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YOUR RESEARCHBlack bumpers around the rear licence plate - why?
Leading reported evidence
Use mother's back
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I used Mother's Back to Black cleaner on mine and they came out great.
Black bumpers around the rear licence plate - why?
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Leading evidence: 'Use mother's back' (no explicit attributable resolution; this is a reported action or suggestion). Across 1 matching discussions, The most frequently discussed action is 'Clean euro look, you have' (1 discussions). For that action, 0 discussions report a resolution and 0 report an unsuccessful attempt. No action has an explicit, attributable resolution report under the current rules. These are forum reports and suggestions, not a confirmed diagnosis.
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Suggestion
If you want the clean Euro look, you have to change the bumper and the bumper cover.
Black bumpers around the rear licence plate - why?
Fill near the bottom-left of the license plate area
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Suggestion
Not until tonight, after taking the photo, and applying various GIMP filters, did I notice the poor fill near the bottom-left of the license plate area.
Black bumpers around the rear licence plate - why?
Replace bumper and the bumper cover
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Suggestion
If you want the clean Euro look, you have to change the bumper and the bumper cover.
Black bumpers around the rear licence plate - why?
Run /on in the middle of downtown
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Suggestion
You dont really need your Engine Running/On in the middle of Downtown...
Black bumpers around the rear licence plate - why?
Fill near the bottom-left of the license plate area
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Suggestion
Not until tonight, after taking the photo, and applying various GIMP filters, did I notice the poor fill near the bottom-left of the license plate area.
Black bumpers around the rear licence plate - why?
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26 eligible posts · 0 unverified posts · 1 discussions match the subject in their title or opening post.
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You might actually be thankful of these if someone taps into you or if you accidentaly back up a bit too far, as these will end up absorbing the initial impact and perhaps save your rear bumper from being damaged.
As well the euro plates are much wider, the two rubber bumperettes fills the width of the opening.
US DOT rules are what resulted in the "bumperettes".
Ugly, yes. Useful, maybe. Those on my car were painted body color which makes them much less noticeable; something you may want to consider.
Mine are painted... Was that standard after a particular year, an option, or only something an owner can do? I don't see an option code for them.
And at some point since I have owned the car some asshat tapped them, causing slight cracks in the paint. It is barely noticeable so I'm leaving as is. I figure it will just happen again.
Unfortunately, the bumperettes don't always do the intended job. Somebody backed into my C4S in a parking lot and they hit the bumper cover, not the bumperettes.
On US spec cars, the bumper itself is different, not just the cover. There are metal bases under the bumperettes. If you want the clean Euro look, you have to change the bumper and the bumper cover.
Have you been to Downtown Montreal? I drive Up every year for F1 Weekend with my P-Car... You dont really need your Engine Running/On in the middle of Downtown... The Taxi's will Give you a "Push", without them knowing... Trust me. Thank God mine arent Painted.
Last year I had a minor encounter with a tree while backing up. The black finish on my bumperettes was much appreciated, as I was able to make the scratches disappear with an appropriate liquid product for rubber/vinyl.
Painted ones would have had to be removed and repainted.
I prefer the black ones for this reason.
I drilled out bumperette rivets. Body shop plastic-welded in the holes and painted. That was in 2010. Since then, I've added a GT3 Tek diffuser (not in photo).
Here's a shot w/ the GT3 Tek diffuser. Not until tonight, after taking the photo, and applying various GIMP filters, did I notice the poor fill near the bottom-left of the license plate area. Bet that cracks soon...
I'm too lazy to look it up definitively but I believe the painted rear bumperettes began on or about the commencement of the 996 MKII production in 2002. Might have been a year earlier.
I tend to actually like the black ones and agree they are much easier to "maintenance" than the painted ones if you get a bump there. But I like any black contrast on my Guards Red car.
If you think the rear bumperettes in black are ugly, you should have seen the very first year of the 996 Turbo in the USA. The FRONT BLACK BUMPERETTES were shouted down right from the beginning. Brand new Turbo owners had them removed immediately. Gave the Turbo "nostrils" above the wide-mouth grill openings.
+3, I also like them and think the black looks better than painted. Plus no paint to scratch as mentioned. However the front bumperettes would be really ugly.
I kind of recall a thread of pictures or the breakfast runs that had one guy posting the euro bumpers front and rear. Much much much better lines.
Next time I hear of a mugging or other bad event in a city I'll think of this clown.
Nice Pcar Doug...
I'd have to say your car is the most unique MKI 996 I have ever seen. Did you do all of the mods yourself?
BTW, sorry for the hijack.
Thanks. Many of you seem to like them ....but I don't. And actually that wasn't my question. It was about why, and can I remove them ;-). It seem I can legally remove them? So has anybody really tried to do it? Does it look like the European style shown in my original post or different?
P.S: Now I saw the post from Doug996InKC -- if you read this with iPad, the browser screws it up and puts a video from a few post earlier on top of Doug996InKC's message. On a PC it looks good. So that seems to be the way to go!
Only yesterday I was parked at lights after emerging from a freeway ramp when I felt a slight tap on the rear of my 1999 C2 996. Looking in the rear view mirror I saw a jeep cherokee way too close to me. The lady driver looked really sick as she thought that she had damaged my car. Not so on close inspection. The UGLY black bumpers had done their job as intended. I wished the lady a Happy New Year and got on with my life.
I am relieved to read this posting. I was beginning to think that my car was tooooo dated and that the German designers had got it all wrong. lol. My car has the gorgeous black bumperettes and the cute amber flashing indicators. It's a chick magnet yipeee..
