I've got a '98 and the gear shift plate is not very shiny and I've seen in a lot of people's pictures that their shift plate does look shiny like it's made of chrome or something and I was wondering if they bought it from somewhere or if the car came with that plate. I think the chrome-looking one looks a lot nicer. If anyone knows, please let me know. Thanks!

 

Chrome shift gate is from the first RL, or 3rd Legend, depending on where you are. I'm needing to redo mine soon, because I scratched a small piece off of it when I removed my center console the lazy way, hehe.

~Cheers~

 

Pop off your shift plate and soak it for a few hours in paint remover (not stripper).... I used some stuff called Stripeze and it worked well. Then rub off that crappy top coat to reveal the beautiful chrome underneath.... now why would Acura do this??

 

I dug a little hole, so I'll always have a black dot, hehe.

~Cheers~

 

CORRECTION: I meant to say.... Use paint remover or paint stripper, not paint thinner. Paint thinner is not strong enough.

 

paint stripper FTW...

 

colt45 to the rescue


go to the hardware store, buy a small container called zip strip.

The dull finish is a frosted clear coat that goes over the stock chrome plated shift gate. Its purpose was so it does not get fingerprints on it.

Once its chrome its a bitch to keep clean btw.

I wish mine was still frosted.

just paint the shit on there(zip strip) and let it soak for a few mins. then the stuff whipes right off and its chrome. Be careful not to break the tabs off when you remove the gate from the shifter assy..




Later

 

Thanks alot for your tips.

 

And IF you screw it up.. you can buy one meant for a 2004 RL. Its an exact fit and its chrome.

 

mine is already chromed because i did it with paper towel and messed up my wood grain a bit

but how the hell do you pop the thing off? the reason i did it my way is because i couldn't get it off

 

Does the plate actually just pop off?

 

99 TL's also came with this chrome hidden under some foggy stuff. I soaked a rag in paint thinner wrapped the gate in the rag. a few minutes later all I had to do is rub the flaky shit off!

 

the black plastic ring that goes around the shift gate that has the little key hole in it to unlock the shifter actually just pops right off. You just get your fingernails under it and pry upwards. It snaps right out. Then theres tabs on either side that you can pry up on to get the gate off. Its held in by 2 tabs on either side. Its cake to get off.

I have my cruise control rewired to two momentary switches on the black trim ring. Its actually the best spot to put them if you get a momo steering wheel or something like that.

Best luck

 

Thanks Alot!

 

can you people show some pictures so i can see what it looks like

 

I'll post one tomorrow or as soon as I get the chance. It looks much better chrome.

 

um i already got rid of the paint crap and accidentally scratched the chrome. OOPS! oh well.

 

if you toke the time to use paint thinner you can see how it came out..and why bother asking people for pictures. duh it look like chrome..

 

o yah? maybe i felt like seeing what it looked like fool

 

^There are plenty of pics around the board, m8. Just take a peek in the Photograph sub-forum, I won't say search because you seem to use it to bump dead threads.

~Cheers~

 

There should be a DIY here, we've done this a zillion years ago....

 

Does it really look this shiny after stripping the paint??? Damn!

 

BTW, it like $18.78 for the 2004 RL gate from acuraoemparts.com, here's the part number...
54712-SZ3-A80

 

I think it was because of the reflection issues. On a real sunny day when the sun is at a certain angle, the shift gate REALLY punishes you. Sometimes, I have to put my hand on the shifter to block the reflection. They probably saw this and decided to paint over them with a dull color so the reflection isn't bad and doesn't impair your driving.

 

^ YES.
^^ If it's that cheap, I might as well buy it since my one now has a deep scratch/tiny chunk missing.

~Cheers~

 

Well I just did this procedure and took pictures of every step. Does anyone think it'd be worth it to create a complete set of DIY instructions?

 

^Yeah, just so every newb that joins doesn't ask about it.

 

i just did mine n it looks amazing i used nail polish remover, paper towels, q-tips, & my fingernails n just scratched at it it took me about 4 hours to do by hand and once the chrome started to appear i couldn't stop...lol

 

Well, I guess you wanted to suffer....paint remover takes 10 minutes. Well to each his own, I guess.