Front grill colour

[the baron]

During this down time, I am looking to get the front bumper off and respray the front grills again, I did this a few years back and sprayed them black even though they were showing signs of white/silver plastic under the black, I also put mesh behind to stop the build up of leaves etc.

So question is, what is the originall colour of these front grills, black or silver? Ive studied many pics of older cars, mine is 1997 2.5, and there is a real mixture, any idea how it left the factory?

[jonogt6]

Pretty certain yours would originally been black. Some of them have now faded terribly and look almost greyish white. Some later S models had a graphite metallic paint finish as far as I'm aware.

[Tynesider]

Hi 

Some before after pics would be good, also difficulty level/tips as I might attempt mine depending on how difficult the task is, as they have been resprayed silver but are looking not great.I think they would look better black on a silver car.

[el 3.2S]

A few yeas ago, I too removed the front bumber to fit mesh and paint the faded grills black. The grills on my car looked really naff and I reckoned they had been a kind of grey colour to start with?

Here is a picture showing the rather shocking colour before I sprayed them black:

How they ended up all painted black, including middle grill surround, ahhh much better:

A

[the baron]

1 hour ago, Tynesider said:

Hi 

Some before after pics would be good, also difficulty level/tips as I might attempt mine depending on how difficult the task is, as they have been resprayed silver but are looking not great.I think they would look better black on a silver car.

Its not difficult, there's about 8 screws/bolts to remove bumper, lots of Youtube vids showing you how and there is also a great right up on here how to make the mesh to go behind the grills.

[½cwt]

I have not paid my grilles a lot of attention other than that they are black at the moment but I also know it is no the original bumper and therefore that the grilles could have been painted when it was replaced.  It has struck me from the colour descriptions people have given and the pictures from @el 3.2S that the original finish may be anodised black aluminium.  This does fade/weather to a dull grey or brownish grey overtime.  Then again I could be completely wrong with this guess...

[NicGun]

I believe that on early Boxster 2.5 they were black, and on the 3.2 S introduced 2000 they are aluminium / silver coloured, recall reading that in Porsche literature somewhere but haven't got it to hand.

[Southy]

my 2001 S, they were silver, now covered up by black zunesport grilles

[½cwt]

On 4/1/2020 at 4:32 PM, el 3.2S said:

A few yeas ago, I too removed the front bumber to fit mesh and paint the faded grills black. The grills on my car looked really naff and I reckoned they had been a kind of grey colour to start with?

Here is a picture showing the rather shocking colour before I sprayed them black:

How they ended up all painted black, including middle grill surround, ahhh much better:

 

A

That grey titanium-ish colour seems to be under the black (and dust of silver overspray) on the back of my 2000 S grilles.  Looks like I have layers that run raw plastic, then titanium, then silver then black, which point to the titanium as the spec colour.

Anyone know the true factory spec for rad grille colour on an early Boxster S?  Looking at the cover of the red car on the driver manual book it certainly looks to be silver or titanium, not black.  If so what colour reference is it?

 

[NicGun]

2 hours ago, ½cwt said:

That grey titanium-ish colour seems to be under the black (and dust of silver overspray) on the back of my 2000 S grilles.  Looks like I have layers that run raw plastic, then titanium, then silver then black, which point to the titanium as the spec colour.

Anyone know the true factory spec for rad grille colour on an early Boxster S?  Looking at the cover of the red car on the driver manual book it certainly looks to be silver or titanium, not black.  If so what colour reference is it?

 

They we're black on early 2.5's but definitely silver on 3.2 S when introduced in late 1999 onwards from factory, as to whether it was bright silver or titanium I'm not 100% sure, but every Porsche press car publicity shots from then of 986 S show them as silver not black.

I do have an Autocar somewhere from their first review of 986 S which I'll try and did out to confirm from their pics also.

[½cwt]

Sound like this needs to go as a query to Porsche themselves to get a definitive answer.

[jonogt6]

53 minutes ago, ½cwt said:

Sound like this needs to go as a query to Porsche themselves to get a definitive answer.

Just checked a copy of "The Porsche Boxster Story" by Paul Frere. It definitely seems that the S models had metallic grey grilles whereas the 2.5 & 2.7 had black.

It's a good book btw if you're an anorak like me😁

[GmanB]

You don't even get grilles on the facelift, but you do get body coloured fins that are part of the bumper. I chose to have black mesh fitted to the inside of the bumper. 

[½cwt]

5 hours ago, jonogt6 said:

Just checked a copy of "The Porsche Boxster Story" by Paul Frere. It definitely seems that the S models had metallic grey grilles whereas the 2.5 & 2.7 had black.

It's a good book btw if you're an anorak like me😁

That's a good solid piece of information. Just need to find a colour reference now...

 

3 hours ago, GmanB said:

You don't even get grilles on the facelift, but you do get body coloured fins that are part of the bumper. I chose to have black mesh fitted to the inside of the bumper. 

I want to get the grilles right, body colour (Artic Silver) will look odd in my opinion and black, whilst it looks fine and is the current finish, is not factory.  As they could do with repainting and the front PU does need painting due to a split in the paint right above the number plate it would be easy to do silver, however this is a chance to get it right.  Once done I'm intending to put mesh behind and depending on the finish of the grilles I'll go with natural aluminium or black.

[el 3.2S]

1 hour ago, ½cwt said:

That's a good solid piece of information. Just need to find a colour reference now...

