My 997 is in good technical condition, but after more than 200,000 km and 18 years, the interior showed some signs of wear that I wanted to address. Thankfully the leather is in good condition.
Steering wheel spoke
My car has the standard triangular steering wheel. Apparently the default driving position of one the previous owners was with his left elbow resting on the door armrest and his left hand at the centre spoke, wearing off the paint in the progress.
Instead of attempting a repaint I decided to replace this part. The part number is 99734782100D07 and the cost is approx. €110. Replacement requires removal of the airbag, so disconnect the battery first. Airbag removal requires pushing up with a larger Allen key or a flathead screwdriver through the hole at the bottom until it pops out. Then remove the two Torx screws that hold the left and right trim piece in place. Once these have been removed the Y-spoke can be popped out.
Door opener
The left door opener had quite a bit of wear. I’ve read that these are difficult to paint, so I decided to replace it as well.
The part number for the left opener is 99755546101V05. Unfortunately Porsche charges crazy money for these, approx. €200. Replacement is super easy, as the opener is held in place with a single Torx screw.
PCM knobs
This is a well-known 997 issue. The soft-touch coating on the rotary knobs becomes gummy and accumulates dirt. The paint on the temperature/fan sliders wears off.
In the past, the latter were not available separately, so they only way to get these new was a completely new A/C panel. Luckily they are available separately now. Even better, they had already been replaced on my car by the seller.
The rotary knobs are also available separately for around €32 a piece. But it’s not even necessary to buy new ones, as the gummy residue can easily be cleaned off with isopropyl alcohol. The knobs pop off easily with assistance of a trim removal tool.
Cup holder lid
One of the previous owners must have been a coffee lover, making extensive use of the left cup holder. As a result, the lid would not fully close, leaving a considerable gap. Thankfully I found a thread on Rennlist that covered this exact subject. The cup holder can easily be removed and disassembled. I then blocked the cam with a large Allen key, applied pressure with a clamp, and let it sit for a day. This fixed the issue.
Door sills
Both the inner and outer door sills are coated in black soft-touch paint and hence scuff easily. Replacement or repainting is possible, but somewhat pointless in my opinion as it is only a matter of time until they will be scuffed again. I read that a Mr Clean Magic Eraser works really well, so I bought a pack. The “magic” part is a bit excessive and it can’t remove deeper scratches, but it’s definitely better than before.
Rear seat
The previous owner must have had a child seat on the left rear seat, as there were a couple of deep dents and creases in it.
The seats can easily be taken out as they are held in place with velcro. The recommended way to get the dents and creases out is by heating up the leather, manipulating it in the other direction with your fingers, and cooling it with e.g. a cold pack. And while the end result is not perfect, it’s better than before.
To do
This is what I’ve accomplished so far, but there are other things left to do to keep me entertained.
Centre console
Another common 997 issue. The entire centre console is painted with black soft-touch paint that shows scratches easily. On my car it is completely worn away around the edges of the ashtray lid. There are four options to deal with this:
- Buy and install a new centre console – $$$/€€€
- Strip it and paint it flat or satin black to get it close to factory look.
- Strip it and paint it in a glossy colour. Getting the centre console painted in the exterior colour was a factory option that can add some nice contrast.
- Get it covered in leather in the interior colour. This is also a good option as leather will probably wear better than paint, but it is also quite expensive.
Silver parts
I’ve replaced the left door opener, but there’s also some wear on the right one and the silver trim pieces on the steering wheel. I’m not willing to shell out the crazy money that Porsche asks for these (the steering wheel trim is approx. €120 per piece), so I’m considering attempting to touch them up myself. Porsche calls the colour Galvanosilber, but apparently it’s identical to VW Diamantsilber, paint code L97A.
Seat backs
The sports seats have solid backs that are painted in volcano gray, the same colour that is used on the PCM and the steering wheel Y-spoke. These have some scratches that show up in black. It’s basically invisible with the seats in normal position. While it would theoretically be possible to repaint them (exterior colour was another factory option), have them wrapped, or covered in leather, all of these options require removal and disassembly of the seats, which is relatively complex. Instead I would like to attempt to touch up these myself. The challenge here is in finding the right paint. There’s a vulcan gray that’s a current Macan colour, but this is a glossy colour. The Porsche paint code appears to be D07 and I’ve found a few suppliers, but it’s somewhat unclear as to whether this will be a good match. An additional challenge is the fact that it’s a matte colour, so using a gloss clear coat to fill in gaps and protect it will not work.
