Aero Kit installation

Okay, after much anticipation I just picked up my car from the dealership after having my aero kit side skirts installed... partial aero kit completed. I installed the bumper and the dealer did the side skirts. The car looks awesome. Thanks to Dayton at DPS for some nice parts and a great paint job - nice match and he cares about his customers. Thanks to everyone here who helped out with advice when I was contemplating this mod. (pics will be posted on the weekend after I take some new ones) Now for the question. How temperature sensitive is the bonding tape just after it is applied? I have it sitting in the garage with the heaters on right now (and for the next 24 hours) to be sure that temperature changes don't de-bond the tape). We're currently at 35F outside and dropping into the teens overnight. My dealer was not happy with installing the taped side skirts - he had never seen them before and had to be convinced they were standard OEM parts. He was not convinced that the tape would hold the part in place, despite what I told him. It was quite a task to get him to do the installation - anyway, done now, but I thought I should ask about those that have experience with the tape to ssee how careful I should be in the next day or so. There's more to this story, but I'll post the rest of it when I post the photos.

The tape on mine held for all of three weeks and it was Summer. Aparently very common. So when it warms up again off with them and some strong pooky to be used. Ruf uses a polyurathane.

Hmm. Nice. I hope that your experience is not common. He was amazed that Porsche would move from the old bolt-on design to the stick-ons.

Okay, I couldn't resist contorting myself in the garage to sneak on one picture... more photos this weekend if the weather is good.

Looking Good

Much better

I have had the aerokit sideskirts on my 986 for about 4 years and the skirts on my 996 for around 6 months. Both kits are from Porsche. Both kits use the tape. Both kits are holding tight!!

Did the same thing a month ago including headlight trim. Same color but a cab. Just did eibach pro kit spring install and really made the look of the car hulkier. Might advise, next maybe 19's. And I thought putting stuff on my Harley was addicting. I'm thinking of starting a 12 step program. Hi,I'm JW and I'm an accessorholic.

Oreganet - On the side skirts it uses both tape (on the top edge) and bolts on the bottom (underneath the car) - so even if the tape unsticks, its not like the sideskirt is gonna fall off the car. I'd double check and make sure that they secured the skirts on the bottom with bolts, as I'm confused on the reluctance on the dealers part to use the tape on the top edge? You should have a pack of bolts and "U" shaped metal fastener. The U shaped fasteners attach right to the car, and the bolts go thru the fastener bolting the bottom edge of the skirt. There are about 10 going along the bottom edge. Hope this helps,Will

All, thanks for the reassuring words. The skirts are bolted on underneath. The main concern from the dealer was getting good adhesion of the tape onto the bodywork in this cold weather. He had the parts and the car warm up overnight in the bodyshop, installed them this morning, then had the car sit inside for the rest of the day. I then picked up the car this evening, then ran it the 5 minute ride home into a prewarmed garage. He recommended keeping the garage warm for 72 hours. The heart of his concern was a lack of trust in the intergity of the tape and it's ability to hold to the bodywork. As I said before, he hadn't seen this version of the sideskirts and has seen bad things happen with the tape previously, so he really was not enthusiastic about doing the job. He was amazed that Porsche had moved to this kind of molding attachment and just doesn't trust it. That being said, I think he did a great job. The most important part is for the parts to stay attached. As for my next mods... I'm thinking ROW M030 suspension (depending on how the car handles at speed over the next few months) and a more aggressive set of rims. I have to earn some credits with the wife before either of those things happen... certainly not until later in the year though.

nice looking..... envious....

Hey everyone, I just picked up my 99 911 last week. I already put evoms intake and swapped the exhaust. I want to do an aero kit but am not sure of the best place and price. Where did you pick up your bumper and skirts and where do you purchase the headlight covers. Thanks and I will start a new post with my pics. This site rocks. And the Porsche is ridiculous!

