Anyone have fitment issues with BE&A Dash Bezels?

[440]

I finally started putting my dash back together and must say that I'm a little disappointed with the fitment of the gauge cluster bezel. For the price of these things I would have expected slightly better. The edge that meets the radio bezel is off and doesn't quite line up square. The old bezel fits fine and lines up perfectly with the radio bezel. I could shave the edge of the radio plate so it "looks" right but I'm not terribly happy with that idea. I may just stick with the old cluster bezel.

Anyone else have any fitment issues ?

[Ghoste]

I thought there were complaints about the pads but I can't remember issue swith the bezels.  Not too surprised though.

[Dino]

I know someone else had a fitment issue with them as well but can't remember who.  I opted to redo mine instead and am quite happy with them.  Like you said, no fitment issues with the original ones.

[WHITE AND RED 69]

My radio bezel is off just a bit as well. Not enough that I would send them back but it is off just a tad. I still am very happy with them though. They do look great.

[FJ5WING]

I dont think any reproduction part is going to be perfect! unless the original tooling is used Im not sure how its possible.

having said that....I bought the whole dash kit and had zero fitment issues.

Dino, When say you redid your bezel do you mean you repainted it or had it rechromed and then painted?

[Dino]

Dino, When say you redid your bezel do you mean you repainted it or had it rechromed and then painted?

I rechromed it myself with a two stage paint and then redid the black and the lettering.

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,86736.0.html

It's a cheap and easy to way to make it look good.  When I planned on painting chrome, I thought I'd have to live with something that was not quite as nice as stock, but honestly it looks almost identical and I never look at it thinking it's paint.

[Silver R/T]

Aftermarket parts suck, it's better to redo original parts

[69 OUR/TEA]

I remember them not fitting as good as the originals to around the radio area .The bezel above the glove box on mine needed to have 2 studs ground off.I'm going to send out my orig ones from my R/T SE for rechrome ,as you don't see the black area with lettering anyway,just the chrome banding because the woodgrain panels cover them all.

[Brock Lee]

Yeah, I got them when they came out and there was problems with fit. I think mine kind of sat more raised than it should by the headlight switch. The radio bezel sits kind of crooked too.

[440]

For $345 - $455 you'd think they'd be pretty close at least. I'm finding out slowly that repro stuff across the board isn't as good as original. Unless you physically don't have something get your originals re-done.

[Ghoste]

Its always a tough call isn't it.  You just everything to look as good as it can and logic tells you that new should look best.  The learning curve of the hobby.

[JB400]

It costs just about as much to redo an old one as it does to buy a new one don't it?

[Ghoste]

It can.

[FJ5WING]

I guess I got lucky with my BEA bezels?...I had no fit issues at all!!

[Charger-Bodie]

I guess I got lucky with my BEA bezels?...I had no fit issues at all!!

Ive used 3 sets now too. And even though on the set from my black 68 I had to ream the mounting holes on the dash to fine tune the fit I have been very satisfied.

[Ghoste]

Maybe a bad batch got out there?

[Ryan]

I guess I got lucky with my BEA bezels?...I had no fit issues at all!!

Same here. They fit great for me.

[johnnyseville]

I am tempted to order a set.  Will have to contact them and make sure they accept returns, hopefully they take PayPal.

[Charger 1]

If your car still has bezels and they aren't broke, send them to David at Performance Car Graphics: http://www.performancecargraphics.com/.  He does absolutely TOP NOTCH work.  He will even repair broken ones - it just costs more.  I initially ordered the ones from BEA.  Out of the box, they looked great.  But as you look closely, you will notice that the coverage of the black paint isn't uniform.  You can see small areas of chrome showing through the black paint.  And speaking of paint, it is never a good idea to paint over chrome plating.  The paint starting flaking off in small areas.  I spoke with Mike @ BEA and he told me there was nothing he could do.  That's when I found out about David @ Performance Car Graphics.  Call him - you won't be sorry.

[Dino]

The paint starting flaking off in small areas.  I spoke with Mike @ BEA and he told me there was nothing he could do. 

