I removed the pedal system from the plane disassembled it and painted it. A paint I really like for these types of high-wear applications is the Rust-Oleum Hammered Metal paint. It always go on very nice, great finish and very durable. Once it dried, I covered the pedal surfaces with a couple layers of heat-shrink heavy-duty tubing to give them some grip surface, then re-installed them back into the plane.
Read this next