Congrats on the new ride! I bought my kit from DPS Motorsports http://www.dps-motorsports.com/ They also did the paintwork. You will not find a better price for parts and paint. The purchase had some bumps along the way and Dayton made sure that everything worked out for the best. He seems to care about making a sale work out well. He made sure that the parts didn't leave his place until they were flawless (and well packaged), then when issues came up with regard to missing installation hardware and some cracking of the clearcoat during the bumper installation he handled it well. The hardware was sent immediately and with regard to the clearcoat cracking he gave me guidance on how to have it fixed and he is contributing to the cost of repair. I was very happy with the purchase. He'll get my business again. The headlight covers were on when I bought the car. I believe that both Gemballa and Techart well them. I always get a kick out of the comments that the guys at the dealership make when they give me my car back.. these guys hang out with Porsche all day, but always comment on the looks and the sound of the car... the bodyshop manager raved over the sound of the car when he gave me back the keys this evening.

Thanks for the tip, your ride is definitely looking nice. I wont dup your ride trust me, but are the headlight covers difficult to come by? Thanks Again

No, they're not difficult to find at all... As I said, Techart have them http://www.techart.de/homee_gesamt.htm Gemballa have them (but I cannot find a link to them) Performance products have them https://www.automotion.com/productpa...adlight+Covers ...among others. As I said, I don't know exactly where mine were purchased, as they came already fitted on the car. They don't seem to be difficult to install... the main thing is getting them painted up to your paint color, then fixing them in place. Good luck and have fun modding! It's an addictive and expensive hobby.

and I was just gonna say - and now, drop the headlight covers........................

I like them and it's my car, so I guess they're staying. Once they're on it's not a matter of taking them off again, you have to buy new lights if you decided that you don't want them anymore.

Oreganet - VERY NICE! Love the skirts!

The car looks awesome! I too like the guys at DPS, I purchased my Xenon lights, clear tail lights and my 18" rims from them. I really want an aero kit and keep bouncing back and forth on the idea. I feel like with the 18's and the Aerokit that I will need to lower the car. That means instead of spending about 2K on only the partial Aerokit and paint, I will have to spend another 1K on some sort of lowering like ROW M030. But pictures of cars like yours do not help my cause... Great work.

My side skirts are from DPS also, but I removed the tape that came on it and used my tape from 3M, I forgot the exact # on the tape, I will look in the garage later if you need the #. Also I sat there with a hair dryer and heated it up so it was super sticky. If I did it again, I would wait until summer when it was warmer out, I put them on last year around Feburary or something. I agree, the paintshop that DPS uses has some nice results. Hopefully I will pick up the GT3 front bumper this year also.

...only time you'll catch me wearing a skirt. I love the aero kit look... makes for a lower looking car and just generally more finished. As for lowering the car, I'll let you know. I'm anticipating adding the ROW M030 suspension, but will firstly see how it drives. At the earliest it will be late summer before I even contemplate it and maybe even the fall before I do it.

oreganet, Nice looking ride... Did the same body work to my car (sans the headlight covers) and would never turn back! Somehow I couldn't think of having my car without the side skirts ever again. My skirts (yikes, never thought I'd say _that_!) had tape and bolts also, no problems in approx 6 months since I had the work done. I do scrape the front chin every once and a while on a dip in a road near my house but, hey, that's what the black plastic is on the chin for isn't it? Enjoy the new look!

Oreganet, It looks GREAT! I really like the headlight covers. I was briefly tempted to buy the chrome covers so I wouldn't need to have them painted. I decided that with my polished wheels and purple paint, it might make me a candidate for "Pimp my Ride". When I get my aero kit, I think I might want the painted covers. Check out the picture on the post "have you seen this C2".

Okay, here are the in-process installation photos... just for those of you who like to see naked 996s. (note the laptop sitting off to the side with Rennlist open and installation instructions up on the screen)

That is awesome, It looks smooth...... Good Work!

nice work...... trying to decide on the aero kit or the GT2 kit . the one on ebay...... does anyone know anything about it? here's the link..... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/PORSC...QQcmdZViewItem

...if you're getting the entire kit for that price, then that's considerably lower than you will pay for a Cup Aero kit. it would be worth asking what materials the kit is made of.

how much is the cup aero kit? and do you have a website i can take a look at it?

yeah.... the price isn't bad... just worry about fitment and quality... i called the guy, seems nice, probabally drop over there and take a look at it myself... called up a couple of body shops and they told me that artic silver is one of the harder color to color match.....? anyone with this problem?

