Gooey volume knob and other bits??

I have to confess, I am not a Porschephile really, but I've had a slew of bad luck with BMW's (most recently an E46 M3 Coupe), so I might be a convert. I did have a 944S2 back in the day, but it was mostly a track slut. My mother has a 2006 997 Cabrio. Beautiful car... think it had a price tag when new of over $90k. I have been in Florida for a few moths with her and noticed immediately that the interior doesn't appear to be holding up well ( especially for a car that isn't that old, and only had 13,800 miles on it! )... The biggest concern is the Volume and Station Tune knobs, which appear to have turned "gooey"! I at first thought maybe something was on it that was sticky, but realized that it appears that the material it is made of ( some sort of rubberized coating on top of plastic, from my estimation ) has turned this way on it's own. I notice that the Temperature Up/Down , and Fan Speed switches are also exuding the same "sticky" like feelings, but not turned to the gooey mess that has plagued these other two knobs yet. I am also amazed at the sheer number of vinyl painted surfaces in the vehicle (which is most of them)... They all have not held up well in the humid Florida environment and all are starting to "chip" in areas. I saw this a lot on early 2000-ish VW's, but I didn't think I'd see it on a $90k plus Porsche. Yup, same thing. I'm really unimpressed with Porsche for doing such nonsence... Even the trim around the ignition is coated with this paint. My question is... has anyone else had these issues with these vinyl coated plastic bits?? Is there a way to simply replace the knobs, or is it more involved. I'm guessing I'm not the only one who's experienced this, but I'd like to know. Here are some pictures.. The Volume knob... Eeeewwww... it's all gooey! The Temp Control switch Just to prove, the mileage... hasn't hit 15,000 miles yet. The paint chipping around the ignition switch... Seems like a horrible place to put a paint covered part. Anyone would know it's going to get chipped to bits by putting the key in/out of there repetitively. Any input appreciated on what to do about these gooey knobs. I don't even want to touch them anymore.

No one??? Beuhler???

Wow! if i remember right someone at Griots warned about using the wrong interior cleaners. something about vinyl or leather cleaners being sometimes incompatible. it could hard on the vinyl. Has someone been detailing the car for your Mother? the chipping is another story, I finally had to take all the extra keys of the key chain and tell the ex to quit druming her fingernails on the door closer. no great loss there:-) " You've got to have your priorities straight!" anything from a dealer or PCNA?

humidity and heat causes the water based paint to rub off. it's always important to use a heat shield for the windshield and put the top up when parked. getting tinted window helps too. as to solution, the key trim is eaily replaceable. i am sure the knobs can be replaced too. not sure about the switch though. you can try stickynomore.com they will refinish the parts. ebay may be a good source too.

my '01 has sticky knobs as well. I read somewhere that these guys may have replacements. Becker Autosound Website I haven't tried them yet though.

Hand lotion can cause the "soft touch" coating to become gooey and chip. Never let anyone with hand lotion (or sunscreen?) touch the coated parts. The temperature and fan speed selectors can be touched up with a flat black Testors model paint.

Okay, thanks guys... I called Becker Autosound today and sounds like they have the knobs in stock. They wanted me to email a picture of the radio to confirm I get the right parts, but I expect to hear back from them tomorrow. Apparently, they have replaced a TON of these for the same reason. I'd try to hit up Porsche on this one as I consider this a manufacturing defect, but do you think they would just laugh at me?? BMW was pretty good at honoring some of these things ( even out of warranty ), like the crappy push-in/out cup holders that break if you look at them funny. It's like they knew they engineered a crappy part and made up for it by being nice on the replacements. That was, of course, at their own disgression and nothing guaranteed. A good dealer may have helped. I'll let you know the cost of the parts when I find out tomorrow. I don't expect them to be cheap.

It's due to the prior (or current?!) owner and either their cleaning habits or whatever they wore as makeup/sunscreen/lotion, and their heavy hand and bad aim with their key! There are cars with many miles on them with no interior wear at all... how can one assume it's a manufacturing defect and Porsche's responsibility to fix worn out parts that are damaged when the owner beats up the car!? It would be hard to be a car manufacturer/dealer in this day and age!

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Well, I completely disagree. For a car that cost nearly $90,000 when new, I think the build quality is utter junk! 80% of the interior is this spray painted plastic junk. No excuses! This painted trim crap is a bad idea. You expect is on a Volkswagen. Not on a $70-120K Porsche. I'll look into replacing the bezel ring around the ignition key next. And... most of the 997's I've seen look like this or worse, so I know it's not something that's a "me only" problem. I did replace the two knobs on the radio . Forget calling BEKER. They wanted a fortune for them!!! Rip off city. I got these for a reasonable price right from my Porsche dealer parts counter. I think it was like $35 or $40 for both of them. Here's the part numbers if you need them: Just yank off the old ones. You may need to use your fingernail to get under it and pry loose, but comes off with ease. This is how bad the volume knob was... Ewww.. Gooey mess! Yuk! Keep in mind, there is nothing ON the knob that is sticky... the "soft touch" coating on the knobs became that gooey mess with age/humidity, etc. New knob... And.... Good as new again! If yours are starting to get stick, I suggest you buy new and replace. Easy and inexpensive and your fingers will thank you.

Great! Glad to hear that you solved the problem! At $35-$40 for the two knobs, they were definitely worth replacing. It seems that some of these newer type of plastics get sticky over time. Some of the higher end cars such as Lamborghini, Ferrari, Maserati have the same problem with interior trim pieces. People have been complaining, and replacing these parts is much too expensive. For items like that, there is one company called Sticky No More which refinishes the parts. I've never used them and I'm not sure how good they are.......However, they seem to have good reviews. Sticky No More - Exotic Cars Interior Refinishing Services

Thanks for the link on the Sticky No More website! You are right, both Ferrari and Maserati have similar problems. My father has a Ferrari 575M and the air flow adjustment knobs on that car have gone "gooey" as well. I'm going to send him the info on this company as well. Fortunately the radio knobs are an easy fix!!

I'm a hard core Porsche fan but recognize the reality of our situation - we have 30 year drivetrains hauling around 10 year interiors and electronics. Buttons are annoying, but when the LED displays fail, you are screwed. Time for Porsche to raise the bar in these areas.

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My 2002 Maserati Coupe had that soft touch crap everywhere. Stickynomore had a great reputation on the Maserati forums. I fortunately didn't have too much wear, and was able to use the spray cans of Plasti-Dip to touch up my chipping buttons. It is a fantastic match for the soft touch black stuff, just spray it into a bowl and dip your brush from there. I believe Suncoast sells the knobs, and I'm sure Pelican can order them as well.

I just pulled mine off and wiped them off with a towel and than washed them in the kitchen sink, no more sticky mess, and look good as new, and I havent had to worry about any coating at all anymore, total cost=free. Yes, they are still black, and the white markings are even brighter now.

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Had this same problem with a friends Volvo. I took the knobs off and washed the sticky soft touch stuff off with simple green. Knobs are not sticky anymore, smooth and black, and the white markings remain. Agree that this shouldn't happen on a quality car but there is a simple remedy.