EricS Posted May 9, 2020 Share Posted May 9, 2020 Relatively new member here and if this has been asked before, please forgive me. I did some searching and didn't see any previous discussion of this. I recently purchased a 2016 Legacy Limited 2.5i after some moron plowed into the front of '01 Legacy (yep, still bitter about that - it only had 80k miles and I had just done new head gaskets and a new clutch so I was looking forward to another 15 years from it.) Anyhow, does anyone know how to remove the stupid silver trip pieces so they can be painted black? Why any car manufacturer thinks it's a good idea to make ANY part of the interior of a car shiny and reflective is beyond me. These are distracting safety hazards in my book... Is it easier to paint them in place with a small paint brush, or should they be removed prior to painting? What kind of paint is best? Is some sort of tape better? I don't really care what method is used, but the reflections have got to go! Any insights would be appreciated! Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KJS2023 Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 The vents in the center console pop out easy just use a plastic pry tool I started in the right side of it and it comes clean out. The side vents I haven’t removed. The shifter on the other hand is a few steps. Pull off the small plastic parts to the left and right of the cubby. Then remove the rubber bottom in the cubby. Then pry up from where to cubby ends to pull the shifter plastic up. Be mindful in order to fully do this you will have to be able to shift the car safely and of course have a flat head ready to remove the plugs from underneath. ————————————————— HPS intake, Nameless Axleback Exhaust, SSD FSB, Cusco RSB, 20mm rear sway bar, Voxx 18” rims, Infinity Kappa system, More to come... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricS Posted May 11, 2020 Author Share Posted May 11, 2020 Thanks for the details, KJS2023! I was able to get one of the side vents out. I scuffed it with some fine grain sandpaper, taped off the louvers and sprayed it with some flat black enamel. We'll see how it holds up. Depending on how this goes, I'll tackle the one in the center of the dash next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PATS4LIFE Posted May 11, 2020 Share Posted May 11, 2020 Could’ve just wrap it with vinyls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricS Posted May 11, 2020 Author Share Posted May 11, 2020 There are four clips that hold the vents on the sides of the front dash in place: two on the side next to the open/close control (covered with white cloth) and two on the bottom. I was able to remove the passenger side vent, but not the driver side vent, so I painted that one in place after taping it off. I still need to adjust one of the vent clips after the paint dries on the driver side vent, but it is MUCH better now. Given how narrow the trim is, I wasn't sure if the vinyl wrap would adhere well, plus I was bored today... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grnlantern1 Posted May 12, 2020 Share Posted May 12, 2020 Looks good I painted mine purple to match my interior suede. Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KJS2023 Posted May 13, 2020 Share Posted May 13, 2020 Good to know it’s easy to take the side vents out. Think I might paint mine blue this summer. ————————————————— HPS intake, Nameless Axleback Exhaust, SSD FSB, Cusco RSB, 20mm rear sway bar, Voxx 18” rims, Infinity Kappa system, More to come... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricS Posted May 14, 2020 Author Share Posted May 14, 2020 Looking closely at the one I was able to remove reveals a bit of glue residue around the opening. I was able to get one out but not the other (maybe the glue still held on that side?). In the end, it didn't make any difference - both got painted and turned out equally nice. The one that I couldn't remove just got taped off. I spent about 15 mins with tape and newspaper and painted it without any issues at all. I scuffed it a bit with 400 grit paper after taping it off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IdentificationTag Posted September 5, 2020 Share Posted September 5, 2020 did the painting on mine too, hate the silver trim:rolleyes: used “plastidip” kind of paint im black metallic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sylquist Posted September 5, 2020 Share Posted September 5, 2020 I second plastidip. Plastidip is about $5 USD. One can is enough to cover all the trim pieces. Plenty of YouTube tutorial videos if you've never used plastidip before. I dipped my pieces three years ago and haven't needed to redip them yet. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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