Time for an update!
Since the leggy Boxster has been nothing but a joy to own for the past 2-3 years, and as it has not cost me anything other than fuel and
Insurance for the last 18 months, this year I want to give it a bit of TLC.
There had been a couple of areas of rust starting - the usual area on the leading edge of the front wing, but more concerning was a small area on the rear drivers wheel arch. Because of this I thought I'd get the whole car freshened up with a re-spray. Rather than do it myself I asked a friend of mine to do it whilst I went on holiday with some close friends, driving around Scotland.
The car was dropped off and prepared accordingly.
The front of the car was stripped back to metal. This was the main area I painted in the past myself, but I used non-isocyanate paint (to protect my lungs in my make-shift paint booth). The bodyshop felt that their 'iso' paint would react with this and wanted it back to bare metal.
Here you can see the number of coats of paint the front PU has had:
Whilst the prep was being done my wife suggested a colour change. After all, I'm never going to sell the car so it doesn't really matter what colour it is. After negotiation (she loves this car as much as I do) we decided on a dark grey. My favourite Porsche colour being Atlas (despite never having owned an Atlas car).
That morning I text the chap who confirmed he hadn't ordered the paint yet and 'Atlas' it was!
In the interim the good news was that the rust on the rear arch was only surface, it had got under the stone guard on the inner lip of the arch and made its way around to the front. There was no rot on the inner arch at all, or in between the skins, it was just under the outer coat. Bonus! Nevertheless, the bodyshop used POR15 on any area they could find before priming and painting.
Anyway, whilst I was away I was kept updated and received pics like these to whet the appetite:
I think you'll agree it looks stunning in those pics!
It turns out that this is the most peculiar colour though because as it dried it has a blue hue to it...
Whilst in there I also had them do a wee calliper refresh for me.
I finally got the car back today and am very pleased with the results! The colour appears more blue than grey for some reason but I still love it and look forward to completing the next stage of the 'tart-up'.
The next stage of the TLC will be to brighten up the surfaces of the headlights, renovate the seats (including a little more bolster) and re-dye them. I also want to change the wind deflector to one which isn't held in by cable ties, and also I fancy a new windscreen due to the odd stone chip.
Speaking of cable ties, I've had a broken passenger front headlight tray for quite some time now - the plastic around the locking bar broke a while ago and the only way to keep the light in was by using some cable ties attached to the chassis! Still functional but I want to repair it.
I've tried to replace the tray but the light doesn't seem to lock into place in the new one. Any ideas?
Anyway, all for now, more to come. Next will be a nice thorough major service and then the rest of the tidying up.
:thumb: