Porsche 996.2 Exterior Modifications

Over the past two years I've made several personalizing modifications to the exterior and interior that other 996 owners might be interested in. In this thread I show the exterior upgrades, where I made the purchase (unless I neglected to write it down), and the cost in money and installation time. Getty Designs Ducktail Sport spoiler Depo/Dectane 997.2-style LED taillights Painted the perimeter of the taillights LED center brake light LED license plate lights LED strip to illuminate license plate area Custom license plate Polished headlights Headlight protection film Porsche valve stem caps Lowered with M030 suspension package Repainted wheels Custom wheel caps Rennline grille

The biggest mod is replacing the stock engine cover with a Getty Design "Ducktail Sport" spoiler/engine cover. This is molded in fiberglass in Riverside, California. I found that MA Shaw seems to sell the same spoiler using about the same mold. I can't figure out the relationship between the two companies. I had Getty prime, sand, then reprime the fiberglass, several times. After I received it, I had it further primed and sanded to fill all of the pinholes, then painted black to match my car at a body shop owned by Vic Costelli in San Carlos, CA (cost: $300 when he was doing other body work for me). Vic painted the screens separately, then I epoxied them onto the spoiler. I also purchased the electrical cable from Getty. This powers the fan, interior light, and tells the control system that there is no moveable spoiler. Total cost for the spoiler, priming, cable, and shipping was $1352. To get the deck lid to close all the way, I had to shave some plastic off of the taillights where they go under the deck lid. Transferring the bolt-on parts to the new deck lid. The ring of white-colored epoxy is visible from the inside of the lid. I filed the air-intake hole a little larger to fit the bellows. I could never get the bellows to stay in place, so I have removed it. Here is the car with the stock deck lid and taillights, then with the new spoiler and LED taillights. These are Depo/Dectane 997.2-style taillights. I found the best price at Supertweaks in the UK, including shipping to California, for $565. These have load resistors in parallel with the LED lights. This draws more current, so that the monitor in the car's control system doesn't think that a light is out, which would produce an error code. Stock deck lid and taillights. New deck lid/spoiler and LED taillights. Close-up of the spoiler. You can see a little of the white epoxy. I have since painted over it in black. I felt that these taillights look a bit bulbous. I really like the look of the narrower, LED taillights on the 997.2 models. In the dark with the taillights on, my taillights look narrower, which gave me the idea to paint the taillight perimeters. I have painted, stripped, and repainted these three times with glossy black paint and clear coat, but I still have not gotten them to come out as shiny as the rest of the body. After painting the taillight perimeters.

A lot of work and custom touches. For the lights get a Wrap shop to put wrap on the areas you want gloss black. It will be identical to the black paint and not look flat or painted on. I'm a fan of led lights. on our 996 cars. Post a pic of the led license plate light mods. Those I'm not a fan of license plate lights at all. I went the opposite and darkened my license plate lights to be barely visible.

Does the ducktail have any effect on how the car feels at high speed?

The taillights took about 5 minutes each to install. Painting, sanding, and repainting the perimeters twice took over 12 hours.

The LED brake light cost $85 on eBay and was also easy to install. It looked way to bright, and I hate it when I'm blinded by some of the newer cars' red LED lights. I soldered 40 ohms of resistance in series to bring the brightness down to a reasonable level. If I did it again, I would drop the resistance to 30 ohms to make it a little brighter.

I replaced the two stock incandescent license-plate lights with LED lights from eBay. They were better, but still did not uniformly illuminate the license plate and thought it looked dorky. The new lights also did not stay in place--they'd fall out every day, only to be saved by the license-plate frame. Here's a shot as dusk with the taillights and LED strip over the license plate turned on. LED taillights and bluish white LED strip over the license plate. I got the LED strip from Super Bright LEDs for $15. These are waterproof outdoor LED strips with a sticky backing from 3M that connect directly to 12 volts. I trimmed it to fit the area over the license plate. I drilled a small hole upward on the right side and connected the wires to the wiring to the stock license-plate lights.

This car is a 2003. When I purchased it in 2010, the headlights were cloudy from their time in the sun. Fortunately, this was just the surface of the plastic. I got the Meguiar's Heavy Duty Headlight Restoration Kit from my local auto parts store. It comes with 1000- and 3000-grit sandpaper that velcros onto a handle, a polishing pad that attaches to a drill, polish, and a paint-on UV protective layer. When working on the headlights, I removed them from the car to avoid damaging the paint. After much polishing, the headlights looked the same. After using the 1000-grit sandpaper, they didn't look much better. Finally, I went to 600-grit sandpaper (not in the kit but really should have been), which uniformly ground the surface layer off of the plastic, making it look uniformly cloudy. A short time with the 1000-, then the 3000-grit sandpaper, then a half hour of polishing with a drill made them look like new. Total time, after I figured out to start with 600-grit sandpaper, was about 1.5 hours per headlight. I applied the Meguiar's UV coating, which went on cleanly. Next, I put a 30-mil-thick protective film, available from Pelican Parts for $68 per pair, over the headlights. This trapped water vapor/condensation under it for several months before it dried out and looked clean. Here's a photo a year after application. The headlights look water-clear. The headlights look water-clear and the hood reflects the northern California sky after washing.

