When The Aston Martin DB9 was launched in 2004 it was met with almost universal acclaim, with only a few negative comments, one recurring comment was that the switchgear looked very cheap and nasty. In 2012 Aston Martin introduced “Glass switches”, these looked much better than the original plastic switches. The original Heated screen switches below next to glass fog light switches.
However because Aston Martin updated the centre Console for MY2009 and moved/changed a lot of the switches some switches are not available as upgrades from Aston Martin.
- Air Conditioning
- Air Recirculation
- Hazard lights
- Heated Rear Screen
- Heated Front Screen
- Petrol Flap
- Reduced Guard Alarm
As the car looks rather daft with half the switches updated to glass and half plastic I decided to modify them myself.
The switch bodies are identical and for the most part the insides are too, to remove the switches from the console just press in the two spring tags and push out from behind. However the connectors are slightly different shapes to avoid plugging the wrong switch in.
To separate the parts of the switches press the black plastic tags in and push to the rear, there are two under the metal spring tags (removed to show access), push both in and pull the rear out, the lens part can then be removed.
Exactly the same process is used on a glass switch
Then using a fine knife blade the lens can be separated from the plastic carrier.
And then the backing can be carefully pulled/scraped off. Most of the switches are as below with a small circular part inset that is illuminated by a tell tale LED to use as an indicator, however the DSC switch doesn’t have this and there are two orange LEDs that illuminated the whole switch orange, I used this style for the hazard lights too,
I had decals custom manufactured to replace the original on the back of the lens
Which then stick to the rear of the lens, I designed the air recirculation button to have an outline of an Aston Martin DBS Coupe
After it’s just a matter of reassembling the switch parts, remembering to install the metal locater tags before pushing the back of the switch in and inserting back into the dash.
Modified Start Button
After installing the glass buttons the original glass start button looked out of place, it has a grey metallic background instead of black like the other switches, and it was only illuminated round the edges.
I decided to change the background to match the other buttons, and by using the same method to illuminate the lettering too.
Could you please let me know where you got the stickers for the switches.
I got them custom made, I designed them on phtoshop and printed by a decal maker
Nice post.
Thanks
Great work on the glass switches. Are you able to supply copies of the decals you had made up? Or even copies of the templates so I could get the decals made myself? Thanks.
Hi Ray,
I’ll send you an email, I could supply decals at a cost, or alternatively I could just send you the templates.
Paul
Hello Paul, would you be so kind and get in touch with me for a set of your glass switch decals ? Thank you Anthony
Hi Paul, I’m so sorry I missed your reply – very remiss of me. I’m about to embark on this exercise and would be most grateful if you could do either of your offers – please can you pm me and we can get something agreed?
Hi Ray,
I’m away at the moment but when I’m back next week I’ll contact you regarding the switches and decals.
Paul
Thank you so much.
Hi Paul
That is fantastic work!
It is so disappointing that AM don’t make the full set.
I would like to buy a set of decals, could you let me know how much they are and how I could pay you.
Thanks for your help
Peter Walls
Hi Paul,
Great work on the buttons! I’d like to buy a set also. Please reach out.
Thanks,
John
Hi John, Anthony and Peter,
I am just waiting for the company that produced the decals for me to come back to me with a price and lead time and i’ll let you all know.
Paul
I’m also interested in these switches.
Hi Paul
This is top notch! I had my plastic switches replaced the Italic glass switches on my 2008 V8 Vantage. I’m really happy with the result apart from the left-most switch on the top row which has the word Comfort on it. My OCD kicks in and it upsets me that the other buttons (P, D, R, etc) are all single letters, and then it’s Comfort instead of C. would you be able to make up and sell me an Italic C so that I can change it?
I’d also be really interested in the Start Button being consistent, so a decal for that would also be of real interest.
Count me in too on the decals:)
Hi – your site is great. Could you help me with getting glass buttons made up for a 2005 DB9 please?
Hi Tom,
I’m away on holiday at the moment but will be in touch when I get hone next week.
Paul
Hi Paul! Thanks for the superb info! I find it a bit hard to take the buttons apart without breaking the little “clips” that hold the metal springs in place and subsequently the plastic tabs inside are hard to push down to push the button rearward – any tips on that? Also, would highly appreciate it if you can share the photoshop / templates of the decals. Thanks a million!
Hi Paul,
I am also in for a set of decals.