PO'ed at Interior Chrome

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Cummins Dog

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6.7 Cummins
The one thing (so far, knock on wood) that I just hate about my Ram is the accursed chrome trim on the dash. Most annoying is the chrome bezel surrounding the radio and the Ram badge on the steering wheel. Seems like no matter where I'm driving, or what direction I'm going, the sun is in exactly the right place for one or the other of them, or both, to reflect it right back into my eyes, no matter what time of the day it is (kind of like when you dad was a kid and had to walk 5 miles to and from school up hill both ways). I'm sure a lot of you agree that's annoying. Anyway I thought I might go ahead and Plasti Dip the offending chrome but I have a few questions.

#1 - Does the chrome radio bezel come off of the rest of the dash bezel so I can Plasti Dip it by its self?

#2 - If it does come off is it pretty straight forward once you get in there (I already know how to pull the dash bezel off) like a couple of screws or clips or something?

#3 - If that's not removable will Plasti Dip overspray peel off like it does on slick metal (like the tailgate)? I've Plasti Diped my tailgate badge so I know how to do that where you just peel the overspray off. Just wondering if it will peel as good as on metal?

#4 - I don't even want to attempt to remove the steering wheel badge. I've looked at other threads where people have taken it off, but it looks like a big hassle and too much of a risk to screw something up getting it off of there so I'd like to do that one in place, if possible. My question here, again, is will Plasti Dip peel off the steering wheel material surrounding the badge like it does off of slick painted metal (like the tailgate) or is that a problem due to the texture of the steering wheel material? Also, since the badge on the steering wheel is kind of recessed will the Plasti Dip tear (if that's the right term) properly so it remains on the badge because of the angle it will have to be peeled off because of the recess.

Anyway, thanks again in advance.
 

fastbike02

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GB
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2010
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5.7 hemi
Not sure about the inside but someone dipped my emblems outside and I played hell getting the crap off! I ended up having to remove them and soak them in paint thinner to get all of it out of the cracks!
 

Batman&Robin

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2012
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5.7L Hemi V8
I sprayed mine with Nightshade, and made it dark tinted chrome. Looks great, and i can op it out once a year to clean it.
 

Hootbro

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2017 1500 Express 4x4
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#1 - Does the chrome radio bezel come off of the rest of the dash bezel so I can Plasti Dip it by its self?

No, it is plastic welded on the backside.
 
OP
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Cummins Dog

Cummins Dog

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Well I got brave today and took care of the interior reflection problem. I Palsti Dip'ed the center console latch handle, the steering wheel badge and the radio bezel. The center console handle was easy. I just masked around it and hit it with about 6 coats of PD. The spaces between the handle and the rest of the center console were big enough that I didn't have to do any of the typical peeling of the overspray as you'd usually do with PD. The steering wheel badge surprised me somewhat as I though the texture of the steering wheel around the badge might cause problems with peeling the overspray. A couple weeks ago I had tried to PD it by masking it close, like you'd do for regular paint but as soon as I started to remove the masking tape it started to peel it off the badge too. This time I masked it like I did for my tailgate badge and left about an inch and a half around the badge. After it was dry I carefully took the masking tape off and then started to peel the PD. Surprisingly it peeled pretty easy, not as easy as on the sheetmetal of the truck's body but not bad. I thought the sides and bottom of the steering wheel badge would be hard to peel the PD correctly but it broke just where it should and left a nice clean line on the badge. The top, which I though would be easier because it's not recessed, gave me a little more trouble for some reason but I was able to get that off ok too. The radio bezel was another story. Maybe because the bezel and the surrounding dash were both similar plastic when I peeled the PD it didn't go as planned and broke at the edge of the bezel, peeling it off the bezel too. For the bezel I went to plan B. I have some granite crystal metallic in a rattle can and some plastic adhesion promoter (I picked up in preparation for color matching a new grill in the future) and I re-masked tight to the bezel (after I roughed it up with some sandpaper) and gave it a couple coats of adhesion promoter and then three coats of the granite crystal metallic. It came out looking pretty good. I opted not to put the clear coat on it as I'm trying to reduce the reflection and figured that would make it shiny. Anyway, I did find out that the radio bezel is unremovable (as Hootbro said) to answer one of my initial questions. Now I can drive without the blinding reflections from the sun. Just though some my be interested in how I finally ended up doing this. Sorry its kind of long but I tend to be a little wordy. Thanks.
 

Casper

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Ahh! the light, it hurztes us! Gollum, gollum!

Sorry, no suggestions and the chrome is a ******, but I couldn't resist the reference to an underground dwelling creature that hates the light.
 

noupf

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2015 CC Sport 6'4 Bed
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funny, i only had a problem with the square trim around the center console. I just took a piece of scotchbrite and went around and around and around with it until i had it looking like brushed nickel. Came out pretty good.
 

07MegaCabRam

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You're not the only one. I've hydro-dipped a few of them for friends. I will have to locate some pictures. The satin carbonfiber really looks good. Just enough, not riced out overdone looking.
 
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