Dyed my top and painted my calipers

[Tandrup]

I own a 2003 Boxster and have recently started making some changes to it. I have gotten great inspiration from reading many excellent posts in this awesome forum. So I thought I would share my week-end project:

1. Installed aluminum pedals ($99)
2. Dyed my top from a (very faded) light grey to black ($3.99)
3. Painted my calipers red with the G2 kit ($34)

Total cost: approx. $140

Not bad to change the look of the car dramatically and for the better, I think. The top doesn't look brand new - and I didn't expect that I would accomplish that. But considering that I spent less than 4 bucks on it, it turned out really nice and looks much better than it did before.

I attached a couple of pics below of the top and the calipers.

My next project is to upgrade my wheels to either 18" or 19" - I still haven't decided yet. I am probably going to go aftermarket - and I would love to hear from anyone who have bought aftermarket and have been happy with what they bought.

Thanks,
Lars

[JTP]

Great job, especially dying the top! That looks great. What kind of dye did you use?

[Tandrup]

Originally Posted by JTP

Great job, especially dying the top! That looks great. What kind of dye did you use?

I used a brand called RIT dye - their normal liquid dye for clothing and other fabrics. I picked up a bottle at my local Target. Later today I can post a description of the process and what I did if anyone is interested.

[tommy986]

where did you get the G2 kit to paint the calipers?

[Tandrup]

Originally Posted by tommy986

where did you get the G2 kit to paint the calipers?

I bought it online - although I later found that my local auto accessory store could have ordered it for me. If you google "G2 Caliper Paint Kit" then you will find tons of sources. The only beef I had with the kit was that it doesn't contain a clear coat. It really doesn't need a clear coat, but since I put Porsche decals on the calipers after the red kit paint, I needed a clear coat to put over the decals. I just purchased a $7 bottle of Engine Enamel Clear Coat and put that over once the red paint was dry. I probably might as well have bought some Engine Enamel primer and Engine Enamel red spray paint, but the cost would have been roughly the same I think.

I read a lot of posts that talked about how important it was to clean, clean and clean the calipers before painting them, so I spent several hours with a metal wire brush, a tooth brush and the cleaner spray from the kit cleaning the calipers.

I left the calipers in place - since I had pretty good access to the calipers with the car up on jack stands.

One important note with the kit is that you only have 4-6 hours after having mixed the epoxy paint, so you really need to jack up the car so that you can access all 4 calipers in one go. I gave it 3 coats of red paint - and 24 hours later, I applied the decals and gave it 2 very thin coats of the clear coat on top.

It looks pretty good - and most importantly, it was a lot of fun!

Thanks,
Lars

[CVstarBoxster]

Nice top. MIne is black and want it blue to match the color of the car. Can you please write up the process that it took you? How is it looking after a few months?

[Tandrup]

Originally Posted by CVstarBoxster

Nice top. MIne is black and want it blue to match the color of the car. Can you please write up the process that it took you? How is it looking after a few months?

Hi there - I realized that I actually never updated my post with the process and the status of how well it held up.

I have to say that now (10 months later) most of the dark color has disappeared and my top is sort of in the middle of the light faded grey it was when I started and then the nice black died result I obtained immediately after I died it. I would probably recommend people not to use the dying process to change the color, but it would probably work ok if you re-color your top in the same color it originally had.

The process was simple:
1. Cleaned the top with lots of water and regular car shampoo
2. Then I cleaned and scrubbed it with a top cleaner (bought at my local auto store)
3. Let the top dry
4. Taped off all windows, plastic sides etc with normal painters tape
5. Then I applied the thinned die with a 1" brush and really saturated the top. I used warm water to thin the die.
6. Let the top dry and reapplied the die again - I probably repeated that process 3 or 4 times.

After everything was done, I let it dry overnight and then rinsed off the extra die with a hose the next day.

Like I said - it held up nicely for a while, but is not a permanent, good solution to change the color of your top.

[2003S]

You might need to use a fixer to prevent the dye from washing out over time...
Is there a fixative that will make dye permanent? What is Retayne?