A/C buttons prep for decals, paint or polish?

[Dino]

I received all the decals from performance car graphics and want to place the decals on the a/c control buttons.  Some of them are still a nice, deep black while the rest are pretty faded.  I cleaned them up and am wondering if I should try to polish them back to a deep black or put a thin coat or two of sem trim black on them.  Seems to me that when I don't do either of them you will clearly see where the decal ends.  From what I can tell, the decals do not cover the entire front of the buttons, you can just see the bottom corners which is a bit weird, no idea why they didn't make them a bit longer.

For those who installed these decals, how did you proceed? 

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

IIRC I believe I painted them first with a semi-gloss black paint

[lasvegas69charg]

i cleaned and painted with satin black before applying decals.  turned out really nice.

[Dino]

Thanks guys!

[richRTSE]

I sanded mine with 600, then 1000, then buffed it with a buffing wheel, then applied the decals...no paint.   


before and after....

[Dino]

That looks very nice.  I see you didn't line up the top of the decal with the top of the button, I figured they needed to but haven't really checked yet.  Does the lettering actually line up with the originals?

[richRTSE]

I didn't really try to line the lettering up with the original lettering, I just tried to make them straight and even with the button next to it. They're pretty close, but not perfect....