Naked Climate Control Buttons

[DearJimmy]

I'm unsure if anyone else has ever tried this so I thought I would post what I did. My 1988 climate control buttons were peeling. I took a razor blade, exacto knife and tweezers and stripped them all. The few that weren't pealing were a pain to do. In their case I cut on the side of the button and flicked at the cut till it started peeling. Sometimes I cut on the edge of the face. The razor blade will scrape the residue off when it's laid almost flat. The nice thing is any slight nicks will cover when wiped with your finger. GO SLOW!!! It took me nearly 4 hours. I left mine in the dash. Having it removed might help, because leaning into it KILLED my back!

The result?

The white button pain remains, but is a little tough to see. If you know what the buttons do then you're still okay. The button titles are recessed and mat take dark ink. The plastic button seems porus to where ink might bleed.

At night the buttons glow and look great!!! See my pictures...

 

[bioskyline]

dont look to bad actually. i was also thinking of using a black sticker base and then x-acto the icons out, make it look more like the 89+ style, as my tems switch is also in bad shape.

 

[te72]

Looks kinda cool, does it burn your retinas at night though? I tend to prefer to have as little light as possible in my cabin at night, so my eyes can focus on the road. Sadly, we don't have much ambient or street light around these parts...

 

[RazoE]

looks terrible..

 

[roystunna]

Wow you have a 1/2 tank of gas!...i envy you....

 

[hvyman]

You should paint over the icons in black. So you can see the what button during the day and at night it will glow around it.

 

[DearJimmy]

dont look to bad actually. i was also thinking of using a black sticker base and then x-acto the icons out, make it look more like the 89+ style, as my tems switch is also in bad shape.

I would think you would have to use paint. I think the summer heat would bake off the tape. You could cover the icons with cut outs, paint the buttons and then pull off the tape before the paint dries. There are paints specifically made for painting plastics. I did a speedo bezel flat black on a car and it came out nice.

Looks kinda cool, does it burn your retinas at night though? I tend to prefer to have as little light as possible in my cabin at night, so my eyes can focus on the road.

Maybe that's why my eyes are crossed now!?! Kidding! The low light to get a night shot makes the buttons WAY brighter than they are. I'm critical about light around me too! My old Chevy truck has it's 4x4 actuator on the floor. The shifter has lights to show what mode your in and it's lit night and day. I took out the normal 2WD light just for the reason you brought up. I think I could actually tan from the bulb!!! The small LED's below the buttons are brighter than the buttons. It is a different area of lighting, but I got used to it in about 30 seconds.

 

[DearJimmy]

UPDATE...I just drove my car again. I really like the glow of the buttons. They are a soft glow and nothing too bright. I can see all of the icons except for the LOW, MED and HI buttons for the fan. I may try to use black tape on an icon to see if I like it better. What I'll try is cutting out a figure with an exacto knife.

 

[modmonster2008]

Wow you have a 1/2 tank of gas!...i envy you....

he's not the only one with more than half

ANYWAYS back to the topic, have you tried looking at switching over to 89+ climate control? They rarely seem to crack and with the right LED's in there they look pretty damn good!

 

[Supra28]

^ That's what I would do! Makes life easier and look ten times better.

 

[D.J.T.]

he's not the only one with more than half

ANYWAYS back to the topic, have you tried looking at switching over to 89+ climate control? They rarely seem to crack and with the right LED's in there they look pretty damn good!

How did you get the red needles