2019 Spirit 2 Flip and NG to LP conversion + Oiling the top....


 
Joe Anshien

Joe Anshien

TVWBB Platinum Member
So I found what I thought was a great deal on a 2019 Spirit a few weeks ago. I got it for $60 and picked it up at night. Well I lost a front knob and thermometer on the way home (found the knob the next day retracing my route where I had hit a bump). The next day I go to scrape it down and realize it was natural gas and not propane. I just finished the grill and will probably wait until a little nicer weather to advertise it. I have $110 in it and hope to get $200. A while back I got some oil on a grill and it darkened it and could not get the spots off even with dawn. This grill for being so new had the Weber fade in a bad way. You can see in the pics below what a little vegetable oil can do for the hood. I also have 3 original NG orifices for a 2019 Spirit if someone needs. They will be $25 with free shipping which is what I paid for the new ones.20210217_171446.jpg
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Looks nice! The oil trick does work pretty well, but in time the fade will return. Especially so when it gets used and the heat burns it off.
 
Jon Tofte said:
Looks nice! The oil trick does work pretty well, but in time the fade will return. Especially so when it gets used and the heat burns it off.
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I am sure your correct. Has anyone found something that works better for the "Weber Fade"? I can't believe that it got so bad on a grill that's less than 2 years old.
 
Joe,
We are all sure looking! I've tried wax - including special wax for black cars - no luck. I think Bruce and I talked about using high heat clear gloss paint and that he tried it. As I remember the results were middling at best. And then you have the issue of it pealing off. I guess it is just something you have to make the best of like you have. I have used the Pam method on some kettles with more success than on gas grill hoods.
 
Yah, I was kind of wondering if we might start seeing more complaints about the weber fade on Genesis II grills. I wonder if it will mostly affect the black lids only like on older grills?
 
I am sure there are better and lesser qualities of pigments they use. I'll lay odds it won't be long that you'll begin seeing things just be powder coated rather than porcelain.
 
As this was a Spirit 2, it did not have an inner liner like the Genesis, but I think the Spotting / fading came from exposure, not heat related. But even so, after less than 2 years is totally inexcusable for a $500 grill IMHO. I do wonder about other colors and if any are better than others.
 
A brochure for the LX series claims that the color coat is applied over a black base coat, which could imply that black lids receive only one coat of porcelain while all the other colors receive two? Also, black is a hard color to cover, so maybe the color coat is a thicker coat?
 
Yes, I do believe the colored lids get an undercoating of black. However, I don't know if the black lids get a second coating or not. Interesting question.

But you can see the black undercoating on colored lids around the inside edges of the paint inside the lid.
 
Well, some of the most notorious faded hoods are the Skyline ones from back in the late 90s which I would think was before the bean counters had started Weber on the serious cost cutting. I have in my possession an UNUSED black hood that already shows signs of the fade. I have seen hoods that sat in the Florida sun with no effect. So, I am not really sure what causes it other than the manufacturing shortcuts that Larry alluded to. It may also be bad runs with inferior materials or application issues.
 
The only thing I have with the fade is a couple of control panels. Looking at those under a USB microscope, I can see that the fade is not on the surface but throughout the matrix...very fine specks, as if some granular component of the matrix has failed and gone gray. The fade is also under the knobs and the igniter button bezel where one would think the matrix would be shaded from the sun, and to a somewhat lesser degree on the vertical ends of the panel. I think possibly a granular component of the porcelain enamel has undergone a color shift, much like the dye in an old color photograph.
 
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Ed Pinnell said:
The only thing I have with the fade is a couple of control panels. Looking at those under a USB microscope, I can see that the fade is not on the surface but throughout the matrix...very fine specks, as if some granular component of the matrix has failed and gone gray. The fade is also under the knobs and the igniter button bezel where one would think the matrix would be shaded from the sun, and to a somewhat lesser degree on the vertical ends of the panel. I think possibly a granular component of the porcelain enamel has undergone a color shift, much like the dye in an old color photograph.
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I have noticed that as well with simple magnifying viewer. It is very puzzling. Even more so is why it's only seen on black ones
 
It is totally unlike a car finish. Porcelain is basically glass fused to the steel. The issue is with the pigments not the surface.
 
I do think that heat has something to do with the color breakdown. It probably isn't everything, but it seems the fade pattern ins mostly on top and front an mostly located in the center most part extending outward.
 
Here's a couple of pics, FWIW...the reflection of the LEDs show how rough and pitted the surface is from weathering and from the original application of the porcelain enamel, and that possibly could be polished out, but the fade is down in "The Matrix".

The depth of field is really short at higher magnification levels.
 

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It almost looks like there is filler material in the ceramic that is deteriorating.
 
I'm thinking maybe an additive, something like baking soda, that may have been white naturally and was dyed black and then added to the black pigment mix as an anti-caking agent? If Weber bought the porcelain enamel from outside vendors, and some vendors used an additive that wouldn't withstand the test of time, it could explain why only some black lids are affected and not others, and some sooner than later. Funny that I've never seen the fade on the kettles, though...
 
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