"Aluminum Look" Silver Paint Match

My car has E82 "Aluminum Look Interior Small" which includes the center vents. I would like to make the outer vents match. Has anyone found a good match for this silver in a rattle can?

I used Arctic Silver Metallic 92T from www.automotivetouchup.com and the paint was awesome. No drips at all, just a nice fine mist. I painted the console and various parts. I had issues with Dupli-color paint. My interior has a bit of silver in it (handles etc.) and it seems to match pretty well.

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that looks really good - what clear coat did you use? did you do a write up on the paint work??

I did a write-up which can be found HERE . In addition to the paint, I used: SEM 38353 Plastic Prep SEM 39133 Flexible Primer Surfacer USC Spray Max 2k High Gloss Clearcoat Aerosol This stuff was all pretty expensive, and sanding and painting was a read pain in the A** but it did come out looking great. It seems to be holding up over time too.

The vents are sort of a dull or semi-flat looking silver, not a base/clear at all.

It can be really hard to match Silvers. I wish there was a better way then trial and error.

how much of a PITA is the removal/replacement of center console?? is there a DIY thread? i really like the contrasting silver against the leather seats - makes it look fresh. this will be my 1st upgrade to the C4S i plan to purchase this weekend. will be ordering the paint/clear coat from automotive touch up next week

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FYI - WURTH silver is the best match for the porsche 993/996 silver wheels - i wrote up a thread years ago on my 993 wheel curb rash repair. not sure if it is a close match to other silver components the wurth paint was very easy to purchase thru several parts places but i see it is getting hard to find and extremely expensive? not sure whats up with that...

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I also did a write up of "alumalook" paint comparisons. Link HERE It looks like sjg's info is newer, but I had good results with the Duplicolor BGM0340 as a match for Alumalook. The key for good results is definitely to SAND and SAND AGAIN until the surface is smooth. Prep is the key.

Thanks frisbee. A Google search also took me to posts here and on sixspeed that provided an original paint code, though I believe that paint is hard to find and expensive (surprise!). As I consider this project, I realize that the thumb wheel gets painted too, so unless I can disassemble this thing for paint I may not be able to replicate the original Porsche look. Taking a bunch of stuff out/apart in a few weeks so will check into the possibility of taking this vent apart at that time.

i wonder how close a silver match the "wurth" paint is to the silver interior components - it is worth(pardon pun)checking it out because that wurth paint is excellent and sprays on like a fine mist with excellent results

The center console takes about 10 minutes to remove. * Snap out shifter surround and remove shift boot (grip w/ both hands and pull straight up like a ****) * Remove Torx fasteners around shifter, in front of center console storage * Remove Torx fasteners inside center console storage * Remove ashtray /liner from ashtray delete and remove plastic Torx screws; there may be 2 additional Torx screws underneath. * Disconnect window switch wiring (x2 - or x4 if cabriolet) * Disconnect center console storage compartment alarm wire Be sure to pull the e-brake up as far as it will go and lift the console up and out... Note that I do not have the lower console (I have the GT3 console delete), and I don't remember if anything else is necessary to get the console out. There might be a couple of carpet-lined trim pieces to pop out around the hump. As long as you leave the shifter in neutral and you get the e-brake pulled up far enough, the removal isn't really that big a deal.

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Take a look at the Console Riser Kit instructions pdf (bottom of product page - you can skip to page 3 of the instructions "OEM Center Console Removal"). That details step-by-step instructions (with pictures) on how to remove the OEM center console.

thx 5CHN3LL & Function-First - will keep this info for my console removal - flying down to norcal friday and driving home to seattle in hopefully my new C4S

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and you did beautiful work on that console riser - 1st class looking and excellent idea

Maybe you guys would like to start a console removal or console painting thread?

not a bad idea considering some of the grey interior consoles i've seen - when they get scratched the color underneath is the black plastic and looks bad - seen several like this and they had considerable amounts of scratching the black interior consoles seem to hold up well and scratches don't look so pronounced

I am hoping to solve the scratch issue via the many layers of clear coat I put on.

The scratching can be attributed to the soft touch paint the factory used, which is a major PITA, and it makes prepping the center console, or any interior plastic parts for that matter, an even bigger PITA. The soft touch paints, although probably more luxurious and quality looking when the car is new, do not age very well. Nor do they take to finger nails very kindly... Properly sanding off the soft touch paint, in its entirety, and using a plastic adhesion promoter and a quality plastic paint will yield some nice results. A clear coat will protect your base coat further, as that is a harder paint. I've gotten away with just the base coat, but I'm pretty careful around the car interior, so YMMV. I've had good results with SEM products as well - not cheap, as noted in a post above, but a step above other brands IMO. As with any paint job, the prep work is key, and taking your time with the steps as per the paint manufacturer directions can have your interior looking new again!

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The Duplicolor BGM0340 was readily available at my local auto parts store (Pep Boys), and was pretty cheap. It looks like Autozone, Amazon, and even Walmart have it for about $8 per can.

I did not have a good recent experience with Duplicolor paint. Maybe it was old paint... "After the disaster of using Dupli-color paint, spraying www.automotivetouchup.com paint was a true pleasure. No drips at all, just a nice fine mist. " The bad Duplicolor paint wasted a bunch of my time and was very frustrating. Luckily Amazon gave me my money back.

higher quality spray paints like "wurth" have a nicely designed spray tip nozzle which is a step up from the norm - goes on nice and fine/even