[dogdoc]

Looking to buy 2004 Manual 6 spd as I posted on another question; the shifter boot is hard and turned yellow like;Gray interior, is this from the sun and normal; the salesman tried to tell me the leather is thicker on that side due to its use for reverse; sounds like BS to me; anyone with 6 speed seen this? They said they would dye it; I said REPLACE it....but they want to dye it

 

[radgts3bk]

There is a single panel...

on the shifter boot that is harder, thicker, different grain than the rest of the boot. Mine is black, but there is a noticeable difference in the panel. I think it is meant for overall support over time. It is a bit different though. Mine is all black and hasn't faded though. Good luck with your 6 speed. They are a lot of fun and pretty hard to find.
radgts3bk

 

[Fred]

You may have the vintage pack on the car. I think that one is supposed to be yellow.
If so, it sounds normal to me.

 

[Eurodino]

Looking to buy 2004 Manual 6 spd as I posted on another question; the shifter boot is hard and turned yellow like;Gray interior, is this from the sun and normal; the salesman tried to tell me the leather is thicker on that side due to its use for reverse; sounds like BS to me; anyone with 6 speed seen this? They said they would dye it; I said REPLACE it....but they want to dye it

Post a pic if you can.

on the shifter boot that is harder, thicker, different grain than the rest of the boot. Mine is black, but there is a noticeable difference in the panel. I think it is meant for overall support over time. It is a bit different though. Mine is all black and hasn't faded though. Good luck with your 6 speed. They are a lot of fun and pretty hard to find.
radgts3bk

My '02 is also a black interior with black shifter boot. No color fade issues - and this is after 5 years now.

 

[dogdoc]

Thnx but not vintage package

its clearly some kind of color fade; or something spilled on it....I am familiar with the vintage' I do not have a pic but it looks as if it faded in the sun' ...thnx for input?

 

[Fastfreddy]

2002 Coupe with a beige interior: Mine is the same. There's a portion on the driver's side of the boot that is discolored and stiff. Upon closer examination, the stiffness is intentional as there is an added layer of leather inside a section of that side of the boot. My theory is that this piece of leather is glued on and the glue has eventually caused darkening on the outside surface from underneath. At first I thought it was heat damage but, after careful consideration and examination, I'm pretty darned confident in my theory.

 

[dogdoc]

your theory sounds RIGHT ON!!!

that makes sense!!! It looks like glue...yellow........I understand the stiffness now, they will dye it I think!!!

 

[Fred]

Look at the shifter in the first car in the inventory.

http://www.maseratidealers.com/graypaul/nottingham/maseratistock.php

The hard yellowish leather panel is normal.

 

[CrazyDailyDrive]

Think twice if they have to take the knob off the gear shift to remove the boot. It's a plastic knurled insert that tends to crack when yanked off. If it cracks you will be left holding the shift knob every time you try to zip through the gears. Mine was cracked but I had a friend make a brass ring to hold the plastic together. Ones heart does race when you are shifting in midair.

 

[flashgordon]

Shifter Boot

It's normal IMO - heavier leather and a different color on the left side quarter piece. I have seen several photos of cars with light interiors that look the same.

 

[dogdoc]

car arrives tomorrow; the dealer dyed the boot for me!

I hear and see what everyone is talking about with the different color on the shifter boot....with that said I just can't believe that it is normal since it looks so terrible; like something faded, etc...anyway the dealer I bought the car from had it dyed and said it was perfect' guess I will see what it looks like; would love to have known what it looked like NEW back in 2004, is anyone out there that owned one of these since the beginning?

 

[Fastfreddy]

I figure it took a few years for the glue to leech through the originally uniform dye. In a few years, I bet it will leech through your new dye. I've thought about getting a new boot. I dismissed the idea of successfully matching the beige dye in my car. In the end, I've just gotten used to it.

 

[pganmol]

..... Ones heart does race when you are shifting in midair.

