How to: Paint HVAC controls

So this idea came into my head after seeing the interior of some 2012 Tacomas and after Razorecko showed off his painted center console http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/199234-re-did-my-shifter-console.html.

After seeing (and performing) his mod I decided to work my way up the radio/HVAC stack and paint the rest of them black to match and figured I could make a small contribution to this great community.

Here's what you'll need:
- One or two small flat-head screwdrivers
- One Phillips head screwdriver
- A can of spray paint in the color you want. I used VHT Wrinkle Black

1. The first thing you need to do is remove the HVAC control unit from the center console. I didn't take a picture of this but you will need one or two small screwdrivers to pry at the top and bottom to carefully work the module out. It can be tricky so be careful not to damage your dash!


2. Now that you have the module out you will need to separate knobs from the actual faceplate. There are four Philips screws that need to be removed and six tabs that will need to be undone with a small screwdriver. Here are two pictures of the screws and tabs:

From the side with a view of the top:


From the back of the panel with a view of the bottom four tabs:



And here are the two parts separated:



3. Now you just need to mask off the sides and bottom to make sure you don't get paint on the backside (or not if you don't care, I'm a bit OCD) and paint the faceplate. Here's mine while it is waiting to dry overnight:



After that, just wait for the paint to dry, re-attach the faceplate to the knobs and install in the truck.

Here are the pictures of the finished product:

Faceplate before it is installed, the light makes it look silver


Re-installed and back in place:


Here is a picture of the console now, I am not painting the factory radio because I am getting an aftermarket one soon, I'll just paint the new kit:

 

subd.

 

nice, now change the LED's lol

 

subd

 

I'd love to change the LED color but they tinted the plastic instead of using orange LEDs. They use clear plastic for every other spot on the truck but not on the HVAC

The only prep I did was some dish soap, rinsing and drying of the faceplate before painting. Since it is plastic I didn't see a point to priming like you should do with metal and that was the process I used on the center console and it has been fine for two months.

 

Pictures of the final product have been added. Feel free to ask any questions

 

subbed

 

Are those gummy vitamins?

Looks nice, I like the black between the side gray bolsters. I'm adding this to my eventual To Do list.

 

Theres another thread on this. Somebody did it, I personaly dont think it turned out that good, light dosen't shine through right. Huge amount of work. Could buy a 2012 for $600 with stock white led's. Still looking for one from a wrecker, lowest I could get was $400.