No luck with removing the glue using 3m's gunk remover, and no dice at the 3 body shops I went to (they said they could remove it but it would also melt the plastic or at the very least remove the paint). I knew at this point I was running out of choices....I had the following options:
#1 - Buy new pieces or find used pieces
#2 - Buy other trim decals that would cover what was lurking beneath
#3 - Sand and paint myself
#4 - Get it restored by professionals
#1 - Used parts are a bish to find. New prices on parts is absolutely disgusting.
#2 - Unfortunately I care too much about my cars to cover up something like this.
#3 - Would've done if I had a garage and the correct tools/materials
#4 - Talked to Karl and he set me up with his interior guru. He quoted me $95 to repair and redye the steering wheel, twice as much to change color. Side to side dash repair and redye $215, color change twice as much, and $285 for the center console which included the silver dye, which is much more expensive than standard colors. Which I thought was very fair pricing btw.
or #5. Get real aggressive with it because your sick of looking at it!
I chose #5. went to the store and picked up permatex gasket removed. Brushed it on, let it sit for 2 minutes and then I wiped it off......Guess what...it removed the glue........and the paint.......and melted what was underneath. Knew this could happen, I wasn't upset.
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Trolling this forum, I ran into a post of a guy in SoCal who got in a wreck and the insurance company was salvaging his car, gave him a call. I sent him pics of my dash/center console and asked if I could swap out interiors, he said yes and so I did.
Couple surprises....His was an 07 (mine an 04), his interior was black (mine is grey), and the lower dashes (right and left) are different, his was a stick (mine auto). I was able to modify the drivers side lower dash to fit very well, the passenger side (glove compartment) was too different to modify so I wasn't able to take that (although I took his and mine off before I realized they weren't inter-changable (lost 1.5 hours there). The glove is what I really wanted because its the biggest eye-sore.
Here is pics of the interior swap (pics were taken with different cameras, shades/colors are different):
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IMG_6026.jpg
Mine before
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Mine after
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Mine before
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Mine after
IMG00113-20100517-2119.jpg
Mine before
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Mine after
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So overall things went well...I went black, and its true, I dont want to go back.....Black looks fabulous. So big thanks to Sky! You helped me out a ton brother!
And the real disappointment of the day, when I was working on the center I put the car in neutral and put the ebrake on. All of the sudden I hear this crunch, the car had rolled back into a vertical pillar, luckily my door stopped me from rolling all the way back and it jacked my door up (doesnt close properly now). So the moral of this story is chock your rig up!!! Stupid move on my part. Save a little, spend alot!
I still need an 04 (or like model) black glove compartment and the silver trim that goes around the automatic shifter...If you know anyone whos got the stuff please let me know.