Brushed Aluminum Finish

Again looking for wisdom of those that have gone before...

I'm almost done with my interior refresh, and everything is looking good in what's becoming a uniform color of blue.  One of the next logical items is to refresh the dash panel bezel.

Has anyone found a good match for the XLS trim "brushed aluminum" applique?

The MasterCoat primer that Pete turned me towards for rust
mitigation is pretty darn close, but likely not the best application for plastic.  A custom SEM mix might be my best bet, but I'd prefer to use something I can find again easily later on a shelf, if it exists.

Anyone been successfully down this road?

I have purchased perhaps 20+ cans of various silver/aluminum spray paints and I have yet to find one that is a good match to the XLS silver bezels. I’ve been told Krylon dull aluminum but I haven’t ordered it yet.  I am still on the quest but many things are on hold in my life until I get our new home functional. My other quest is to find a way to recreate the brushed effect which of course cannot come from a spray can. That will either have to be a water transfer film or a handwork technique.



I don’t know what shape your bezels are in, but I urge you to ~not paint over the original finish. If you are painting or hydro dipping you can do this to faded rosewood bezels and not harm your rare originals. Once they are painted over you can’t go back. Just a thought. Eventually I hope to write an info page like I made for the rosewood refurbish, but for now I have a mobile under renovation...

I don’t know if this helps, but there are several silver paint comparison web pages out there:

http://www.skypirate.net/rocketry/con_paint_03.htm

https://kastyles.co/silver-spray-paint-colors/

Thanks for the links.

I thought about hand-brushing, but I harbor an inverse relationship between the quality I seek and my personal ability.  I'm intrigued by the water bath transfer, and have watched some videos, but I don't have any experience beyond that.  Perhaps it's time to find a local shop and see if I can learn anything first hand.

Good point about keeping the original unmolested.  Next time I'm at the yard I'll pull a couple to practice on.

(Good luck with your other projects)

Thanks! If you go down the road of water transfer, there are a lot of good DIY videos on YouTube. I would like to try it. In spite of the fact that there are a bazillion films to choose from, the brushed metal ones are surprisingly few and most have a much more aggressive brush texture than the XLS. The best one that I have found is a little more brassy and antique than the XLS but would be quite attractive if not placed next to an original as an attempted match:





I know... video game controller 🤮 but it shows the film applied to something. The films are ~slightly translucent and the base color that you paint the item will affect the results slightly. I am curios if a very bright silver would help, or flat black to accentuate the brush marks? I have no idea, just speculating. I have looked at Walmart and they have Rubbermaid tubs large enough to dip an instrument bezel...

I sure hope you'se guys get this figured out as I want to XLS Dad's truck.  (But, at the rate it isn't progressing you have a lot of time to get it sorted.)

You want to leave the surface rough, slightly, with directional scratches prior to painting. That way the correct "texture" will be present after the paint is sprayed.

The XLS bezels have no actual texture. It is just a printed picture of texture the way the wood grain is a picture of wood. I have tried texturing the plastic and painting it, but by the time I got big enough/deep enough scratches to show through the paint it didn’t look right. Paint likes to fill the scratches, and if you scuff silver paint and apply clear coat, the clear coat melts the base coat and you loose your scratches. It’s a lot trickier than I anticipated.

I wonder if this seller would share what process is used for this product?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Aluminum-Gauge-Cluster-Dash-Bezel-Trim-fits-80-83-Ford-F-100/111717134874?fits=Make%3AFord%7CModel%3AF-100&hash=item1a02dc321a:g:Hh8AAOSwT6pVo04R

Good thought David, but I read the description and it says genuine brushed aluminum metal. I suppose that’s why it looks so convincing! Would be nice if they made a good fitting overlay for both of the dash bezels.

The paint needs to be very thin. That is why it is filling the texture.