Paint wearning thin on shift buttons

[benji4]

The silver paint on my Roadster's shift buttons, especially the 'D' and 'R' which tend to get pushed the most often, started to wear off and it started giving my center console and old, tired look. Over the weekend I took a whole afternoon to repaint them and then cover them with clear contact paper so that it doesn't happen again. If you are lucky enough to have not had this happen yet, I'd definately recommend getting some contact paper on the top of these buttons as it's just a matter of time before that paint starts wearing off. Mine look great again after re-touching them, but it took a lot of time an effort that I'd rather have not invested in that.

 

[doug]

Before and after photos?

 

[benji4]

I stupidly did not get any 'before' pictures, but here is what it looks like after painting and apply contact paper. The P and R buttons look a bit strange in this pic but that's just glare. In reality they look pretty much like new again.

Before this was done, the center of the D looks dark and smudged, like it had dirt on it. But after inspecting it closely and trying to clean it, I realized it was not dirt at all but rather the shining silver paint wearing off. My garage unfortunately is a very tight fit and I repeately have to press the R and D buttons which hastened the time it took the paint to wear out on the D and R buttons.

 

[jordanthompson]

I'd definitely recommend getting some contact paper on the top of these buttons

What a great idea!! Thanks very much for the suggestion.

I have a sailboat that I made the lettering from black contact paper and stuck to the hull... 12 years ago!! Still looks great. In the Florida sun, that's really saying something.

 

[tetsuos]

Why not just request new buttons from your service center? Mine were replaced during a service visit without even asking.

 

[jordanthompson]

Why not just request new buttons from your service center? Mine were replaced during a service visit without even asking.

Well, my warranty is expiring soon, so I won't have that luxury in the not-to-distant-future. I'd rather do it now (while the buttons look good) than hope the get bad enough to replace before the warranty expires.

 

[shark2k]

Well, my warranty is expiring soon, so I won't have that luxury in the not-to-distant-future. I'd rather do it now (while the buttons look good) than hope the get bad enough to replace before the warranty expires.

Get new buttons while still under warranty and then cover the new buttons. Unless of course your current buttons look fine.

-Shark2k

 

[smoothoperator]

sweaty fingers?

 

[cinergi]

I have the same problem (labels wearing off, not sweaty fingers :smile on my 2010 2.5 with 16k miles (20 months old).

 

[jordanthompson]

Get new buttons while still under warranty and then cover the new buttons. Unless of course your current buttons look fine.

Original ones still looking good!

 

[bolosky]

Well, my warranty is expiring soon, so I won't have that luxury in the not-to-distant-future. I'd rather do it now (while the buttons look good) than hope the get bad enough to replace before the warranty expires.

They replaced the entire subframe of my car with 100 miles remaining on the warranty, and I didn't even know there was a problem. You certainly should be able to get some buttons.