaceable easily. The LoJack installer scratched my center console when he tried to remove the center trim right under the AC controls. LoJack wants to send an inspector and blabla. What a hassle!! Sorry, just venting. I just put a sticker over it.

njaremka

hey man, can you post a "how to" on removing and replacing the center trim piece around the radio?

thanks

hihoslva

I already have some pics worked up that I sent to someone else, so I'll beat azrakain to the punch and post my own how-to:

The HVAC stuff is screwed into the trim, so you need to remove the trim and controls as one piece, and take the controls off afterward. What you do is disconnect the cables under the dash (cables, not wires). Take out the glovebox by opening it, then squeezing the sides - it'll drop down, then all you have to do is pull on the left side - you'll see how it's clipped in place, then slide the right side out - just go for it - it's VERY simple once you see it. Behind the glovebox is one of the cables from the HVAC - squeeze the little tab on the post, slide the ring off, then remove the cable from the clip - don't worry if the clip stays on the cable and just come undone from the car on this side - it'll go back on just fine:


The driver's side is above the gas pedal - same procedure, except this clip should not come off - just bend the tab down and take the cable out from the clip:


Never mind the sloppy wires and red twist tie - that's my own stereo crap.

Once those cables are disconnected, pry at the trim with a butter knife or credit card or screwdriver - but be careful - it's easy to ding it up, or even put little marks in the dash with whatever tool you use. Once it is pried out all around, carefully start to pull the whole assembly out. The radio will stay, the HVAC controls, vents, and hazard switch will be attached to the trim, so they come with you. Once it's out far enough, unhook all of the wiring harnesses - two on the HVAC, and one on the hazard switch, I think. Then the whole shabang should pull right out. Try to take note (or pictures!) of how those cables are routed, so you can get them back in the same spots later.

Hope this helps.

~HH

njaremka

thanks slva, you da man!

dynamho

Yeah, thanks for the info Hihoslva. Those are very clear photos, complete with arrows and labels. Many people don't do that.

Hihoslva is one of the most prolific photo-documenters in this club.
You should check out his ride. He's done some good work on it.

hihoslva

Thanks for the compliments, dynamho. I try my best. And I had those pics already - I labeled them while describing to someone else how to get the cables disconnected - but I'm happy to share them anyway.

As far as checking out my ride - I'm going to go now and upload a bunch of new pics the the Webshots album in my sig. I haven't updated it in quite a while, and there's definitely stuff to share!

~HH

sandman

FAN FRIGGIN TASTIC pics bro!! You did an AWESOME job on the interior!

I'll definitly be picking your brain on installing stereo equipment once I save up for the new HU.

What kind of paint did u use for the gauge cluster and the piece of plastic by the handbrake? After looking at that it looks retarded that mazda didn't do it in the first place. VERY TIGHT.

Nicely done! BTW, what's the deal with the tree decal? Is it a logo for something, or just a cool decal? I like it!

hihoslva

Thanks Sandman

The paint is SEM "Bumper Coater" - awesome stuff - you can find it at most body shop supply houses.

I painted all the silver trim, plus the gauge cluster and e-brake trim (after sanding the texture completetly out of the e-brake part) - there's no way I would've found a paint to match the stock color, so everything got sprayed with Light Titanium Metallic.

And the tree - Days of the New, my friend. I'm a huge fan of that band - I've travelled several hours, several times, to go see them - even met the band a bunch of times. The decal (it's just static-vinyl) is not really a "Days of the New" sticker, but they're "symbol" is the tree - so I'm just "representin' "

If you check out my the pics in my sig again, you'll see an album with lots of pics of the band, including times I met them, and my guitar signed by Travis Meeks - lead singer and creative force. If you haven't heard much of their music (most people into rock and alternative heard stuff from their first album (Yellow), then forgot about them) - check them out. There are three albums (in order of release): Yellow, Green, and Red (named for the cover colors - the albums themselves have no names ). Amazing stuff - especially Green.

~HH

sandman

Yeah - I have their green album.. That's some good listening! I never made the connection with the tree to them tho! Not a huge fan, but I know what you mean about traveling to see a band. I've done the same for Nine Inch Nails, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

Anyway, thanks for the tip on the paint. I'll have to pick some up.

Looks great man!

dynamho

Here's the photo of the door trim flash