BlessedAggie

Anyone know where to get a real brushed aluminum kit for cheap on the net
besides ebay because that junk is fake
thanks in advance

Jackseric

iTrader: (1)

Follow the directions in the DIY section and paint your trim pieces instead. You'll be much happier with the results. Even the Honda one is really fake and plastic looking, and you can always see around the edges of the sticker.

I just did mine this weekend, and it looks WAY better than the real Honda brushed aluminum kit my sister has on her SI. Total time involved was only about an hour and a half and that was mostly waiting on the pieces to dry.

XxSoVeReiGNxX

iTrader: (10)

Jack, what type of paint (spray?) did you use? They said in the diy, but I want to open my options up, and did you follow the steps exactly? sand, paint, paint, clearcoat,paint, paint, clearcoat; in that order? did it come out too think?

OmegaStauf

I agree with this.... I wasted money on those stupid kits... finally just spray painted.

OmegaStauf

I used some silver spray paint that I picked up at Checker auto parts.

2 coats of white primer - 10 minutes inbetween.
Wait 15 minutes.
3 coats of paint - 10 minutes inbetween.
Wait 1 hour.
2 coats of clearcoat - 10 minutes inbetween.

However the clear coat is debatable... it may change the color of the paint according to some... I never had a problem.

genx_7

iTrader: (9)

Just get the metal trim oem kit. It's not brushed aluminum but it's nice. It saves you the time and trouble of taking the dash pieces out and painting them. Plus paint tends to chip as it ages and you'll have to do all over again. Imo Oem kit looks better than paint. It fits perfectly unlike third party companies who sell similer kits. Also, don't think painting is easy as people will tell you. You'll need a lot of patience and some skill to get everything perfect.

2k2EXCOUPE

iTrader: (11)

I agree with the n00b. I have the oem metal dash trim kit and it fits great and i love it. i get compliments on it all the time. My friends mom was in my car the other day and she asking me about it and couldnt believe that it was just stuck on there. She thought it was factory that way. I love it and i got the honda dealer to give it to me for $79, normally $129 :-D

CivicLX620

I have debated this topic a lot. I really wanna paint mine silver but I am very scared of chipping. I mean if you look, there really isnt that much room between the dash plate and the dash, especially if I will be doing some many coats. Someone settle my mind, but give me realistic options and input, not just that it is worth the risk.

Thanks fellas
Joel

01WingsWestCivic

iTrader: (5)

i got a kit dash kit from alkaplus.com i was surprised at the good quality and low price ($115) they have tons of colors and theyre extremely glossy

genx_7

iTrader: (9)

I had the a brushed aluminium kit from alkaplus from ebay. Don't get it. It doesn't fit well and it is cheap quality. The only thing good about alkaplus is their customer service. They respond fast and will refund you if the pieces don't fit or are not happy with them.

Jackseric

iTrader: (1)

XxSoVeReiGNxX - I went to Autozone and bought the Duplicolor Silver in the small 6 or 7 inch tall can and some light gray primer. You can look at the caps and see there are only 3 shades of silver they carry and the other 2 are not even close to the silver on our cars. That paint is awesome! I was getting all giddy excited while I was spraying it because you could see the paint sparkling as it was hitting the pieces.

As for the process... I did not sand anything as I wanted the pieces to retain their original texture. After I pulled the pieces out of the dash and dissassembled everything I just cleaned them up with Windex to remove all the Armorall. You know, I was shocked at how little force it actually took to pull out the vents. A little hint: just sit in the seat in front of the vent you're removing. Point the vent as if you're trying to cool your legs. You'll now have room to put a couple fingers in the bottom. It takes some fairly hard pressure here, but just pull down and towards you at the same time. Don't be afraid, you really can't screw anything up at this point... and if you could, replacements are cheap at the junkyard!

I carried them out to my back yard (edit: After disassembling the pieces I didn't want painted) and just layed them out on newspaper. (it's best to find a spot with little to no wind so the paper doesn't flip up on you, or weigh down the paper with rocks) Spray an ultra light coat of primer... i mean ULTRA-LIGHT!! I sprayed it so thin it just made the pieces look like it was just really dirty. I broke a sweat at this point because I thought, "Oh crap that looks terrible, what have I done?!" But I kept going... and I love it!

I waited 10 minutes and did another light coat of primer. After another 10 minutes I went back and touched up the spots that weren't covered. Then I started with the paint in the exact same way. It only took 2 coats of primer and 3 of paint. The third paint layer really was just touching up the thin spots. Again, wait 10 minutes between each layer. It was very warm out, the sun was shining and the breeze was nice when I sprayed so that may have shortened my dry time. Just take your time and you'll do fine.