I've done this in the past.  I scuff the chrome to be painted and use an adhesion promoter, never had one flake.  This is painting 101.

[Ghoste]

Is that for real chrome or the stuff they use to plate interior plastic parts with Dino?

[Dino]

Is that for real chrome or the stuff they use to plate interior plastic parts with Dino?

Vaccum plating.  You can actually sand it right off if you want.  When I do this I first make a cut in the chrome with a sharp knife to create a border and thus preserve the chrome I want to keep.  That way you can't accidentally chip the chrome that needs to stay.  For the bezels it's real easy as all you have to do is let the knife slide along the crease seperating the flat part from the protruding edge.

For the real stuff you need to remove all of it.  Either by acid dipping or simply sanding thorough the 3 layers to get back to bare steel.  There are ways to paint over chrome but it's a band aid, best to get rid of it and start over.

[Ghoste]

With the plastic metallized stuff, what are you using as a paint to meet up with the stuff you want to keep?

[Dino]

First thing to do after sanding and degreasing is masking the chrome edge.  I like to overlap by a hair, not enough to show that you covered chrome with paint, but enough to just overlap so you seal the edge.  I use plastic adhesion promoter, two dust coats, followed by a plastic primer, one dust coat and two wet.  Let dry, sand and finish off with SEM trim black.  The SEM stuff is so good that the adhesion pronmoter may even be overkill, but I'm not going to find out.  One spray can will last you a very long time.

[Ghoste]

Sorry, I should have been more specific.  Are you using something to simulate the plated look and if so, how is the finished product?

[Dino]

Sorry, I should have been more specific.  Are you using something to simulate the plated look and if so, how is the finished product?

Oh my bad.  The examples given are when you have the bezels vacuum plated.  I did use a paint to mimick chrome on my own though.

The whole story:  http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,86736.0.html

Scroll halfway down page 3 to see the shots I took outside, right after I painted the chrome.

Badsically I used modellers paint to do the chrome and unless I tell you, you wouldn't be able to tell.  Troy saw my bezels and he couldn't really tell it was paint.

You need a gloss black enamel as smooth as possible and then mist this special chrome paint over it to get the desired effect.  I used an airbrush for it, I doubt you could get the same result with a spray can.  In essence, the gloss is still from the black paint, the chrome paint simply changes the color.  It's real weird but it works.  The paint is very cheap and that's good because you may end up experimenting quite a bit to get it right.

[440]

Just don't clear it or you'll turn the chrome into a bright silver.

[Dino]

Just don't clear it or you'll turn the chrome into a bright silver.

Correctemundo

[440]

I should take a photo of the issues with the new bezels but not certain the problem will show up well. I think us poor overseas buyers get the returns/rejects because we are unlikely to return stuff back due to the expense of shipping

[Ghoste]

No, there are plenty of crappy parts here too.

[bull]

I just got my repro set from PG Classic and right off I noticed an issue that sounds a lot like what Brian had. There's about 1/8" - 1/4" gap between the top of the small side piece on the right and the bottom of the long top piece above the glove box where the two butt together (well, they're supposed to butt together). You can't raise the small side piece much if any because it's molded to the curvature of the dash so I will be forced to egg out half or all of the top bezel mounting holes to close the gap. Can't say I'm too excited about carving up those original mounting holes.

[Back N Black]

I just got my repro set from PG Classic and right off I noticed an issue that sounds a lot like what Brian had. There's about 1/8" - 1/4" gap between the top of the small side piece on the right and the bottom of the long top piece above the glove box where the two butt together (well, they're supposed to butt together). You can't raise the small side piece much if any because it's molded to the curvature of the dash so I will be forced to egg out half or all of the top bezel mounting holes to close the gap. Can't say I'm too excited about carving up those original mounting holes.

When i installed my repro bezels i had the same problem. I tweaked the dash and now they fit perfect. When installing the dash it can get bent out of shape and require adjustment.

[bull]

Yeah, I should have come back and updated this earlier but I was able to get mine pretty close by filing the mounting holes out. I didn't want to do that but I figured it was a better alternative than the hassle and cost of Plan B.