Two questions about gauge lense bezels

[bull]

Ever get tired of finding rust on every single #@!*% part you want to put back on the car when you thought it was good to go? Not me, I love it! So I'm puttering around with my new gauge lense today by taking the bezels off the old lense to install the new one. Once I get them off I test fit them and prepare to melt the new lense tabs down to hold the bezels in place, but then I suddenly realize the bezels are rusty. Great. Another 15 minute job has just turned into a pain in the A$$.

Here are my questions. How did/would you clean these up to paint them? Media blast and powder coat? Sand and rattle can? Some combination of the previously mentioned? Second question: What are the white designs on the back of the bezels for? Is it some sort of wiring guide? How would my life be negatively affected if I did them all in semi gloss black, covering up these white areas?

[Bobby41909]

I lightly sanded one before and used a rattle can.  Came out great.

[Topher]

Scuff and paint the front side. The white areas are for the light to reflect onto the faces, I'd leave them white.

[bull]

Sounds good but I'm thinking I might brush a little rust convertor on the rust spots first and let that dry before I sand them down. I'm afraid I won't be able to get at all the rust with just sandpaper if I don't.

[Nacho-RT74]

it will take LOT OF YEARS to be worried about that rust... I wouldn't care really for that

[A383Wing]

try some "0000" steel wool lightly on the little rust spots. And yea, leave the white parts white..they are there for better lighting of the gauge faces

[bull]

try some "0000" steel wool lightly on the little rust spots. And yea, leave the white parts white..they are there for better lighting of the gauge faces

I did that and it looks pretty good now but I'll have to give it a new coat of paint. I think the SEM trim black will be perfect.

However, last night I discovered something that turned into good luck. A while back I had purchased a used, crack-free lense off Ebay that is scratched but quite usable, assuming a good polish cleans it up. Looking it over real close last night I discovered zero rust on the front of the bezels and minimal rust on the back so now I have a pair of good original bezels. This winter I'll clean up the back of those and use them on my cluster and then next summer I'll paint the front of other ones and have myself a spare set.

[ktneifert09]

I put a little picklex on mine after sanding then paint with krylon satin