I couldn't seem to find anyone who's done this by searching, so has anyone thought about painting the plastic cowl? (top of the front hood between wipers and windshield)

I'm probably going to replace mine sometime next month (you can probably see the corner sticking up a little, the plastic eyelet on that side is cracked), and I thought, could it be painted? was thinking just flat black, or if I can get one of those fancy high flow paint gun style cans I could play with gloss and clear (or I suppose I could get someone to paint it)

base of the windshield is black under glass, wipers are flat black, and my car is gloss black, thought it might look nice. I suppose I could stick with the design theme of gray and paint it the same gunmetal gray as the horizontal surfaces on my wheels too.

Well if anyone's done it or there's a good reason not to, please chime in!

 

HT, about two years ago, someone posted that they had swapped their cowl cover. IIRC, it cost him $60 to $65 at the dealer. For that price, it is probably not worth the aggrivation to paint it.

EDIT: OK, I did a search and found the thread I remembered seeing on this topic. I guess my memory is slipping a little bit... the thread was posted 2-1/2 years ago.

Replacing the Cowl Thread

 

htny, I have a spare black plastic cowl in my garage that is left over from the rebuild on my 99 996. I believe it is in perfect condition. If you are interested, it is yours for $20, plus shipping.

 

Mark, HT can't use that cowl. Since you are on the "left" coast and he is on the "right" coast," the cowl will not fit because it will be facing the wrong way. However, if you pack it backwards in the shipping box, then it wil work!

Nice price on the cowl, Mark.

 

Damn Tim.... good memory!

 

Tim thanks so much for digging, I actually read that thread before posting, but great find, it took me some heavy searching to get the terminology! Mine looks great, but the plastic mount point is cracked on one side. The fact that the part was stated as being cheap in that thread is what motivated me to do it.

Tim is probably correct by the way, the Mk1 part won't fit the Mk2 (at least that's what I've been told, they do look different), but I really appreciate the offer Mark!

I was thinking, If I'm going to put a new one on anyway, and I have it off the car (the new piece out of the box I mean), it's probably trivial to mask the weatherstripping and spray, or deliver a prepped part and pay some guy a couple of bucks to save me from ruining a garage with overspray. It always struck me as the cheapest looking part of the car, and if painted the same flat black as the wipers it might dress up the look, I don't know. Might make things much uglier, who knows. Maybe I need to photoshop the thing.

 

You can sand it with scotch bright pad or 1200 wet, do it with water either way. Spray it with SEM flexable bumper coater, semi flat black. Turns out really good for any black plastic parts.

 

Thanks! So with the SEM, no flexible/bumper primer coat underneath? Multiple coats needed/possible in your experience?

 

OK so as usual I ran out of time thinking of mods on this one. Left the car with my father while I was traveling, and when I got back, the retired engineer in him couldn't stand to leave it broken. He fixed it by drilling, painting and bonding a new sheet of galvanized steel to the cowl where the old plastic mount point was cracked, and voila, good as new. Pics tonight