After seeing the nice results of the gauge cluster and surround painting done by other Protege owners here I decided to jump into the fray as well.

However, my 3rd gen sedan does not have the same design as the "5". It appears that the P5 has a plastic mask that has openings for the various indicator lamps, whereas my '99 sedan has a plastic sheet stuck on the gauge front that has translucent spots for the indicator lamps to shine through.

On a side note to that, I noticed that the green lamps illuminating the gauges are the clear lamps with green "condoms". Does anyone know if the condoms are the sole source of the color (i.e. the gauges themselves are not green tinted?). If they are, then it maybe I could change the illumination to red or blue. But... It can't be that easy, can it? (I seem to recall someone took the red condoms off their P5 but still ended up with an orange due to some other tinting...)

So, I pulled the sheet off, painted the plastic bezel that trims the gauges and stuck the sheet back on (using the same double-sided stickum). Then I painted the surround to match the car body, as I'd seen done in a yellow P5.

From the left:



And the right:



And the detail on the gauge bezels:



Now that's much more interesting to look at while driving.

I plan to paint the center console face red as well (except for the golf-ball-textured sides) as soon as I figure out how to get the HVAC controls off. I know that information is in the forums somewhere...

 

I must say that, that is beautiful. I like the silver accents on the gauges. I see everyone matching their interior with their exterior but what the heck do I do? Painting it black seems pointless.

Again congrats!

 

If I bought a black Protege I would try and accent everywhere I could with red. Red brake calipers, red painted interior trim, red leather wrapped stearing wheel, red accents under the hood... But I don't think I'm buying a black Protege. I want a new Laser Blue Mica one. Sorry, not trying to be a MP3 poser

By the way, that paint job looks great Toru! What kind of paint did you use? How many coats? Clear coat afterwards?

 

that looks great!!!!! you should paint the cupholders and door trims too so it can match!
________
Firepower

 

Thanks! I used "plasti-kote" brand paint that I got at Lordco, part # FM 8134, which is a match for the red of a 1999 Mazda according to the guide at the paint rack.

I put four or five light coats of the red then I think three coats of "Varathane" semi-gloss clear finish. I chose semi-gloss as I did not want a really glossy surface on the dash.

The silver paint was factory Suzuki "Silky Silver" touch-up paint that I already had.

 

I dunno about the cupholder, on this model it is molded into the shift console and has that spring loaded piece that flips backwards to hold the back of the cups. Quite different from the P5 I think.

As for the door trim, I was thinking of doing the power window switch trim panels and the door latch pulls, but again, they are not already finished in a contrasting color like the P5, plus I am concerned about wear on the pulls.

I definitely want to do the radio surround (except for the textured edges, which AGAIN, seem to be a seperate color on P5s) in red.

I think though, I am going to do the parts that are black and leave the parts that are grey for now. That means I need a red shift boot too. Hmmm, I suppose a red shift **** too. Or better, a pearl Voodoo or something...

 

Wow, that looks good and I was thinking of doing mine to match my Vivid Yellow P5 but after seeing one that was already done somewhere else on this board I might not. Just a little bright .

As for a coloured boot, I have seen sets available in auto detail stores that had the ****, boot and e-brake handle as a set so everything matched. You could go to a shoe repair guy to get a boot done as it simply some sort of thin leather.

 

that looks sweet man...I wanna paint mine but I'm too scared I'll mess it up...

 

That is exactly the Idea I had with painting just the bezels around the guages. I'm going to try this high gloss chrome paint that looks like actual chrome. Great move though It looks great.

 

It can be done. This is a protege5 with the spring loaded cup holder door.


and here are the handles and window switch covers:


You can do it. Just make sure to take everything apart and not to break anything....

 

Thanks for those pics, I've been thinking how those silver borders would look in the gauges and here it is. I'm gonna paint them

 

I wish I had a pic of this right now but... the cupholder on the sedan is very different. There is no door on it, just two recessed holders and an "arm" that flips backwards (towards the front of the car) when you press a button. That arm is the same grey as the rest. Also, there is not a seperate surround trim arount the shift boot like the P5 has. Eh, I'll just snap a pic tonight...

As for the door pulls and window switch covers, it is durability that concerns me most. I worry that the paint will wear off the door pulls especially since they are being handled all the time (unlike the dash and console components).

 

i have a 2k2 pro LX. the bulbs for mine aren't the sole, the back of my gauge inserts are like tinted green. someone on this board changed it to blue somehow, can't remember how, if you're interested, try searching for the thread. it came out pretty nice blue, but needle removal required. changing the bulb or "condoms" won't make much of a different in color, as it would still be a green if i did it to mine, just a matter of how dark or light. you would have to sand off the tint or something i'm not sure.

 

cool. I love the painting job you have done

and I also have a '99 LX touring edition, so now i can see what can be painted and etc etc. thx for the pics again, I think ima do mine a white, cuz Imight do a white and chrome them on my exterior...so mybae doing white inside might work...I might do chrome interior...but I'm not sure of how much gloss that can put out... I dunno....but I'll go ahead and try one day...probably not anytime soon tho

 

Ok, this is what I mean.

Cupholder "closed":



Cupholder "open":



Shift console showing no separate surround:



Damn those rubber floormats are UGLY!