minimme

I was thinking of painting the rear seat backs (Sport Adapative) to match the exterior color (GT Silver). I saw a picture of it done in white and i saw the OEM Aluminum look (not great, but interesting). What do folks think? Anyone have pictures? Is it too much contrast?

ronmart

If you do it, then do the center console too, otherwise it looks odd.

minimme

Agreed. I would do both.

Speed

Could you post the pic and indicate who does this kind of work.

Edgy01

For the cabriolets I think that could be a nice touch. Although I ordered a cab, I chose to cover my *** 'plastic' with more leather. You just can't kill enough hefers for a 911.

Dan

MMD

You have the seat backs that are the stock dark silver "painted" plastic, right? If so that dark color silver matches the PCM and AC trim panels and the steering wheel trim (and a few other things in the interior). You want to paint them GTSilver to approximately match the aluminum (bright silver) that's already in the car in various bits and pieces.

If you were to paint the seatbacks considerably brighter silver GTS, IMHO, it might also make "necessary" sense to paint the rear center console because the seatbacks alone are going to really stick out by themselves. Also, they're not THAT great looking because they're so functional (they'rejust seat backs for god's sake!), to paint them silver might give the car more of the roadster look (i.e.functional, lightweight, uncomfortable-but-fast, and dare I say it "cheap" interior. If I were to do it I would also consider painting every other piece of the dark silver trim GT silver (including PCM and AC and steering wheel).

This all begs the question *why* Porsche decided to introduce that dark silver color to the interior. It's undoubedly done to tone things down, make sure you can see what's going to be toned back up if you paint them the aluminum (i.e. "silver) color that's on some interior trim already.

Just guessing about all this, I hope it helps.

ronmart

I kinda wish I would have done that, but I finally got to the point where I said "enough is enough". I just couldn't take all of the nickel and diming anymore, and I had already exceeded my "budget" by $3000 by then anyway.

The big advantage of getting leather over painted or the stock plastic is that leather is more scratch resistant, which is important for people like me who have kids. I'm certain my seatbacks will look like hell in a years time, so I'll probably force the kids to take their shoes off for the first few months!

Edgy01

MMD,--I thought that the painted plastic really cheapens the interior,--even on the Cabriolets. It bothered me that Porsche would put this stuff on the backs of their most capable and $$ seats. So, after a lot of research, wound up ordering the leather to cover them back up. It's not that obvious in the ordering guide that you can even do that to the Adaptive Sport Seats (aka A.S.S.)

Dan

P.S. And yes, Ronmart, Porsche does 'nickel and dime' us on all this stuff. (More like vintage $20 Gold Piece us to death).... It's funny how you can justfiy all the price adds to yourself (particularly when you're single!)

997 S Cabriolet 6-speed
98 Non-Metallic Paint to Sample (custom blue)
06 Natural Leather Brown
CUC Painted Model Desig Rear Lid
CO2 U.S. Standard Emissions
M6H Brown Floor Mats
P01L Adaptive Sports Sts Lthr Int
V9 Black Top
XCZ Sport Shifter
XJT Rear Ctr. Console Makassar
XLF Sport Exhaust System
XRP 5mm Whl Spacers
XSB Sport Seat Backs in Leather
Z0997 Custom Tailoring
2493 Exterior Color to Sample
267 Self Dimming Mirrors
342 Heated Front Seats
405 19" Carrera Classic Wheel
450 Ceramic Composite Brakes-PCCB
451 Makassar Str Whl Multifctn
482 TPMS
498 Delete Model Designation
550 Hard Top
640 Sport Chrono Package Plus
672 Extended Nav Module
680 Bose High End Sound Package
692 Remote CD Changer
789 997 Paint to Sample
801 Makassar Package
TD5 Tourist Delivery (12 May 06)

minimme

I assume you are ordering the seat backs after delivery. Any idea of the cost and time for this, and whether you can also order the center console in leather.

ronmart

I thought the the color on the seatbacks looks quite a bit darker than the trim pieces. They call it volcano silver (or black), and it looks like a charcoal color to me. The brochures use lighting to make it look a bit lighter.

You'll also notice that the Standard 997's have a medium silver for the trim, but the S gets a brighter silver trim (it is subtle, but if you look in the brochure you can see the difference and it is spelled out in the specs). This means that the seatbacks are closer to the color (but still MUCH darker) in the standard 997.

I sorta agree with you though. With GT Silver, it would probably look cooler to do the aluminum upgrades to brighten it all up on the inside to go with the cool exterior color. However, I'd still consider the leather on the seatback for wear and tear over the paint.

I've seen GT Silver seatbacks and they look sweet!

ronmart

Ha, if I were single I would have put leather on everything possible and go the X51 package.

ronmart

Not me. I think that is one of those things you do when you order the car, or you just live without out it. I imagine the cost would be way too prohibitive.

The $1610 they charge for the leather seatbacks at build time was enough to scare me off.

Edgy01

After I hit $125,000 on the car the $1610 on the backs still didn't phase me! (Hey, what's another couple thousand ...!)

So,--I have the leather coming on mine,--and of course I went with the most expensive leather (natural brown) of all of them...


Dan