My $7 Interior Upgrade - Center Heater Vents

[Meteorite_Marty]

Well, during a visit to my local Toyota dealership, and while waiting for my car to be serviced (routine maintenance), I sat in a brand new 2009 Yaris hatchback.

When I was in there, I noticed a minor cosmetic difference in the newest version of the car that I really liked the look of. The center heat vents are now a matte black. Seeing this was enough to convince me to change mine to black, having mulled it over for many weeks now (without ever knowing the 2009's were like this as stock).

So, on the way home, I decided I would change the color of my center heater vents to Black, instead of having that ugly stock white that seems to have nothing to do with the theme of the car.

I used a product called Krylon Camouflage, Ultra Flat Black. This is an adhesive plastic paint, that is simple to use and makes the finish look like it was originally done in black. Spray lightly from a distance. I used about 4 coats, which can be applied 30-seconds apart. Dries fast, and is ready to touch in 15-mins. Cures in 1-hour. Scratch/chip resistant in 7-days.

Taking the center dash apart was easy. The center heater vent pops right out, and aside from popping out the electric clips to the hazard light swithc and passenger air bag alert indicator, the operation is completely tool-less. I removed each individual slat of the vent, and painted them separately.

Dismantling the center heater vent is a bit tricky, so I recommend doing one half at a time so you have something to compare against when reassembling. Its easy to see how it all goes together, and you will not break anything (the pieces give easily).

I have been debating whether or not to do this for a long time, and seeing it on the 2009's was my final push. The idea was to match my silver dash kit side heater vents, to unify the look of the interior. I hope my work inspires others to give it a shot too!!! Sorry for the "excessive" pics. Lots of before and after. Some specks on the black vents are NOT imperfections, just dust/fluff from wiping it off that the flash over exposes.