The stock front side markers are made of orange plastic and have a single incandescent lamp inside. I replaced them with Depo brand LED lights for $92 for the pair. The Depos are clear, with five LEDs inside produce orange light, making them look much nicer at night. Here are before and after photos. Stock orange side markers (aka "pumpkins") Depo brand LED side markers

Quotes source post: 12681878

I have not felt any difference, but it's rare that I get over 90 mph. The guy at Getty Design said that if I tracked the car, I should install a bigger spoiler/wing. I installed the ducktail mainly because I like the look of the old 1973 911 RSs with ducktails.

The car looks great and updated with these mods!

Nice work, Mems!

Good stuff!

I like what you did the with the LED tail lights. The aftermarket "997 style" tail lights look out of place on the 996 to me because the lines of the tail lights don't follow the lines of the LEDs. Your solution takes care of that nicely!

I like the changes you've made to the car, the duck tail looks great. Time to lower it and add some wheel spacers.

Quotes source post: 12683401

Yep, the next upgrade I have planned is installing the Porsche ROW M030 suspension, which should lower it by 20 mm in the front and 10 mm in the rear. I'll get the cabriolet version, which according the Gert Carnewal is made for the heavier cabs and Targas. I'll be carefully reading the write-ups on this site for installing springs and shocks (I've only found a detailed write-up for the springs, but not the shocks). I think I'll replace the front and rear shock mount tops at the same, as I figure the rubber in them is 15 years old. Any recommendations for replacing other parts at the same time? I have gone back and forth on whether the ROW M030 this will lower it enough to reduce body roll and increase stability during hard cornering. My concern with going lower, say 30 mm with the Koni Sport dampers and springs, is that the car would drag going over tall speed bumps, steep driveways, and transitions from pavement to dirt parking lots. A local mechanic was recommending the Konis, saying that the Bilstein PSS10s would make the suspension way too stiff. The PSS10 cost a lot more to buy ($2.1K) and install ($1.6K) than I want to spend right now. Joel Reiser, the PCA's expert on 996s, strongly recommends against lowering more than the M030 package for cars driven on normal roads, but recommends more drop for the track. Regarding wheel spacers, I don't see how adding 5 mm per side will do anything measurable. Assuming 1 meter from the centerline of the car to the hubs, adding 5 mm is just 0.5%. How much wheel spacing did you add, can you tell a difference, and is the tire wear OK?

Quotes source post: 12683129

I agree with this as well. However as another poster noted, it would look better with a gloss wrap vinyl instead. Good job.

If you're replacing springs, shocks and top hats; personally I'd go to a full coilover. It will replace all of those things with components designed to work together. Don't get caught up in PSS10/ROW, there are a lot of other good options out there for the 996 with a lower price-point. All of my 996's have been on coilovers: '99 c2 - Ksport / '00 c2 - PSS10 / '01 turbo PSS10. The PSS10 with rubber top hats rode close to stock comfort levels (I didn't realize the car had coilovers until I got under it one day). I never had scraping issues, the only noticeable difference was on severe angle changes (requiring very low speed), the cars would often lift a wheel off the ground. C4CF1A84-49AC-48CC-BC2D-D78573E51BFB_zpss5sgzjbq.jpg Tire wear was more in-line with ride height. The lower the car goes, the more camber is added in the rear. Lowering the car doesn't seem to have a major effect on tire wear, but going very low with the car puts a lot of stress on the inner edge of the rear tires. Front's seem the same as stock. Here are widebody wheels on a c2, stock ride height. Notice how the outer edge of the tire is straight and sticks out of the wheel well. 6C72A408-0A86-4D50-9EAB-E0A72EA991F5-2041-00000244480ABD1D.jpg Here is the same wheels/car, very low. So the outer edge of the tire tucks into the fender. You can see the outer edge of the tire goes out at an angle. null_zps2af03cd1.jpg lowered with 15mm front spacers: DSC_0004_zps9maaiuuy.jpg very low without spacers: P1S_zpsed5dba10.jpg 5mm won't be a big difference; I usually run 15mm to bring the face of the wheel more flush with the body. On the front turn in grip is more noticeable. I'm sure the rear has the same effect, but I always ran turbo wheels (11" and pushed to the edges of the car), so there was more going on besides just having the wheels further out, but the cars felt like they had rear traction for days. turbo wheels on C2: A18E7F13-99B4-4719-88E9-BD01FA64C550_zpsw9opjqmy.jpg turbo wheels + 15mm spacer: A295A8C8-63FD-4A1D-99E4-F7C137FB28A5_zpst79zjh74.jpg

Quotes source post: 12683593

Too stiff is a matter of preference and where one drives, of course. But the PSS10s will definitely make it stiffer than the standard stock suspension. Given that this is a concern, I would think the PSS10s are probably not for you. On the other hand, you want less roll in a car with less roll than most things on the road, so I assume you intend to use it on track. If the ROW030 isn't enough, maybe add adjustable anti-roll bars and keep them on the softest setting on the road?

