DIY CST Chrome Interior Bedside Strips

[harrij4]

This was buried in another thread of mine, but at the suggestion of a forum member, I'm breaking it out to make it easier to find.

I thought I'd share what I think is a pretty successful "hack" to create your own CST chrome interior bedside strips (the ones that hold the top of edge of the vinyl panels in place).

Step 1: Order 2x of these Schluter Rondec 3/8 Stainless Steel bullnose tile edging. DO NOT TRY TO USE ALUMINUM! The AL ones are hard anodized and you will be unable to polish the rolled edges without a witness line.

Step 2: Trim to length. Because the bed-rail is recessed you have to measure to the outer edge of the two S-curve profiles at either end of the bedrail. The final product is longer on the inboard side than the outboard side, so make sure you measure and trim to the longer inboard length.

Step 3: Cut a rough profile. Cut a rounded taper from bottom to top, and a a slight taper from back to front (outboard to inboard). The outboard to inboard taper should match the S-curve profile of the recesses in the bedrail. Note, the front and rear S-curves are slightly different, for a perfect fit you'll want to measure and cut them specifically.

Step 4: Roll the cut edge. I tried several approaches but ultimately just ended up using some stubby needle nose pliers to slightly roll the cut edges under.

Step 5: Sand & Polish. The pliers will leave some pretty deep gouges, so you'll have to sand them smooth. Then polish the living hell out of the entirety of both pieces.

Step 6: Rivet in place. Prior to riveting, I applied a half-width of some very thin 3M trim adhesive tape. This helps with mounting, but more importantly it prevents any buzzing between trim strip and the bedside. I used very small stainless steel rivets about every 10" to fasten the trim strips to the bedside. You could possibly use screws, but they would need VERY low-profile heads so that the vinyl panel's top edge can still slide up into the trip strip.

Step 7: Install your CST panels and enjoy!

I'm personally thrilled with the way these came out, and the whole thing cost ~$100 which is about 1/10th the price of tracking down the real thing, then getting them re-plated. But, I know for some folks they'll want the authentic parts, and more power to ya'! Just wanted to share this as an option.