 

I want to get the grilles right, body colour (Artic Silver) will look odd in my opinion and black, whilst it looks fine and is the current finish, is not factory.  As they could do with repainting and the front PU does need painting due to a split in the paint right above the number plate it would be easy to do silver, however this is a chance to get it right.  Once done I'm intending to put mesh behind and depending on the finish of the grilles I'll go with natural aluminium or black.

https://www.porscheclubgb.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=609462

Here you go, 2nd post in the thread in above link refers to the grills as being painted "titanium" on the S models. That makes sense from the kind of washed out colour I saw on mine before painting them.

[½cwt]

6 hours ago, jonogt6 said:

Just checked a copy of "The Porsche Boxster Story" by Paul Frere. It definitely seems that the S models had metallic grey grilles whereas the 2.5 & 2.7 had black.

It's a good book btw if you're an anorak like me😁

Saturday night eBay purchase for £11.34 second hand.  Not likely to be one I regret! I hope.

I have been nominated as Forum Nerd and Forum Pedant by @John K.  Now where's my anorak gone to?

[½cwt]

7 minutes ago, el 3.2S said:

https://www.porscheclubgb.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=609462

Here you go, 2nd post in the thread in above link refers to the grills as being painted "titanium" on the S models. That makes sense from the kind of washed out colour I saw on mine before painting them.

Hmmm.  He may have written a book but mine has chrome logo on boot and I can't tell about the windscreen surround as it looks to have been replaced before my ownership.  Perhaps silver was used for grilles on Arctic Silver cars???  Also the comment on suspension.  The standard Boxster S 'I029' suspension is same as 2.7, certainly on the front as regards springs and ARB diameter (I'm working on that area of mine currently).  M030 was the sports suspension option with uprated lowered springs and thicker ARB.

[GmanB]

50 minutes ago, ½cwt said:

I want to get the grilles right, body colour (Artic Silver) will look odd in my opinion and black, whilst it looks fine and is the current finish, is not factory.  As they could do with repainting and the front PU does need painting due to a split in the paint right above the number plate it would be easy to do silver, however this is a chance to get it right.  Once done I'm intending to put mesh behind and depending on the finish of the grilles I'll go with natural aluminium or black.

Yeah, best to take your time and get it right, especially as you have artic silver paint. It's a harder choice than I'd have.

[NicGun]

Just had a dig around on Design911 and they are available new, listed as titanium for £284.40 each side 😱 - they have satin black for non S at "only" £93.56 each side, but obviously much less expensive to refurb.

Will be interested in the results of your refurb as mine would benefit from some attention too, they are as they left the factory but a little tired looking in places after 20yrs, shown up slightly more as I have black mesh behind them now.

They are part no 3 here: https://www.design911shop.com/pages/diagramsBrowser.aspx?categoryID=8&diagramID=3281

Would be interesting to get price from OPC, as I've known them to be much cheaper than Design911 on some parts.

[½cwt]

1 hour ago, NicGun said:

Just had a dig around on Design911 and they are available new, listed as titanium for £284.40 each side 😱 - they have satin black for non S at "only" £93.56 each side, but obviously much less expensive to refurb.

Will be interested in the results of your refurb as mine would benefit from some attention too, they are as they left the factory but a little tired looking in places after 20yrs, shown up slightly more as I have black mesh behind them now.

They are part no 3 here: https://www.design911shop.com/pages/diagramsBrowser.aspx?categoryID=8&diagramID=3281

Would be interesting to get price from OPC, as I've known them to be much cheaper than Design911 on some parts.

Fewer of them and a higher degree of production and packing care is part of the cost reason, also dare I say an attitude of if you want the top spec car here's the price to fix it...  I have sussed from this that the colour code on the part number is 9A4, I just need a paint code to go with this if indeed an Arctic Silver S has titanium grilles.

OPC usually give you 10% whether you are a PCGB member or not.  Also Design 911 tend to be a bit above OPC list price in my experience, but do run some good offers from time to time, bu so far not for the original parts I want. Then again they are open when I need parts now and my Sytner Group OPC at least isn't... Their OEM after market prices, particularly when in a bundle (I got a/c condensers and o ring set at a very good price a year or so ago), seem quite fair.

[the baron]

Thanks for all the replies, I got the bumper off today and resprayed the front grills and wire mesh which I installed a few years back in black, all I had was calliper paint so it gave it around 6 coats of that with 2 coats of clear lacquer, looks like new now, 

[Geoffjackson]

Not sure on factory colour however I think depending on the colour of your car I would go black. I’ve done my side vents and intend on doing my front grills when I get bumper off. My car is arctic silver

geoff

https://imgur.com/gallery/7GAShPX

[½cwt]

2 hours ago, Geoffjackson said:

Not sure on factory colour however I think depending on the colour of your car I would go black. I’ve done my side vents and intend on doing my front grills when I get bumper off. My car is arctic silver

geoff

https://imgur.com/gallery/7GAShPX

My grilles are black currently, not sure I'd go as far as you on the whole intake moulding, or @el 3.2S on the whole centre rad intake in black.

This question is research really as to whether they would have been anything different originally and as the bumper needs repainting I can get them pro painted to correct colour at the same time. 

Research so far show 2.5 and 2.7 were satin black but suggestions are titanium on at least some colours for the S including the same colour for screen surround trim as can be seen just on the red car on the Driver's Manual cover (mine is all black but it has had a new screen in the past so this may be incorrect as a result from that time and there is a 9A4 code option for the 98654154101 screen seal trim) and also the boot lettering, but mine is chrome. Implies that Arctic Silver at least may not fully follow the titanium theme.

Sorry getting a bit nerdy here but now the question is in my mind I want to track down the definitive answer. Call it a character flaw.

[some bloke]

I seem to have 1 faded black and 1 greyish

 

[½cwt]

6 minutes ago, some bloke said:

I seem to have 1 faded black and 1 greyish

 

Should be satin black on a 2.5 if you want to refresh them.