took a "car tinkering" day off from work today
 

took off the wheels to clean the inside.
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1398388175.jpg

calipers were looking dull so I cleaned them and put a fresh coat of clear on them.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1398388269.jpg

Added some carbon fiber accent pieces (before and after)


http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1398388381.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1398388400.jpg

and blacked out the exhaust
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1398388467.jpg

How did you black the exhaust?

I just did this to my exhaust. It was off the car. So I cleaned it with simple green, lightly sanded it and cleaned of any dust. Then i gave it three coats of high temp primer. Then three coats of high temp flat black. I think it looks good on my car. And yours as well.

The carbon pieces look awesome as well. :cheers:

Had the calipers peeled or did you just re spray the clear coat that was already on the brakes? I have red calipers and 3 of them have a clear coat that has peeled off. I was going to sand and re paint, but am wondering if I should just clear coat it.

I wanted to see how it looked first so I just used plasti-dip spray. I like it so later I will peel it off and do like tommy did with the high temp paint.

the one in the photo was just dull (it is the only one I have don so far) at least one of the others has the clear pealing. I will probably have to sand the edges to feather it on those before putting the new coat on. I will take pics of the steps and post them.

thanks, I originally did the door bin covers because they were worn and discolored. like it so I did the pieces around the door handles. I played around with the center console because it has some scratches etc.. but the roll was not wide enough. have a new (wider) roll ordered. checked into getting them hydro-dipped, but the cheapest I found was $250 for just the center console. I'll post pics of the center console when I am done with that.

Nice work!

Got caught by my wife while polishing my dual exhaust tips once. The look on her face meant "I regret for marrying you". Painting it blk with high temp sounds like a brilliant idea

Love those CF accents in the dash. I'd leave it as it is if I were you. Just enough - not too much is often the best

before and after for the lug nuts:

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1398557929.jpg
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1398557943.jpg

before and after for the brake calipers and rotors:

wheels don't look half bad

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1398558641.jpg

Blacked out exhaust, black tag frame, black "Boxster S" emblem and fresh coat on the rear bumpers (they were a little faded before).

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1398558984.jpg

Nice work! Looks Great!!!!

Thanks,
I was at the store today and when I came out, there were a couple of Hispanic guys posing for pictures with my car. the ultimate compliment I guess :)

found a use for my old motorcycle lift. my other floor jack is to tall to fit under the Boxster.

anyone know how to get the center caps looking good again? I popped one off last week because the emblem fell off. They are plastic! How do you get them looking like new as per the pic above?

Just buy some new ones off ebay. I got a set of 4 for about $20

so I had blacked out the exhaust tips. liked the look, but when I was coming back up the driveway from the mailbox I didn't like the way it look in contrast to the rest of the exhaust. i.e.. it was still the bare metal.
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1398993145.jpg

of course you would have to be laying behind the car to see this, but being slightly OCD I had to paint it to match.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1398993203.jpg

Haha that's why i just painted the whole thing. Good move :cheers:

looks really nice !

Looks great. For the caliper, is it the case that you only re-cleared it?

yes, base coat was good, just flaking clear in a few spots. scraped off and loose clear coat and sanded the edges to feather. then hit with some more clear. not perfect, but looks 100% better.

carbon fiber trim pieces
 

finished hydro-dipping the door trim pieces. now to do the center console. I went with black on black for a more subtle look. I thought the silver on black etc.. looked too intense. I also played around with the car color (guards red) as the base color. I could see that would look good, just not for me. although, I am tempted to do that for the small piece on the shifter.


http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1401071268.jpg

so glossy it is hard to get a good pic.


http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1401071315.jpg

full resolution pics.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darrenkitchens/sets/72157643119982073/

Looks great and much better than spending thousands of dollars on trim parts.

Sent from my LG-LS980 using Tapatalk

not really Porsche related, but, when I bought the carbon fiber hydro graphics film, they sent a few samples of their other films. had an old knife that was looking rough, so I thought I would try it out. don't worry. I would never put skulls on the boxster :)


http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1401667660.jpg

Looks great kiyakubuke. Ive been wanting to update my worn interior and this looks like the solution. Who did the hydro-dipping and how much? Thanks!

I did it myself. after a little practice it was fairly easy. the painting is the main thing, if you are experienced in that, the rest is easy. I like the subdued black on black look rather than the silver on black, so I painted the pieces in matte black, then dipped, then clear gloss.
the trick is, of course, not to rush it. a few coats of base, let dry completely (according to paint directions for re-coat), dip, let that dry for 48 hours, then top coat. I went the extra step and waiting 48 hours for the top coat to dry, wet sanded and hit it again. when it has dried for a a week or so, rubbing compound > polish > wax. basically the same as painting a car piece with the dipping as one coat of paint.
it took me some google time to figure out all the tricks to dipping properly: water temp, dry time etc.. I'll try to put together a how to with some pics in case anyone is interested.

if you don't want to do it yourself, there should be a few places that will do it. I was quoted $250 for just the center console. I bought the film (10 sqft) and the activator on line for $45 and $15.

Sounds like a detailed process but I'm definitely interested in a how to with pics..Ive accomplished many DIY projects on my Boxster S. Thanks!

haven't started on the center console yet, but I wasn't happy with the clear coat on the smaller trim pieces I practiced on, it was rattle can "automotive" enamel. so I went to the local auto paint supply shop and got some high solids acrylic urethane. much better results. not only looks better, but hard as glass as well.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1403206350.jpg

close up of the door handle trim:

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1403206380.jpg

has to dry for 16 hours before I can buff it.

Awesome work! Looks great..

high res version:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darrenkitchens/sets/72157643119982073/

Hydro dipping interior
 

finally finished the center console. truth be told, it would probably have been cheaper just to pay to have it dipped (went through about 3 rolls of film and a lot of paint before getting it right), but I like doing things myself and now I can add "hydro-dipping" to my skills list.

for anyone interested, here is a link to photos and an video with some descriptions:

https://flic.kr/s/aHsjYBgxo8

Excellent work. I've painted my calipers but that take patience and skill!

so I've redone these things about 4 times, kept messing up on the clear coat. clear coat was a High-solids urethane I had gotten at a local auto paint supply shop. ran through the first quart I had gotten and went back to the store. mentioned to the guy the issues I was having. he says, it sounds like your pressure is too high. I had it set to the specs it said on the paint companies web site for an HVLP gun. so we looked and and the specs on their site were wrong. I had been shooting about 3X the pressure I should have been.
I'm sure that any paint pro would have know this at first site, but an amateur like me, I just went with what it said.

in any case, last redo with the proper settings looks great.


http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1407193782.jpg


also did a gaming computer case for a friend.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1407193807.jpg

Hi Kiyakubuke. I had a question for you. Are you still on the board? I sent you a private message