DIY: No more chrome on Air vents!

As some of you may know, I have an allergic reaction for chrome. I was diagnosed at an early age, and still hate it to this day. Toyota knew that, and purposefully made the chrome air vent rings just to grid my gears. I SAY NO MORE!

This one's for you @LEXICON

Pop yo' dash off and start disassembling;


This isn't a wam-bam mod. The Vent rings are plastic welded from Toyota. Take a razor and cut the nub off



SECRET MESSAGE? My Taco was made in Mexico.. and I can't read spanish.



Forget sanding this stuff, the chrome is like krypotnite. So into the sand blaster they went(done on right)




All blasted



Now paint them the color of your choice! I went Satin black. Cuz that was the closest can to my fingertips


OOOO SO MUCH BETTER




Now re-install!


It's the little things in life..

 

Looks good.

 

I was gonna do that to mine, however I would end up wanting to do the door handles too and I'm not sure how those would hold up

 

Great info. Too much work for me. I'll just keep on ignoring them.

 

SR5 handles are a direct swap. Come black and don't have to worry about paint scraping off.

You are stronger than me my friend.

 

Hmmm it's really annoying to me cause the ring reflects in the window right were my side mirror is. Catches my eye all the time. Nice work

 

Good job but I actually like the chrome rings. ;-)

 

Do you start sneezing?

 

NO, I end up looking like this

 

Awesome didn't know that. Thanks

 

I have been wanting to do this for awhile now. How did you re-attach the bezel to the air vents? It's the only thing that's been stopping me from doing this.

 

Soldering iron. Exactly how they left the factory.

 

the sand blasted look actually looks pretty cool

 

you did your cup holder ring too, nice.

 

A chromeafobiac ! I'm old so I need to have a little chrome here and there. I really hated the 80's when chrome was outlawed on cars.

 

YES! Been dying to tackle this! Looks great!

 

Thanks. Every time I hop in, the chrome just catches my eye and bugs the heck out of me. The ONLY thing left is the ring around the 4WD selector.... then my mission is complete.

 

Dedication is key! Gotta do this as it REALLY bothers me as well. Thankfully on my car the only thing chrome is the badges, grille surround and window trim. Trying to juggle that mess and these rings. My GF hates it too thankfully, want it GONE!
Suggestions for exterior window trim?

Thinking of just a light sanding to take away the reflective nature of chrome and live with the silver look.

 

Same exact thing with my truck, l thought the sideview mirrors were transparent and l was seeing a mounting ring at first.

 

Did you do the start button, 4 wheel drive switch and the piece around the shift boot?