Matte black interior paint - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

After my new leather seat covers from Lseat are installed, I'll turn my attention to the center console and the flip-up armrests in the door panels, the satin black finishes of which are moderately scratched up. The fix: repaint them. I think I'm going to use paint designed for another use: brake caliper paint. Why? Because it's a very tough finish, nearly indestructible. Unlike the finish now on the armrests and center console, it won't chip or scratch easily. I've used it before, but in another color, to paint brake calibers and drums. Bonus: It will withstand temperatures up to 900 degrees! https://www.amazon.com/VHT-SP739-Satin-Black-Caliper/dp/B000CPJLVW

I would hesitate to use high temp on the interiors as perhaps a paint designed for plastic may stick better into plastic (IMHO).. I believe that there are some members here that had painted their interiors with good results, good luck!

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Good point. I'll test it first on similar plastic. I've used this type of paint before, for the use it was intended. As someone who worked in her brother-in-law's auto body and paint shop after school throughout high school and college, not to mention Saturdays, it seems to me satin black VHT would be ideal. I know it to be an extremely tough finish. But as I said, I'll see how it does on some test plastic. Thanks for bringing up that point, Gilles.

Have you considered covering the flip up armrests on the doors in leather? I've used the instructions in this link and covered a few pieces: https://www.pedrosgarage.com/site-3/leather-upholstering.html I have found the leather durable and more pleasant to touch than the painted plastic.

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It's food for thought. Thanks for the link.

My brother-in-law, who has painted a jillion cars, concurred that VHT Brake and Caliper paint would probably make a super-durable finish on those interior parts, but he had another suggestion. He happened to have a couple spare cans of satin black VHT Hood, Bumper & Trim Paint, which he claimed is almost as durable. It says on the can, "FOR METAL, PLASTIC, FIBERGLASS." I gave him ten bucks for the pair, Check it out: https://www.amazon.com/VHT-ESP027000-Black-Bumper-Paint/dp/B000CPAVBG

My 2000S had that easily scratched grey finish on the console, arm rests, and some smaller parts on the doors that, no matter how careful I was, kept looking more and more awful as time went on. Before putting it in storage a couple years ago I had the parts removed and sand blasted to remove the finish, leaving the bare black plastic surfaces which I then had a body shop apply a couple coats of clear coat. The result looked perfect - smooth, matte finish. I put the parts back in the car a year ago after getting the car out of storage. So far, it has been very durable and looks exactly as it did when I reinstalled them. I'm very pleased with the result. Larry (The Bald Eagle)

I’m sprucing up the interior of my 2003 with Metropol blue interior. The plastic pieces aren’t blue, but it doesn’t seem to be black either. See pic. Kind of a graphite gray. Anybody know what color this is? Maybe a paint code or rattle can approximation? Thanks.

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People have been asking for Porsche interior paint codes for a good long time, but I don't know of anyone striking pay dirt. A friend of mine has been looking for the paint codes for his chocolate brown '78 911SC's interior. I'm lucky that my 986's center console and flip-up armrests are a generic black satin. You might take an armrest to Industrial Finishes or the equivalent and have them try to match the color.

Anyone happen to know the best way to remove the factory "soft touch'" finish from the center console and armrests/door pocket covers? I want to retain the plastic's texture, so sanding is out.

https://citristrip.com/paint-varnish-stripping-gel-32-oz/ I used Citristrip. It works slowly, but it didn't appear to damage the plastic.

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Many thanks, Kevin. I ordered some CitriStrip from Amazon forthwith.

I recently purchased a 2000 986 and went right to work restoring and upgrading the interior. First on my list was the armrests. After trial and error, I discovered that rubbing alcohol, a stiff bristle scrub brush and few paper towels and in 15 minutes time, the soft coating was completely removed. It looked great but I wanted to cover them with leather. Finished both sides today and am very happy with the results.

Following along. I am about to do the same thing. My center console and arm rests are also scratched. I’ve heard the pre-2000 boxsters do not have soft touch on them, just plastic and some people sourced used parts as a starting point for painting so they didn’t have to deal with removing the soft touch. I wish I had access to a sand blaster.

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Me too, but I wouldn't use it on relatively soft plastic. I saw a guy ruin a Z-car's interior plastic by sandblasting it.

AS I said above, I went to a body shop and was then referred to a guy who sandblasted my console, arm rests, and a few smaller parts and ended up with a black, almost matte black finish. I had planned on painting the parts silver (the car is painte arctic silver) but was pleased with the look so had the body shop clear coat the parts. That was over a year ago and I've found the finish to be durable and attractive. I had tried to remove the soft gray finish using alcohol and stiff brush which didn't work well so I used sandpaper, again with poor results so ended up with sandblasting. That leather looks great and good luck with your projects... almost anything would be better than that scratched soft touch gray. Larry (the Bald Eagle)

Sadly, in the bay area they'll probably want a few hundred bucks just to sand blast. Labor around here is crazy expensive.....but I'll ask around, maybe I can find a good place.

I’m going to try rubbing it off with denatured alcohol and will report back. Some good videos about it on YouTube.

KevinH came up with the optimal solution (in both senses of the word) for removing the Soft Touch finish: CitriStrip. On his recommendation I ordered some from Amazon and gave it a try. Works great. Brush it on, let it sit awhile, wipe and/or scrape it off with a plastic scraper. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CL5JQCMS

FYI I spent $200 for sandblasting + $130 for clear coat Alcohol didn't work for me but I know it worked for others Wish I knew about critristrip, certainly would have tried it based on your recommendation.