wtf? why are black plastic pieces painted black?
 

even my Corvette didn't have this cheap ass treatment! has anyone just stripped the paint off somehow? how did it look? who'd ya do it?

ok done venting!

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...5/IMG_0150.jpg

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...5/IMG_0151.jpg

The door bin lid is covered with a film to make it feel soft touch, but it commonly comes off if you use certain types of sun screen on your arm and rest it on the door bin lid. Same with the plastic on the console. The remedy is to either cover it with leather or have them painted and then clear coated.

Door bin lids can be removed by lifting in up position and poking the pin in each hinge out with a paper clip. There is a spring in the rearward hinge as well that you must remove before pulling off the door bin lid. The center console can be removed pretty easily with a combination of torx screwdrivers. Instructions can be found through the B&M short shift kit instructions detail.

thanks (again)

I've seen others have painted theirs (silver, which I don't really like), but I haven't found out how to remove the old paint. anyone?

No prob. The door bin lids are not painted, they have a thin rubber film on them that can be removed a variety of ways. I guess you could even slather sun screen on it as it makes the film bubble up and fall off. If you're going to paint the center console, just sand it before applying the paint. There is no paint on the standard black console to remove either.

weird, when i removed my door bins and center console for sanding and prep, when i sanded both surfaces i never reached that color underneath, just got a lighter shade of black from the scuffing of the sandpaper. You should remove those peices to sand and paint to whichever color you like.... Im thinking of removing my peices to re-painted them dark blue metalic.

The early Boxsters did not have the thin film applied to the door bin covers. Later ones did to create a luxurious soft touch like feel to them, but they didn't realize that certain types of sun screen would chemically react with the film and end up peeling it off. Now, the factory just covers the lids in either leather, wood, or alumalook paint depending on your order checkbox.