When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
How to repair and care for crappy soft touch paint?
The interior soft touch sand beige paint on my recently acquired 2006 997S is crappy... it scratches easily, exposing the underlying black plastic. It seems the hot humid weather here makes this worse. The dealer here reports this is common, and said I was lucky it's not a Ferrari (paint rubs off even more easily).
I'm having a few interior nicks repainted, and asked for their outsourced painter to get me a small vial of touch up paint. Has anyone found a good solution for maintaining this paint?
Sure... window triangles, dash vent strip next to the windshield base, overhead lights trim, ashtray cover (now at paintshop), door panel armrest base under the leather. All of these have
small nicks and the paint flakes off with a light touch or wiping. The paint on these pieces gets very tacky to the touch in the warm humid weather here. I notice it feels smoother and less tacky when I start up the car and have the AC on. Pictures to follow...
My vote would be to have all these pieces removed, stripped and painted body color exterior paint. That would hold up very well to the heat and humidity and simple waxing would maintain the pieces.
The only issue is the vents, not sure how you would handle that since a different color won't match.
I've thought about this, but never tried it. I've used Plastidip on car grilles and other parts and it has a similar feel. So why not try Plastidip on a small part. If it doesn't work, just peel it off.
We paint this stuff exterior color for a reason. Soft touch, no matter how much 'touch up' is done even by the best pro, will eventually keep doing what it's doing.
Let me know when you're ready for some interior color.
We paint this stuff exterior color for a reason. Soft touch, no matter how much 'touch up' is done even by the best pro, will eventually keep doing what it's doing.
Let me know when you're ready for some interior color.
Originally Posted by Bob/Ft. Worth
Ferrari guys use a company called "sticky no more."
Both of these are excellent options, I dealt with both multiple times and always been happy. I've had painted consoles from Eric that really spice up the fairly blah interior, and have had stickynomore refinish a number of radio and climate control *****. Top notch for both.
Another option for the little pieces, you can just order new ones from Porsche. The new parts will match but are an updated finish that doesn't get sticky. I've done this on multiple cars that I have refurbished, the little trim pieces aren't super expensive. Find your part number in the parts catalog, price the parts at ECS/Pelican/dealership.
Thanks for the refinishing options and the replacement suggestions. For now I'm going with carbon fiber pieces on some of these items, and touching up others.
Here are some phone camera pics of the flaking and nicks on my car (I've also had the ashtray cover completely repainted while a CF replacement arrives). These are the overhead console, dash vent trim at the windshield base, left side window triangle and trim piece between the gauge cluster and steering column.
This seems to happen a lot. Many manufacturers seem to find it cheaper/easier for them to paint trim than to mold it in the matching color.
There are itinerant "vinyl repair"/interior trim repair guys who make rounds from dealer to dealer fixing the little stuff on their used car lots
Look under "vinyl repair" in your phone book or ask the dealer's used car manager who they use. I've had repairs done on several cars and the cost is quite reasonable. The guy I used had an amazing eye for color matching. He has airbrushed some dashboard paint defects away on my wife's car (that I created), and years later they still can't be seen.
If it were me, I would replace them. If you order online through ECS or Pelican or get a PCA discount at your dealership, I bet it would be $250 or so.
On Planet 9 this came up and the idea some of the guys did was paint matching at Home Depot. I sort of laughed and since most of my interior on my Cayman was CF it wasn't a issue until a couple of pieces of the terra-cotta scraped. So I took it to Home Depot and they matched the paint and it matched perfectly. Just a couple of dabs and it was pretty much invisible. If they could put it in a spray can it would be perfect.
I received a can of Scratch Wizard Sand Beige touch up dye and went at It on Friday night. I used a tiny microfiber applicator and the pieces came out fine except for the overhead light console cover (because I did not remove and sand it). For now, overall I'm pleased with the results until I replace some of these with CF or remove them for a proper sand & spray . The dash vent trim could use another coat or two, but you'd need to look for the original spots to find them when you're in the car (perhaps a benefit of having AARP eligible eyesight--- they are much more visible in the pics below with my 41MP Nokia phone cam). I just drove about 150 miles to the beach and back yesterday and they are none the worse for wear. I also applied a bit to a small dime sized wear spot on the driver's seat bolster and that blended perfectly... amazing stuff on leather.
II have no idea how you got the scratches where you got them at, I mean how often do you adjust your mirrors or turn on your dome light? The only place I ever got them was the area of the rear hatch with stuff going in and out.