DIY Repair Scratched Plastic (auto shift surround) doityourself
What follows is my my effort to restore the scratched up plastic piece that surrounds the automatic shifter. I suppose most of the zhp'ers won't be having this problem in the first place, but the basic idea can be carried over and used for other plastic in the center console.
While doing this, I roughly followed Delmarco's awesome diy instructions. This is just my experience, doing what he already explained!
First you're going to need to remove the shift knob and surround. To get the knob off, you literally just pull really hard straight up. I found it useful to put the car in neutral so I didn't hit the dash. Also make sure you don't punch yourself in the face with it.
You'll also need a can of this:
http://ryankokesh.com/images/plastidip/diy00.jpg
I got mine at Ace Hardware, but Amazon or any hardware store will have it as well. (Although I did find out it's apparently illegal to sell spray paint in Chicago? So even though I wouldn't classify this as "spray paint," I bought it while I was in Indiana one day.
So now you have your plastic surround unplugged and out. I cleaned it up with some Windex, and it should look something like this - scratches and all:
http://ryankokesh.com/images/plastidip/diy01.jpg
http://ryankokesh.com/images/plastidip/diy02.jpg
http://ryankokesh.com/images/plastidip/diy03.jpg
Since you don't want to plasti-dip the indicator, you'll need to tape it off. I used generic scotch tape from target - I don't think it matters what you use though.
http://ryankokesh.com/images/plastidip/diy04.jpg
Then use an X-Acto knife to trim around the edges. Be careful while doing this, as you don't want to scratch the clear plastic covering it. In my extensive X-Acto career, I've found it to be better to use less pressure, and make more frequent and longer cuts. You're kind of just scoring it a lot - not necessarily powering through the stuff.
http://ryankokesh.com/images/plastidip/diy05.jpg
Carefully peel the excess tape off, making additional cuts when necessary.
http://ryankokesh.com/images/plastidip/diy06.jpg
I then taped around the edge of the insert, so the foam surrounding it wouldn't get hard with plastidip over spray.
http://ryankokesh.com/images/plastidip/diy07.jpg
Now you spray it. Obviously use a well-ventilated area, etc etc. The number of coats you need will vary based on how severely damaged your insert is. I'd highly recommend going with the fewest number of coats you can get away with. The more coats you put on, the harder it will be to get the tape off and possibly the worse the perimeter of the taped-off area will look. I was able to get it to look good with two coats, but I'd imagine many of you could just use one. Additionally, I think I could have used just one coat if I had sanded the original finish off first. I didn't though...so yeah...
Let it dry for probably around half an hour between coats. You don't have to get it all the way dry, but just dry enough so that it doesn't appear to be wet.
And then you'll magically have something that looks like this!
http://ryankokesh.com/images/plastidip/diy08.jpg
http://ryankokesh.com/images/plastidip/diy09.jpg
Now for the fun part - getting the tape off without ruining the edge. You're going to have to do some more cutting around the edge like before when we trimmed the tape. Again, I found that multiple, light scoring cuts worked best for me. Take your time, making sure not to scratch the clear plastic. When you're peeling the tape off, if you find any of it to still be attached, let the tape down again, re-cut that area, and try again.
Final product:
http://ryankokesh.com/images/plastidip/diy10.jpg
Like I mentioned before, this technique can be used on any of the plastic with this finish in the car. Last week I did my cupholders, and they turned out really well. They took about four coats to make them look normal again though...
Also as I mentioned before, credit for this diy goes to Delmarco with his great write up on the subject.
