I know it's a long shot, but would any one who has a a pair of XLS bezels consider selling them?
I would prefer a non a/c instrument panel and a clock and radio bezel.

(Picture I found on line)

 

These are very rare to find and there are a few of us here who have been seeking them. They are pretty easy to clone using silver paint over woodgrain bezels, I think one thread here said Krylon dull aluminum was a good match. The problem is the genuine XLS bezels do have a very slight brushed texture. In the near future I am going to experiment with a technique of directionally scuffing silver paint with a scotch brite pad and clear coating it. Another suggestion has been to hydro dip some bezels with a brushed aluminum film. I am resorting to this because I doubt I will ever find a genuine XLS set, and because I would prefer it to be the diesel specific instrument bezel which never existed in brushed aluminum. Dennis Carpenter offers a reproduction radio bezel in brushed aluminum but no instrument bezel to go with it. (The repro is DIN radio, non-clock). I have also been bugging Gary to make a CAD file of the radio bezel emblem so I can have it 3D printed. This is just one of those items that is extremely scarce yet high in demand. They are quite attractive and highly sought after as a transplant to replace aging faded wood grain.

 

Well I figured just as much, it never hurts to ask though. I was talking with a buddy of mine who does different decals and stripes and we are planning on him having him put on a decal with a brushed aluminum look on my faded woodgrain one.

 

If you do this please share your results (good or bad). Myself and others are in search of viable techniques to do this. I have some completely junk bezels I am going to experiment with, and if I find a good technique I have a solid but ugly radio bezel to try. I will share my results as well.

 

I will! The only bummer thing about a decal is you don't get the texture!

 

This is one attractive thing about hydro dip. You can get just about any pattern imaginable. The problems that I see with it are that patterns applied to 3D objects kind of stretch and warp as wraps around the contours. So I don't know if this would produce some odd "artifacts" of the application process when applying the brushed texture to our bezels. I also don't know if it would be hard to get the scratch grain truly straight.

The scotch brite technique produces some very nice results in the online articles that I read. Problem is that the bezels have such tight corners and intricate sections that idk how well the manual technique will cover it. I'm going to find out. It's cheap to try and experiment with various "scuffing" media.