So...I decided to do some experimenting and thought that for those of you who want your newly installed unit to look completely stock, you can try this. I'm NOT recommending it...I'm just showing everyone that it can be done.
The first unit that was shipped to me was defective, so Eric sent a new one to me and he said that I could keep the plastic surround from the defective unit since I had already painted it. I removed the plastic surround from the defective unit and returned it Eric. I received the replacement and that one has been installed in my car. I decided not to paint the replacement unit because I really didn't like the paint match.
I wanted to see if I could get the chrome button bezels from stock unit to fit into the new surround and since I had the old surround, I thought I'd experiment on it.
If you want to attempt the mod, you'll need a metric stepped drill bit. I purchased this one from Amazon:
Step Drill Bit High Speed Steel Cone Drill Bit Hex Shank Titanium Coated Hole Cutter 4-22mm
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I taped the drill bit so that I'd know when I got to 19mm. This is the hole size in the stock unit. On the top hole, I started drilling from the outside and saw that it "chipped" the plastic. You can see the chips in the photo. (First photo - First hole) I then drilled the second hole from the inside and it worked perfectly. (First photo - Second hole). In additional to drilling the hole, you'll have to remove the plastic lips that surrounds the holes. I did this after drilling and I used an Exacto knife to cut off the remaining plastic. (Second photo)
I then removed the chrome surrounds from the stock unit (they're just pressed in place) and separated them. I had initially thought that I would have to remove the "ears" on the chrome surrounds, but found that it's not necessary, provided you insert the surrounds so that the ears don't interfere with the fit.
I'm planning to do the remaining two holes tomorrow and then I'll consider removing the unit in my car to do the mod on it. I purchased a unit for a friend and he said that he's definitely going to do the mod. I made sure to tell him to do it at his own risk!
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