My DIY Bezel Project
09-18-2014, 01:27 AM
#1
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Thread Starter
My DIY Bezel Project
The center console Bezel (puter plastic ring) which is attached to the shifter bezel had broken lose. This was like shifting gears with two or three large bangles draped around my shifter.. In other words.. wasn’t pleasant driving home, with all the flopping around..
After close inspection, I found out that this bezel is simply “press molded” encasing the rubber boot which surrounds the shifter. What had happen, is that over time the plastic numbs (which are pressed into a retaining bezel) had broken.. There are 8 of these located around the plastic bezel.
At this point, the bezel was hanging on by a thread.. There is a tacky substance between the rubber boot and the plastic retaining bezel and I guess I could have simply purchased 3M’s double sided tape and just stuck it back. I decided to take a different route.
Drilling 4 pilot holes in the plastic bezel that support retain the rubber boot within the bezel housing. I drilled the front two and rear two holes lining up with the lower retainer. The rivets, In my opinion, seem to be longer than I needed thus taking three pulls instead of the typical two pulls. But with a pop the rivet worked.
One concern was that the rivet’s exposed pull, had a sharp edge and I needed to correct this as not to cut any more hands.. Taking a large metal file, I was able to simply round the exposed pin, but my file (found on the road) is not as sharp as I would hope.
After close inspection, I found out that this bezel is simply “press molded” encasing the rubber boot which surrounds the shifter. What had happen, is that over time the plastic numbs (which are pressed into a retaining bezel) had broken.. There are 8 of these located around the plastic bezel.
At this point, the bezel was hanging on by a thread.. There is a tacky substance between the rubber boot and the plastic retaining bezel and I guess I could have simply purchased 3M’s double sided tape and just stuck it back. I decided to take a different route.
Drilling 4 pilot holes in the plastic bezel that support retain the rubber boot within the bezel housing. I drilled the front two and rear two holes lining up with the lower retainer. The rivets, In my opinion, seem to be longer than I needed thus taking three pulls instead of the typical two pulls. But with a pop the rivet worked.
One concern was that the rivet’s exposed pull, had a sharp edge and I needed to correct this as not to cut any more hands.. Taking a large metal file, I was able to simply round the exposed pin, but my file (found on the road) is not as sharp as I would hope.
Last edited by AngryRedBird; 10-14-2014 at 12:08 AM.
