My 2001 Porsche The 911 Turbo is almost out of the paint prison after an admittedly short stint at Two Brothers in Canton, Ohio. The Color changing project started in November And should be done any day nowand I’ve heard of jobs like this that last over a year. I can’t wait to get my car back to drive it this summerbut last time I checked I noticed that the color was so nice that I was worried about all the other old and worn parts the 24 year old car They’re starting to show their age and just look like crap in comparison.
The last two things to take care of before your car gets back on the road this summer are the wheels and the windows. The glass doesn’t worry me too much. I was thinking about replacing the rear window and rear quarter panels with Lexan windows from the Euro GT3 parts box, but I can do that later.
The wheels
The mismatched 19-inch BBS and Forgestar wheels in the top photo are replaced with this contemporary set of color-matched Kinesis wheels. The faces are completed but the barrels need to be polished and new black fittings have been sourced. I’m confident this will look incredible.
The hood
When I sent the car in for painting, I left the hood off the list of parts to paint because I will be replacing it with a carbon fiber unit. Unfortunately that part of the work has been postponed until this fall, so I’m sticking with the black hood for now. I tried a few temporary ideas to make it look a little better. Maybe you can help me make a decision.
Should I wrap the hood in faux carbon until the original is done, wrap it in matte black, spray paint matte black, or leave it factory gloss black and just polish it up real nice?
Headlight
My biggest nemesis right now is definitely my headlights. I managed to give these lamps a periodic chromectomy a few months ago, but the lenses themselves still look pretty terrible. I have a few options, but none of them are particularly good. Here may be another opportunity for you all to give me a little help.
Option 1: Polishing and foiling –
This is probably the cheapest and easiest option I will choose to get through the summer and find something different. The lenses will probably clean a little better with some more wet sand, then I can cover them with a yellow film to seal the plastic and give them a cool look.
I would like to get new lenses, but they just don’t exist. You have to buy a whole case. That brings me to my next point.
Option 2: eBay retrofit lights –
This picture from eBay should explain why I don’t like the aftermarket lights available for the 996. On the positive side, these remove the flaw in the headlight washer system from the original set, which I also don’t like. If they weren’t so expensive I would buy a set just to cut them apart for the lenses. A pair of these costs $2,065.50 plus $125 for shipping from Taiwan. Not exactly a cheap option.
Option 3: New OEM Halogen Bulbs –
I could order a brand new set of replacement halogen headlights which does not include the headlight washer nozzle. For reasons of simplicity and low weight, these were often chosen as an option on GT3 cars, and occasionally on base Carrera 2 models as they were cheaper. In both cases, however, they are very rare and are almost never offered on the used market. These cost about $1,800 per side and I would rather break up the car for insurance money than pay that extortionate interest.
Option 4: Individual RSR lights –
This is my favorite option at the moment, but will prove extremely difficult to DIY, and I’m having a hard time finding a custom shop willing to risk disassembling $1,800 headlights. If you know someone, send them to me.
tail lights
Here’s a problem I’ve already solved, so I can cross this one off the list. My car’s stock taillights were cracked and faded. This is one thing that the aftermarket hasn’t updated all that much. I bought this LED set used on eBay for $300. It’s hard to mix up a red and a clear light, but I don’t particularly like the clear section.
So I handed the whole thing over to the painters and had them respray everything with a diluted red paint to achieve a unified factory look. I could throw a small clear light next to the license plate to reverse, or I could just be a scofflaw and drive with red backup lights. I’ve done it before, I’m not afraid to do it again.
Rocker arm covers and lip
It didn’t bother me before, but my cracked carbon fiber front lip has become an eyesore in front of the beautiful, fresh bumper. I guess I have to do that order a new one. Likewise, the lower rocker arm covers, especially the part on the driver’s side, are somewhat damaged. Living in the Midwest with a 24-year-old Porsche with 2-inch lowering springs has its drawbacks. They cost around $250 per side and will probably require at least a few new pieces of hardware.
Man, a paint job is a lot more expensive than just a paint job.