*update* dash kit mod (pics)

[clarkgrizwald]

im SURE that someone has painted theyre dash kits before but i couldnt find anyone. it just didnt make sense to me, spending 600+ on a reciever then fitting it into your dash with a 15 dollar piece of plastic that looks like crap. my original plan was to get the dash kit to look as much like the facory finish on the gen 5 radios as i could. so i asked the good people on this forum on painting it and got some good advice to get me on my way. did some research. found an excellent painting tutorial. it was actually for painting computer tower cases or something. and tested it out on a part of the kit i wont be using (ive yet to paint the actual DD part that ill be using). advice? i think it looks ALOT better but am interested in what you guys think. granted this is a test version. only one coat of clear coat and lazy wet sanding. basically to get the idea of how feasable this would be to work. ill give the real kit a good job. my concerns are this: how well will it hold up to heat and normal dash use? i used american traditions plastic enamel spray paint or something like that. picked it up at home depot. pics:

[whiteboy]

can't really tell how it would look but it looks shinier if that's waht you're going for, would have to see it in the dash with the receiver and the surroundings, thing is the gen5 surroundings aren't really shiny or anything they're all kind of bleh so this would really stand out I think but dunno

as for the paint and use as long as you don't scratch it with like keys or something sharp it will be good you just have to rememeber it's still paint so you have to be a little more careful than pure plastic. but other than that it should be fine since the interior doesnt really have heat extremes or anything so it shouldn't peal or anything I don't think
good job though painting is a pain in the ass i know that from experience heh

[clarkgrizwald]

well the thing is is that the factory finish on the radios are similar to this. thats the whole reason i wanted to try this. seeing that the radio is so big the kits leave a bit of surface area on them. imo the plastic on these kits looks soooo cheap... i dont want it to look gaudy though. your right, ill have to see what it looks like in the dash. if i dont like it i guess i can just buy another one. its not like theyre expensive...

[whiteboy]

I'm getting a 2din huge display avic-d2 in the mail soon I might actually try this on mine when I do it, I hve two kits atm one's unused so I might try it when it comes in, can't wait for the navi
still props for trying the paint looks good :-) is it black paint and clear coat or just a lot of sanding with clear coat?

[clarkgrizwald]

its a plastic primer, black enamel paint, and clear coat. and how 'huge' is the display? to my knowledge 7" is as big as they come.

[clarkgrizwald]

yea just googled that unit. its display is a 6.5 vs my 7" so yea your definitly gonna have quite a bit of space to work with like me. im acually painting the actual kit now. ill post pics up late tonight.