Just Painted pictures MY97 Boxster Ocean Blue
 

Ok, finally had time to snap some photos of my 1997 Boxster, It recently under went some bodywork to repair the spiderweb cracks in the rear bumper and dings-galore around then entire car and painted bumperettes and received LOTS of clear coat... Still need to go back to the paint shop in a week for it to be color-sand then buffed once more cause the trunk has some funny clearcoat paint stuff going on.

I also had the interior peices painted Body color for a subtle upgrade from the soft-touch stock interior texture. Hope you likes!


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VERY NICE! Love the painted bumperettes! Is it me or does it look like you can tell where they sanded the ashtray in the center console? Get some new wheels and your ride would be bada55.

Congrats CJ , looks really great! Probably almost feels like you got a new car! Great bonus getting the bumperettes and interior pieces done.

How long did they have it?

What's the thought on the trunk? You gonna leave it nekkid or re-do the 986??

No its not just you, Its the clearcoat acting all wavey. I sanded all the interior parts and told them not to buff the peices in order to keep cost down, I may buff them in the future. So they didnt pay special attention to the interior parts.

Another FYI, i had them paint the base of the mirrors body colored also instead of the stock flatblack plastic look they originally had. :D

so what it'd all run you?

Looks good! Did they tell you not to use Silicone based wax products for at least a month. Silicone is not good for fresh paint at all! Make sure they do a nice wet sanding and buff on the finish. I would go around the car and mark all the dirt nibs and or runs in the paint if any exist so they can take care of this when you bring it back. 3M makes a product called Gloss Enhancer... this is what my shop uses as a final detail spray for newly painted vehicles. It takes any swirl marks and water spots off the vehicle and is not harmful to the paint. It comes in a spray bottle and is applied just like a fk 425 or detail spray. Check into this online if you can find it!

Do you want to share an aproximate cost?? I am guessing 3600.00??

Only $1800, Since my fathers shop has a Autobody & Paint department all i had to pay was the overhead costs. Paint, painters hourly rate on time spent on my car, supplies. This Paint job could easily cost over $4000 because of the special attention they spent on the curves porsche. They recently aquired a very very talented autobody restoration expert from MEXICO lol, this guy KNOWS his stuff when it comes to autobody and is the only reason i agreed to let them work on my car.

Me and the painted went over the car and found 1 area with a drop run mark and the trunk surface needing to be wet sand so he didnt wax it yet, Wont until i take him the car for the final color-sand, Ill locate that "Gloss Enhancer" you mentioned so he can wax it with that instead. I dont know what they are using right now for wax but if i had to guess it would be meguires brand waxes.

CJ,
The gloss enhancer is just a final product. There are tons of products by 3M available to the collision and detail world that would be fine... ie polishes, compounds, etc.

Let the shop use whatever works for them and their paint system. The 3m gloss enhancer is just a little treat for you until you can use the FK425! It works wonders for dark colored vehicles.

It wouldnt bother them to use what i bring them on my boxster, I mean my father is the supervisor of the shop and my lil'brother works in the egine mechanical repair department of the shop. I cannot wait to see how that gloss enhancer works on my car! thanks again!

C.J., the car looks great, and you saved soooo much money on paint that you can afford to treat yourself to some killer rims. How about something like these to compliment all that smooth blue paint?

http://www.wheeldynamics.net/AA%2003-04-06%20731.jpg

Dang Grizzly, that is a deeeep dish on the rear rims LOL. I want to get Turbo 2 style rims soon but need to save for them, Cause i saved $2200 bucks on paint doesnt mean i wanna blow my savings just yet! lol

Looks great! I like all the detailed work. Very nice.

