Piano Black Facia Upgrade

Once you go black, you never go back! Time to freshen up the interior.

Piano Black trim was introduced from 2007.5 model year onwards and gives a much cleaner look to the interior. The car is a 2007MY (identified by the VIN) but had silver facia from factory. Whilst a few of the other trims also changed in the factory built cars with piano black interior, the existing trims still work well with the piano black so there is no need for them to be changed.

So  having collected the necessary parts from various sources including a few second hand parts and a couple of brand new ones, it was time to change from silver to piano black.

There are plenty of pictorial ‘how to’ guides online, so there is no need to reinvent the wheel here (it is basically remove six T20 torx screws in order, remove stereo, heater controls and panels, swap over the switch panel in the main facia and refit the black panels), so a couple of pictures of the piano black parts, and a before and after will suffice.

These trim panels can be quite expensive new, unless you know where to source them from, so buying used is often the most cost effective option. The heater controls and stereo are the most expensive parts, followed by the steering wheel stereo controls.

I tracked down a set of heater controls, stereo controls and lower steering wheel panel (blank no vxr logo), CD30 head unit, gear lever panel and storage tray second hand over several weeks looking round for ones in good condition. The lower steering wheel panel with the vxr logo is not expensive so may add that at a later date.

The main 2 switch facia panel and the anthracite centre vents were sourced brand new as they were about the same price as second hand ones kicking about eBay.

To save having to replace the screen and head unit, a head unit that had been divorced previously was bought so it could be coded in to the existing screen using Tech2. The last thing I wanted was a stereo and screen that were paired together, supplied with no code and not divorced. There are plenty of head units kicking round eBay that are not divorced and many head units supplied with screens coded to each other so you have to replace both items. Personally I prefer to stay away from anything without a known code. Providing the code is supplied even with paired units, they can be reset and then recoded using the original vehicle security code, which makes any potential future diagnostics much easier.

Part Numbers as used (RHD):
Facia Panel 2 Button RHD (non keyless entry): 13250668 (Production Number: 13141094)
Centre Vent Anthracite: 13249995
Heater Controls: 13308176 (Production Number: 13308173) Various Idents including: GJ4 NC3
Trim Panel (Gear Lever): 13250636 (Production Number:13166385)
Steering Wheel Stereo Controls: 93190342 (Production Number: 13251120)
Lower Steering Wheel Cover Plain: 93197879
Lower Steering Wheel Cover VXR: 93193200
*Storage Tray (RHD): 13250645 (Production Number: 13133278)
*12v Charge Socket: 13110430
*Cover: 13249341
* the storage tray, cover and 12v socket can usually be sourced second hand as a complete unit.

For the sterring wheel controls, it is often cheaper to buy a second hand wheel with the black controls alreadfy fitted, especially if you are not worried about the VXR lower cover.

Silver Facia

Silver Facia


Piano Black Facia

Piano Black Facia

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Astra VXR Sprint.....

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