I waited an hour after the final coat before I put things back together, and I was VERY slow, delicate and carefull not to rub, nick, or scratch the painted surface in any way. If you've got the time, I'd leave it overnight before re-assembly... just to be safe.

Jackseric

iTrader: (1)

I have nearly zero patience and absolutely no skill!
But my wife's parents saw how it looked and compared it to their new Infinity G35's silver dash trim and said, "it looks every bit as high quality... like it came from Honda that way." They even said it looked better than my sister's Si and she has the OEM Honda metal trim kit. I don't care how carefully you put it on... you will always be able to tell it's a sticker. It's not possible for them to make it the exact size of the piece you're trying to cover or the edges would rub as you hit buttons, move the vents, change cds, etc. that would eventually lead to it peeling it's self off at the edge. that's why you see an eight or a sixteenth of an inch of the black plastic all the way around the edge of the kit. And once you've seen that on one car, you can see it on others without even getting in the car... it becomes that noticable.

Sorry, not trying to start a flame war I'm sure I'd eventually loose anyway. This is all just my opinion I guess.

Jackseric

iTrader: (1)

Youve gotta pull the pieces to avoid over spray and to get a show quality finish. It really isn't a big deal at all... I did the whole disassembly part with a phillips screw driver in about 15 - 20 minutes.

I've debated clearcoating, but I didn't want a gloss finish. I like the matte finish because it looks more natural since the rest of the dash is not glossy either. Who knows... I may change my mind in a month and redo it with clearcoat. It's that easy. From what I understand, I guess the primer is supposed to help make chipping less of a problem.

Jackseric

iTrader: (1)

The way I finally justified it in my mind was this:

The cost of the kit: Well over $100 for most of us since we won't get the deal you got.
The cost of painting: $7 and about 1.5 to 2 hours of your time. (primer/paint were $3.50 each)

I figured I would try the paint first. If I didn't like it, I was out $7, a couple hours, and I could still go to honda and buy the sticker kit.

XxSoVeReiGNxX

iTrader: (10)

Thanks jack. Sounds similar to the DIY, but better details. I'm going to try this out after my finals!

mos_skeeto

how do u remove the air vents on the sides? can u just pull?

Jackseric

iTrader: (1)

read my second post above... second paragraph... it doesn't get much easier...

mos_skeeto

thanks!

gotti

iTrader: (6)

Sweet, i might do this soon

Entropy

I'm going to be painting a few of my trim pieces this weekend, and I was wondering if anyone here has any pictures of their own interiors after they painted them. It'd be nice to see the difference it makes between adding a clear coat at the end and not having one.

oh, and I'm puttin on my tanabe exhaust too

mos_skeeto

Now I just need to find the paint. No pepboys in canada

konstanting

hmmmmmmmmmm im tempted to do it myself aswell :-D i will probably go to some hardware store and see what shades of metal colours they have, i dont want a bright colour in my car, rather go with some ruffer,dark looking metal. or a shiny good old black with lots of clear coat just to give a nice contrast to the matt black dash :-D

mos_skeeto

yay i took apart my dash. used gloves for better grip.

anywho i did 2 trials on the old radio trim piece i took out and i ****ed up twice... gonna look for more plastic to try. granted i was rushing the time cause it was an extra piece.

mos_skeeto

q: if i screw up the painting process (ex it starts to run) can i redo another layer

second q: what technique do u use for spraying. holding the thing down and doing zig zags? or squirt squirt squirt

VtecIvIc

i am very interested in this as well..what color primer did you guys use?..white or gray?

mos_skeeto

white plastic-kote primer. dont take my word as final since i havent done it yet. i remember reading it in the diy tho.

anyone have some spraying technique tips?

mos_skeeto

I'm probably pissing everyone off with my questions.

I painted the under radio dash piece i took out and after drying overnight i can scratch the paint off with my nails. is this normal or am i doing something wrong?

Entropy

did you use a primer? how many coats of paint did you do? did you add a clear coat?

just a few of the questions your about to get

hassoomi

i was thinking of doing this down the line, too. anyway, i just thought i'd do it this color if i found it (down there). silver is cool (and my car is SSM), but i'm going for a silver/blue theme anyway......

and has someone answered mos_skeeto's question about the painting technique? i want to know how to spray the paint on. thanks

mos_skeeto

primer yes

3 primer coats
2 paint coats

no clear coat because some ppl said it might change color.. that and i dont want gloss

will it help protect tho? i can still rub off paint with my nails easily