Happened to me the same. The first time I almost yelled "what da ....".

By the way, my shifter boot is beige and the color is darker at the thicker part. I think this in normal for the manual car.

pganmol

 

[dogdoc]

They dyed the boot and it looks great!

They delivered the car yesterday; they gray is a little darker than the dash but overall itseems to fit in with the door panels, roof etc so I don't think ayone will notice at all; I hear what you are saying as far as normal and live with it BUT I do not want someone later saying "what happened" if I go to sell, you know the smallest things I have found will kill a sales deal; and I am usually out my 3rd car in 10-12months and into something else....HOWEVER Idrove this thing all day yesteday after delivery and I can SAY it IS THE MOST FUN I HAVE HAD IN A CAR IN A LONG TIME!!! COULD THIS FINALLY BE A KEEPER after 3 COrvettes; 3 Jaguars, 1 Lotus, 2 Porsche and 1 old Aston Drop Head....dogdoc

 

[maserati of minneapolis]

FWIW

In case there was still any doubt, the shifter boots are supposed to be this way. The leather is at least 2x as thick on the reverse side, but the color shift seems to depend on what color the leather is. Black, grey, and bordeaux are the ones I've seen that had almost no color shift between the normal section and reverse side. The GT we had with beige leather was definitely a different more yellow shade.

 

[Eurodino]

They delivered the car yesterday; they gray is a little darker than the dash but overall itseems to fit in with the door panels, roof etc so I don't think ayone will notice at all; I hear what you are saying as far as normal and live with it BUT I do not want someone later saying "what happened" if I go to sell, you know the smallest things I have found will kill a sales deal; and I am usually out my 3rd car in 10-12months and into something else....HOWEVER Idrove this thing all day yesteday after delivery and I can SAY it IS THE MOST FUN I HAVE HAD IN A CAR IN A LONG TIME!!! COULD THIS FINALLY BE A KEEPER after 3 COrvettes; 3 Jaguars, 1 Lotus, 2 Porsche and 1 old Aston Drop Head....dogdoc

Trust me, you may decide the Maserati "is the one".

Having more than one to choose from myself; Maserati, C5, Ferrari, Jag's, '67 SS Chevelle...

My absolute favorites are the Maserati (now my 5th) and the Jag XK8 (now my 4th).

 

[dogdoc]

Thnx Maserati Of Minneapolis! AND EURODINO!

At least we know it was normal BUT I still say for an original price of around 100K it looks like something went wrong regardless what Maserati says; if it faded evely that would be different; anyway the dye job looks great and we will see if it holds, and To EURODINO I agrre that this may be the keeper car! Now I wonder if in time I will try a CC on a Gransport?

 

[iufan993]

My interior is Avorio (ivory) and just before I bought the car the shift boot was replaced by the previous owner for the same problem. When it was replaced they used the wrong color of stitching around the boot (bright red rather than dark red). It lasted about 6 months and then the leather turned a darker color. Avorio is probably the most obvious because of the light color.

I just think of it as adding character at this point. Just keep it conditioned, because that piece of leather has a tendency to dry out more so than the surrounding leather.

 

[Carl Seager]

fixing the shift boot discoloration

I had the same problem with my '04 coupe with a beige interior. The driver's side shift boot panel is a darker orangish color on the section where the reinforcement panel is glued to the inside. This is due to pigment in the glue slowly leaching through the leather and reaching the outside of the boot. To fix it simply take a clean rag and wet a small section with lacquer thinner. Rub this on the affected panel and the deep orange/brown color of the leather will come off. This process may take more than one application. When using lacquer thinner take extreme care not to get any on the plastic trim around the boot - it may dissolve or discolor the plastic. A safe thing to do is mask off the trim with tape or a plastic bag. After 1-3 applications of thinner, use a leather conditioner to re-hydrate the boot. You should get the original boot color back on the reinforced section. The whole process takes ~ 10 minutes.