Porsche Boxster 2000 interior discoloration

[crugue]

Hi,
My dad gave me his Porsche Boxster 2000 a months days ago. Everything is in perfect conditions except some parts of the interior are loosing its color; like the seat belt lock, and the armrest. You can also see a few minor scratches. I try to protect it as much as possible from the sun. I would like know if any of you know of a good product or a trick to fix this? I have also considered buying this parts brand new; do you know where I could find them? I've attached a few pictures. Thanks for your help.

[BoxsterSteve]

You might have the best looking results by prepping & re-painting the console and armrests.
BTW, my armrests were way uglier, the factory paint finish was literally gone on the lowest 1/4 of the armrest, and they looked like ass. I found that the paint scraped off fairly easily with my thumbnail and cleaned up completely after rubbing down with WD40 after scraping.
If I remember correctly, the armrests are really easy to remove, but cost $60+ each new. I'm just too bloody cheap to spend that sort of money to replace when a clean-up looks at least as good

[fullthrottle52]

Crugue,
Take a look at my garage pictures. I covered my armrests in leather. Cost was about 20.00 plus glue. Look better than new. Also did the door pulls (the long bows) at the same time. Even a good quality vinyl would look pretty good. Takes some cutting and stretching but worth the results. You can also do the center console if you are brave enough. Pedro Garage has a good DIY that will walk you through it.

Good luck

[Joel-Box-ster]

We have the issue with the interior plastic panels scratched up like a pet ran around inside your car :chicken: I remember there's a spray paint can for vinyl not sure if it work for plastic..

[jrblackman]

My door pulls have the same issue; although the arm rests seem to be holding up better than yours have. The paint scrapes off easily with a fingernail and I have pondered the idea of just cleaning it all off. If I did nothing else I think it would look better than it does now. I think I am going to give it a shot the next weekend I have the time.

[j.fro]

Yeah, the laminate in the 2000-2004 interiors is pretty weak. I originally recovered my arm rests with leather and it looked better then stock. I sourced the leather from a $7 coat I bought at a thrift store. A couple of years later I changed it all for suede. Now, I've finally done it in carbon fiber. Whether you chose leather, paint, carbon, or whatever, the work's not tough or expensive, just take your time and prep everything really well and it will turn out great.

[MConte05]

Does anyone know of a spraypaint that will match the original black/matte/satin finish of the original plastic?

I want to respray my center console, but want it to match the stuff on the dash.

[crugue]

Thanks for your help!

[crugue]

Thanks, I'll think of that. Looks nice!

[d18mike]

I consider myself to be a pretty good at touch-up/paint work ... but that 2000-04 Porsche laminate is just a nightmare to work with in every respect. I don't know many folks who have done a great job refinishing it that haven't spent more hours than its has been worth. I just swallowed my pride, bought new parts (over time on eBay) and haven't looked back.

[boxster7614]

I've redone almost all of the parts in my car. I used a can of black vinyl spray paint I got at my local auto parts store. I didn't have a problem color matching because I have the beige interior and only did the black parts. I did this over 5 years ago and it has never pealed or flaked off. You would never know that it had ever been repainted and looks completely stock.....well I guess not stock because that would mean it would look all scratched up lol. So it looks like what stock should have looked like. The key to making it look good is that you have to remove all of the cheap Porsche coating. The best way I found to do this was with a dish scrubbing pad and my fingernails. I used bulldog adhesion promoter first; however, I have since painted other parts in different vehicles without using any promoter and had great results. This paint/dye is formulated specifically for vinyl/leather. It is not as thick as regular paint and you don't have to worry about getting runs in the paint. It goes on very smooth, just do several light coats.

[Homeboy981]

I started out with an interior that was black and void of color. While most would enjoy it, I needed color. So off to Autozone and picked up several cans of DupliColor (yes I used spray paint but with regular painting techniques). Several cans of silver and Acrylic Lacquer later I have an interior I'm proud to call my own. I still need to get the vents and little strip painted….most people have looked at it and cannot tell it is spray paint!

I put on 5 coats of color and 6 coats of lacquer. There are a couple tricks to doing this I am happy to share….take your time and prep BEFORE painting. Sand off the coating starting at 100 grit and move up to 400 grit wet sand. Then, use rubbing or isopropyl alcohol and DO NOT TOUCH PRIOR TO PAINTING. The first coat has to be LIGHT! Subsequent coats can be thicker but do not put too much or you will get the runs!

Give time to dry between coats (like 30 mins) and re-sand with 1500 grit, alcohol and spray the lacquer (which takes longer between coats to dry) and then put it up and LET IT DRY FOR A WEEK!!! The paint has to cure. The hardest part was not putting the parts in right away and driving around with the console out!

Then, a week later, buff out with some rubbing compound and then wax. You will be able to see yourself. Do not forget to wax inside when you are doing the outside of your car.

It is easy to match color and gives the car a more modern look.

[BruceH]

Very nice work Homeboy! Looks awesome! I'm sure it looks even better in person.

[Kenny Boxster]

Originally Posted by BruceH

Very nice work Homeboy! Looks awesome! I'm sure it looks even better in person.

Bruce, I've seen it in person and you cannot at all tell it is painted! If you would like to see it and get a good chat about interiors, I suggest you send him a PM.

[rgriffin]

I had a guy who specializes in interior restoration tell me that he uses the same paint that is used for undercoating a car. He said it looks the same but is very difficult to scratch up. I plan on paying him to do it though. Sounds like a pain to get all those parts off.

[Homeboy981]

Most of the parts were easy to remove. The paint has more "depth" than you can see in pics. What sold me was cleanup….just wipe and apply a coat of wax.

Followed Pelican instructions on installing SSK, since I had to do a Short Shift Kit while I had the console off for so long! Good thing too. The Short Shift Kit took a while to dial in but I did not mark the cable ends properly. It is ALL GOOD NOW!

LOVE it!

[cbbepop]

oooo very nicely done, i would have to do this one day too
btw why did you not paint the side vents and the horizontal piece that runs from the radio to either side?

[JayG]

This is exactly what my interior looks like

Has anyone found something to re-spray that will match?

Originally Posted by crugue

Hi,
My dad gave me his Porsche Boxster 2000 a months days ago. Everything is in perfect conditions except some parts of the interior are loosing its color; like the seat belt lock, and the armrest. You can also see a few minor scratches. I try to protect it as much as possible from the sun. I would like know if any of you know of a good product or a trick to fix this? I have also considered buying this parts brand new; do you know where I could find them? I've attached a few pictures. Thanks for your help.