Miami Son
Banned
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2012
- Posts
- 240
- Reaction score
- 13
- Location
- Port St. Lucie, FL
- Ram Year
- 2012 Ram 1500 Sport Crew Cab
- Engine
- 5.7L Hemi
Since day one I thought the silver touches looked cheap and didn't really go well with the truck. Today I did something about it. Thought I'd share some pics and tricks with you all. I assume you already know how to take apart your center console.
If this sight makes your hair curl like a good horror movie, stop now. this isn't for you.
Taking out the A/C vent trim is actually pretty easy. I found that rather than prying it out and risking breakage, it is actually pretty easy to push them out from behind. Squeezing these side tabs makes them pop out very easily.
As you can see, there's plenty of room to reach your hand up from behind to squeeze the tabs. You'll have a connector to undo on the light switch side.
Once you have the trim piece out you need to remove the vent housing from it. Three of these tabs on each side hold them in. Wrestle them out gently. This one is on the center panel, but it is the same for all of them.
The center panel is actually made up of 3 pieces of plastic electronically welded together. I removed the A/C controls to prevent scuffing them up. Put something soft like a towel down to prevent scratches. Here is the panel with everything removed.
Proper masking of the center panel is important if you want a clean line. What I do is gently lay some painter's tape down. I then run a razor down the separator line. This leaves me with a little bit of tape material that I can then fold over to cover the edge of the black plastic so only the silver part gets painted and I get a great line. I use something soft (roll of vinyl tape here) to push the tape into the crease.
I then masked off the rest of the panel. I also masked the attachment points simply because I didn't want to get any paint on them.
The center panel and lower console panel masked and ready for painting after a slight sanding with some #600 wet-sand paper and a wipe down with Windex. I used a can of Dupli-Color followed by a couple of coats of Krylon clear gloss.
Remove these two rubber stoppers on the lower console trim before painting. Not a big deal, but they are easy to remove and replace and should be soft rubber, not covered in hardened paint.
It's hard to tell, but the A/C trim rings are left and right specific as are the vents that mount to them. If you look closely you can see one upper corner is slightly higher than the other. Same for the vents. They are also keyed with a plastic tab so that they only fit their proper mate.
What it looked like.
What it looks like now.
It's a subtle change since my truck is Mineral Grey metallic, but it looks so much better than the cheesy, dull silver. On a Sport with so much color-matching going on, it adds a little custom touch.
If this sight makes your hair curl like a good horror movie, stop now. this isn't for you.
Taking out the A/C vent trim is actually pretty easy. I found that rather than prying it out and risking breakage, it is actually pretty easy to push them out from behind. Squeezing these side tabs makes them pop out very easily.
As you can see, there's plenty of room to reach your hand up from behind to squeeze the tabs. You'll have a connector to undo on the light switch side.
Once you have the trim piece out you need to remove the vent housing from it. Three of these tabs on each side hold them in. Wrestle them out gently. This one is on the center panel, but it is the same for all of them.
The center panel is actually made up of 3 pieces of plastic electronically welded together. I removed the A/C controls to prevent scuffing them up. Put something soft like a towel down to prevent scratches. Here is the panel with everything removed.
Proper masking of the center panel is important if you want a clean line. What I do is gently lay some painter's tape down. I then run a razor down the separator line. This leaves me with a little bit of tape material that I can then fold over to cover the edge of the black plastic so only the silver part gets painted and I get a great line. I use something soft (roll of vinyl tape here) to push the tape into the crease.
I then masked off the rest of the panel. I also masked the attachment points simply because I didn't want to get any paint on them.
The center panel and lower console panel masked and ready for painting after a slight sanding with some #600 wet-sand paper and a wipe down with Windex. I used a can of Dupli-Color followed by a couple of coats of Krylon clear gloss.
Remove these two rubber stoppers on the lower console trim before painting. Not a big deal, but they are easy to remove and replace and should be soft rubber, not covered in hardened paint.
It's hard to tell, but the A/C trim rings are left and right specific as are the vents that mount to them. If you look closely you can see one upper corner is slightly higher than the other. Same for the vents. They are also keyed with a plastic tab so that they only fit their proper mate.
What it looked like.
What it looks like now.
It's a subtle change since my truck is Mineral Grey metallic, but it looks so much better than the cheesy, dull silver. On a Sport with so much color-matching going on, it adds a little custom touch.
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