Here's a link: http://www.dps-motorsports.com/after...x?prodLine=454 Price depends on if you're getting the entire kit, or the partial like I did.

Oreganet, that looks soooo sexy now! I like it very much! Great Job! Are you including the rear wing at some point too?

thanks a lot oreganet

Thanks! I've not made up my mind about the rear wing yet. My inclination right now is to leave it as it is and add the ROW M030 suspension. That way I get to keep the mechanical wing (which IMHO is one of the coolest features on the car) and have it remain stable at high speed. We'll see how it drives over the next few months. The taco wing seems a little showy for my liking. The Carrera Cup or GT2 wing might work, but to be honest I've not seen those anywhere apart from aftermarket versions. I also need to actually see some of these wings in person, rather than photos. ... I have a 1:18 Autoart model Carrera Cup (in white) sitting on my home office desk - I might take the leap and do that wing at some point in the future.

Good luck finding a kit you like... I think you'll be happy if you were to go with the cup kit. It's OEM and made of tough flexible plastic, not fiberglass. I look forward to seeing what you decide. The comment about matching silver color is correct and applies with most metallic colors. My white color is an easy one to match, as it's a solid color. Metallics are tough, as it all depends upon getting the paint sprayed in the same direction and having the metal flake orientation right. My understanding is that it's harder to do, but Eric will be able to give a more authoritative opinion/

tooo cool oreganet....you know speaking about our rear spoiler... i was driving next a a 993 don't know what year.... could be a 95-98 model... but when he gets going around 30 mph, his rear spolier pops up and when he slows down, it goes down...... my understanding was that it doesn't go up until 75 mph does it not? and if not, how do i do that for our 99? i know the lever next to the clutch will pop it up, but can we have it engaged at about 30 mph as well?

About how much would it cost to paint the full aero kit. Porsche smile. I do know that it does go up at 75 and then down if your speed drops below fifty. And as you said the switch can override that so its always up.

I cannot answer your question about the price for painting a full aero kit, but Dayton at DPS, or Eric at Bumperplugs could give you an idea. The price Dayton charged for painting my partial kit was very reasonable and significantly less than getting a dealer to do it. As for the 993, I always assumed the activation speed was the same as a 996.

Car looks great oreganet!

One option would have been to remove the center (3rd) radiator plugg on the front bumper and install the 3rd radiator while you were at it................................................

Looks great, i remember white was my first choice but then i came across speed yellow.

White or Yellow would be my first choices in my next car - both are awesome colors. As for the 3rd radiator. I thought about it, but really couldn't justify it when the cost/benefit analysis was done.

But the cost/benefit analysis worked out OK for?.... the Porsche?.... the bumper?.... the skirts? What the hell, it's only MONEY!

Okay, with regard to the aero kit - the cost/benefit analysis went along the lines of, "I like it, it makes the car look better, and I can do it for less than $3K, it will make a nice christmas present, so I'll do it." With the radiators it goes along the lines of, "I don't think I need it, it won't give me more umph under the conditions that I use the car, therefore it is wasted money that will not give me extra enjoyment." Maybe that makes more sense.

Oh, so what your REALLY saying is you didn't use the cost/bebefit analysis.... you actually used the "want/need" reasoning, where WANT almost always out weighs the need! I'm OK with that reasoning!

It looks great. I need to do this too.

Okay, semantics, but I'll give you that. In terms of benefit I look at it this way: Aero kit - benefit = hot looking car 3rd radiator - benefit = cooler running car under high stress conditions. The need part is the NEED to have a hot looking car, whereas I haven't yet stressed the car to a point where it NEEDS a 3rd radiator.