shift knob paint?

[A 986 S]

Some of the silver paint has worn off the hard plastic bit of my Boxster's shift knob. The obvious fix would seem to be to remove the worn plastic piece and either repaint it silver or remove the remaining paint and just leave it shiny black. Examining the knob & boot assembly doesn't reveal an easy way to take it apart. Am I missing something or can it not be dissembled? Do I have any other options?

cheers- dj

[Ben006]

You have to pull on it very hard and at an angle to remove it.

start from the bottom part, it's the easiest to lift first!

You have plenty of options, I took the most radical:

[achillies]

I thought the silver part with the pattern pries out of the know and then the leather boot parts can be removed as 1 piece.

[jakeru]

I went though this process of restoring my similar 2001 boxster shift knob, and that silver-painted plastic trim piece is simply pressed in to the hard rubber knob frame. The leather is wrapped around the frame and tucks in underneath the trim piece. The shift pattern insert is glued (with a thick, flexible and removable-grade adhesive) onto the trim piece.

The silver-painted plastic trim piece just pries off/away from the rubber frame. I'd recommend starting at the bottom area on one of the sides, and once you have a start, work the gap gently around the rest of perimeter, a little bit at a time.

Be very careful if using metal tool not to dig into the plastic edge, or the leather. Using wood or plastic will be safer. I think I used a butter knife very carefully, to get it started also. One I had it started, I recall stuffing in a bunch of toothpicks into the gap, whereever I could.

When you get the trim piece removed, it will be much more flexible, which makes it easier to pop off the shift pattern insert piece.

I'll see if I can find pictures of the process. I do have a readily available picture of the completed job (I also refinished the leather).

I refinished my trim piece using a silver paint as basecoat, and then clearcoated it with a 2-part clear. Turned out nice and should be very durable (probably more so than original!) The shift pattern insert is a transparent acrylic-like material (with painted black and white background and insert pattern at the back, so to restore that, I mostly just polished the front face, and added some extra black paint back there to touch up the black background.

[jakeru]

I found the pics... Hope they help!

1. "before" picture
2. pieces disassembled
3. closest silver color matching paint found
4. leather dyes used
5. trim piece, base-coated
6. trim piece, clear-coated

[jakeru]

(Forum only allows posting one picture at a time)

[jakeru]

(Forum only allows posting one picture at a time.)

[jakeru]

(Forum only allows posting one picture at a time. )

[jakeru]

Forum only allows posting one picture at a time)

[jakeru]

( Forum only allows posting one picture at a time.)

[particlewave]

Originally Posted by jakeru

(Forum only allows posting one picture at a time)

Originally Posted by jakeru

(Forum only allows posting one picture at a time.)

Originally Posted by jakeru

(Forum only allows posting one picture at a time. )

Originally Posted by jakeru

Forum only allows posting one picture at a time)

Originally Posted by jakeru

( Forum only allows posting one picture at a time.)

Nonsense! You can add up to ten pictures per post. Try harder next time

Nice results, by the way

[jakeru]

Originally Posted by particlewave

Nonsense! You can add up to ten pictures per post. Try harder next time

Incorrect. I reported the forum image uploading problems here, and the problem has *not* yet been fixed: http://986forum.com/forums/site-assistance-feedback-here/59886-image-uploader-problems-using-ios.html

Originally Posted by grc0456

Nice work, Jake. I took the easy - and expensive - way out and bought a new shift and boot from Suncoast.

By the way, I have the original (2003 5-speed) Savanna Beige shifter that I'd happy to make available as a donor if someone wants to restore it like Jake did. Of course, you probably already have your own donor.

Thanks, grc! I gotta say that refinished savanna beige steering wheel I saw you posted in another thread looked pretty darned good, too!

Originally Posted by A 986 S

Jake; Thanks for the photos. Now that I see how it's put together I should be able to take mine apart & fix it.

Glad they were helpful. Please let us know how your project goes!

[grc0456]

Thanks, Jake. The key with the kit I used (Leather Magic) is the prep stage. It's fairly frightening as it removes most of the existing color and looks crappy. But you need to give something for the new paint to adhere to. But then, after cleaning thoroughly, and layering on a few coats of the color - it comes out pretty nice. It also "sealed" some of the loose stichting on the wheel.

We'll see how it holds up. Can always do it again I suppose. Thinking I may redo the seats, or at least the bolsters, every year or two anyway.

PS: Does your Box now say it is your father?

[grc0456]

Nice work, Jake. I took the easy - and expensive - way out and bought a new shift and boot from Suncoast.

By the way, I have the original (2003 5-speed) Savanna Beige shifter that I'd happy to make available as a donor if someone wants to restore it like Jake did. Of course, you probably already have your own donor.


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[A 986 S]

Jake; Thanks for the photos. Now that I see how it's put together I should be able to take mine apart & fix it.

cheers - dj

[A 986 S]

After seeing what needed to be done it was pretty easy to take the worn silver insert out on the shift knob. Here's a photo the knob's component pieces along with one of the fancy plastic and leather safe prying tools that helped get it apart.[



With the hard plastic insert separated from the rest of the knob I removed the remaining silver paint with acetone then cleaned and polished the black plastic. Here is the result.



The all black knob does look a bit Darth Vader-ish so I may go back and repaint it silver later but it does look a darn sight better than it did!

cheers - dj

[WillH]

Originally Posted by A 986 S

After seeing what needed to be done it was pretty easy to take the worn silver insert out on the shift knob. Here's a photo the knob's component pieces along with one of the fancy plastic and leather safe prying tools that helped get it apart.[



With the hard plastic insert separated from the rest of the knob I removed the remaining silver paint with acetone then cleaned and polished the black plastic. Here is the result.



The all black knob does look a bit Darth Vader-ish so I may go back and repaint it silver later but it does look a darn sight better than it did!

cheers - dj

Looking good, have you thought of getting rid of the silver on the door pulls to match?

[bcinphx]

I want to do the same to my Tiptronic shift knob. Does anybody know how the silver plastic piece comes off of it? Thanks for the tip on the paint color, I bought one.
Thanks,

[jakeru]

The piece that the silver-painted trim piece (with embossed shift pattern) pushes into is basically hard'ish molded rubber. This hard rubber piece does separate from the leather and comes out, if you peel back the leather around where it's tucked in, around the slots. You can use a razor to trim away any rubber casting flash that's in the way of the slots. Those plastic tangs basically are just friction-fit into the slots. It can be harder to get it going if you install it "cocked". For best results you'll want it pressed straight in. I'm glad to hear you got it sorted out. I think I was able to press mine together with my fingers/hands, but I do remember it not cooperating when I started it "cocked", and also I feel trimming away some of the casting flash from the slots helped.

[Stiglitz]

Instead of painting, i thought I'd give a try to wrapping the shift knob end.
See before-after pic.
I should have given it a primer coat of gray or an initial silver before wrapping (or just kept sanding all the paint off) as you can see the shadow between the black and silver. Still a huge improvement!
Before:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/CWHsu4R0uCQYiXYs2

After:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Xw5xg6y7J4xElWjN2

Not bad for $5.00 worth of vinyl wrap. I MAY do my side arm rests, as they are pretty scuffed up.