Thank you, It took me about 6 hours to remove and sand all the interior, and 6 hours to install the interior after it was painted. Dumby me i didnt orgainize the screws i removed so it took me longer to figure out what screw came from where and plus i was very careful when installing the peices as not to scratch them up.

looks awesome CJ!!!! i'm painting my center console silver right now and hope it will come out as good as yours. any advice on installing center console back without scratching it?

so wait, your mirrors werent as shiny/glossy as the rest of the paint? weird.
nice sig btw :)

Looks great CJ! congrats on the new paint, you must be lovin it :cheers:

Thanks, My advise to installing the console without scratching it up is making sure its cured really well before installing, then first fit the Shifter into the console. shift into different gears for easier angles then the e-brake may give you problems so make sure you have it pulled up really high and slip the console through then snap in the console cover for the side of the e-brake and push the 2 tabs downward with your fingers so they dont raise and scratch the surface up.

Who cares if your fingers get pinched a little, atleast the console isnt scratched... thats how i see it anyway. :) Good luck with that, show us pictures when your done.

You are probably thinking of a different part of the mirror than iam talking about, Im speaking of the Satin Finished black triangle shaped mounting base of the mirrors, Look at your sig, its black also. A fellow porsche owner who i see at p-car meets has a 03 gt3 and his mirror bases are body colored... He had the car repainted once that i know of and im sure they painted the base's. Its not a factory thing but i like it.

Nice, CJ. I like the dash pieces painted. I've been thinking about doing mine.

Thanks, Hey dont you already have the center console between the seats painted? You will have a ball once you've painted the side vents, The blade come out very easily and have numbers stamped on them so you put them back in correct order. You cant tell from my photos but i also painted the dash trim that stretches around the top of the dash starting from the top of the side vents, and across the windsheild defogger.... basically linking the driver and passenger side vents. I was actually able to remove them without removing the a-pillar molding but reinstalling means i couldnt reuse the clip that held the dash molding & a-pillar firmly against eachother. Still looks good, Not sporty but tastful atleast... although im a big fan of the silver interiors.

thanks CJ. i put last of the clear coat this morning. hopely i can find some time to install it back this weekend. i'll post the pics once it's in. my boxster is a daily driver and interior looks like it's jacked up right now. but i'm having so much fun disassembling these pieces. vents will be painted once i'm done with the center even though light switch worries me a bit.

Look for directions on how to remove the switch. Its pretty easy. but something you wouldnt be able to firgure out on your own very quickly. :)

ahhh i see what ure talking bout with the mirror, nice touch man.
i think u can pull it off couse u have a dark colored car.
i was actually thinking of painting my mirrors black :) just because that area of the car is dark (window+trim), but i prolly wont waste my money on that hehe.

a quick Q tho, how hard were the little blades to take out from the vents (middle and side ones).
i want to get working on my interior soon, but im kinda scared of those, they are loose already on the passinger side

side vents are easy to remove, first remove the tube housing from the back of the side vents, then the blade come out really easy, just shove them either left or right and pop out one end from the hole.

The Center vent cannot be removed, The housing behind it is fused with a melted plastic tach weld looking thing... like someone held the face and the housing together and then ran a soldering gun against it to melt the to peices together, SO you just mask the vents. Make sure you mask the housing in the rear also, or else you might end up painting a portion your on/off knob for the center air vent through an opening at the top of the housing.

If you dont have the Keys to remove the radio, pull that mofo out while attached to the center vent assembly like i did and then use a screw driver to push down the security clips from behind... Eat your heart out Becker!

haha, man u shold have told me that before i bought the keyes for the radio (although i did get them for $.99 on fleebay hehe).
alright, now i feel better about the blades.
thx

Well they still have there uses... Bird doo remover from windows, soda can tab puller, Mini shoe horn for babies, butterknife for elf's, baking cake readiness tester, Door lock opener (sorta like a creditcard) :D

or removing the radio now that i bought it? :cheers:

stupid or brave.. but how about painting it with radio attached to the center trim?

I'd call it lazy, once the radio with trim connected have been remove from the dash, its super super easy to remove the radio from the trim. I mean you can paint it like that but you would have to mask the radio completely, face and rear.

CJ,

Wow, your car looks awesome with a fresh coat of paint. Nice job !

So, are you going to put the 986 back on ?

Nick

Thanks, Yes i plan on replacing the 986 on the trunk lid after the shop does the final color-sand and buff to it.