This has been on my to do list for a long time. In fact, the garnish has been removed from my rex for about 6 months just sitting in the garage.

I must have been blowing some high moisture or drove through a cloud of adhesive remover for this to happen...





It started small and finally got to the point where it just bugged the **** out of me.

Looking at the underside, you can see how the moisture must have affected it. real fine surface rust...



My plan was to use some adhesive spray, and a wallpaper roller and heat gun to lay it back down.



I knew I had to remove as much of the surface rust as I could, but did not want to remove the covering that was still laying nicely. I figured if I could at least get the edges sanded down, the adhesive might hold well on the edge. So I used some sandpaper and a paint stick...



I thought it would help to warm up the loose covering with my heat gun before I started. I figured that would make it a little more plyable so I could stretch it back to the edge (seems to have shrunk a bit with the weather).



lifted up the loose covering and sprayed the adhesive. following 3M's instructions, I let it sit for 5 min or so before rolling it out. Freak out time!!!
WTF is this? Now I was starting to panic. I thought the adhesive was eating at the vinyl.





I fired up my heat gun again and with some patience and my wallpaper roller, it finally layed down pretty well. Add a couple of new demister grilles from Mazdatrix....





I thought painting the underside as best as I could with a little primer wouldn't hurt either...



It may not last, but at least I gave it a shot! so... I will keep my eye out for another grey garnish in the classifieds

 

Doesn't look too bad, good job!

 

nice job! I would have given up after I saw the bubbling. How did you remove the garnish? Is it screwed or clipped onto the dash?

 

In the center of the garnish, there's a plastic (rectangular) cap. carefully pry it up (very brittle after all that time in the sun). Underneath there's a screw/bolt. With the glass still in, you can't use a screwdriver. you can use either a small socket wrench or a small ratchet with a phillips head in it.

Then the garnish just pops up. There are 6 clip fasteners on the dash side (away from the firewall) that hold it down. just pry up on the dash side a little at a time as you move back and forth across the garnish. if your defroster grilles are not broken, be very careful with them. they will be brittle as hell.

If you break the cap (like I did), Mazdatrix has them for around $10. they also have the defroster grilles.

 

Cool deal. Looks as good as factory, if not better.