I don't want to hijack this thread, but I have been thinking about doing this for a while. Removing that insert would make polishing or painting 10x easier.

I also intend to paint the side view mirrors and the roof rack rails black to match the ebony, should I try and remove those pieces too? Man this would be easy if I could remove all those pieces. I already have the air compressor, just need to buy the gravity feed sprayer and lots of tarp.

I am assuming I should sand those plastic parts before I hit them with the paint. The grey side view mirrors have always bugged me that they don't match the paint especially when I hit the cladding with the back to black, and they stick out terribly!