Quotes source post: 12682396

Yes, there's surely a reason why Porsche puts wings on GT3s and not ducktails. I was wondering if the ducktail might at least be comparable in downforce to the original 996 Turbo wing (which brings rear lift to zero). In that case the front end might feel light at speed, though perhaps only above 90 ...

Do you have a "side shot" of your car with the duck tail on it? Car looks good by the way.

Quotes source post: 12684538

Here's a side shot.

I like it, thanks!

Quotes source post: 12681800

Here are two shots at night with the lights on. The iPhone 6S photos don't look quite the same as it does in person. The top of my license plate is moved out half an inch so because it has a hinge on it to expose a receiver for my Willwood bike rack (see http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/9...che-996-a.html ). This blocks some of the light.

not fond of those aftermarket LEDs (fan of stock forgive me )but the ducktail looks good, I believe it looks even better in person

Great looking mod. I've thought over and over and over and over....about putting one on my C4S. And, I've still not decided one way or the other. But IMO, the ducktail is perhaps the best looking wing available (I'd have a 991 with one, if I could justify one along with the 996 and the Rover and the Lincoln and...)

Go Bears! Glad you didn't buy a red car!

Quotes source post: 12690286

No problem. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Your 996 looks nice. How much did you lower it?

I installed the M030 package, which has shorter springs, way stiffer shocks (dampers), and thicker anti-sway bars. I ordered this from Carnewal. This dropped it down about 15 mm in the rear and 10 mm in the front. The ride was way too harsh on large bumps on the freeway, so I switched the shocks to Koni FSD (for Frequency-Selective Damping), also from Carnewal. I had to really compress the springiness in the rear dampers to get them to fit, so the car actually rose up slightly after installation. I am super happy with these shocks. As hoped for from the FSD design, the roll when cornering is gone, but sharp bumps are greatly filtered out.

I've always liked the Porsche five-spoke wheels, and they're way easier to wash than the stock wheels on my 996. A few years ago I bought a used set and installed them. After a while, a coating started peeling off, brake dust was permanently bonded to some corners, and there were pits in various places. I sanded two rear wheels down and repainted them, but couldn't get the original glossy look. An original front five-spoke wheel. Note the black gunk in the corners that I couldn't wash out. I took the wheels to Wheel Repair Performance in San Jose. They repaint wheels for two local Porsche dealers. I had them sandblast off the old paint, fill the pits on the visible side, and powder paint them for 200 $/wheel. I also had them add the Ceramic Pro coating. This is supposed to be harder than the painted clear coat, and, importantly, not allow brake dust to stick very well. Time will tell how well this works. As you can see in the photo below, the color match to the stock wheel center cap was perfect. A freshly painted front wheel.

At this point the stock wheel center caps were looking ratty. I sanded them with 600-grit sandpaper to clean off some of the gunk, but couldn't get them looking new. For years I've tried to buy a set of Ralph T. Boothe (Boothe Design) center caps like the one below. Based on never getting an emailed reply from his old website, and his current website ( http://www.boothedesign.com/ ) being almost blank, for all intents and purposes he's sadly out of business. Boothe Design center cap Fortunately another person, NeuTechAuto, started making similar wheels caps and selling them on eBay. I custom ordered caps like the one above with the Porsche crest in the middle, black gloss around that, gold in the groove, and silver paint on the perimeter (which doesn't quite match the stock wheel. Photos are below. The emblem seems to be a stock Porsche emblem. The old and the new: front view The old and the new: rear view A close-up of a new wheel cap To install one, I removed the wheel from the car and popped off the stock center cap. I removed the emblem from the cap, inserted the cap into the wheel, added Loctite, and uniformly tightened the three set screws. Finally, I placed the emblem back in place, added Loctite, and tightened down the nuts. The whole job took me two hours. New wheel cap on the car I'm happy with how nice they look...like jewelry for the car. I've ordered some gloss black lug bolts to replace the ratty stock bolts. Hopefully they match the wheel caps.

Quotes source post: 12683129

You are so right about this...I have always wanted to upgrade to LEDs but because they made the LEDs follow a 997.2 pattern, it does look out of place. They should have followed the lines of the 996 taillight. The solution here is interesting one that I hadn't considered. Haven't developed an opinion on this yet but I agree with another poster who said you should match the glossiness of the paint. THanks for sharing, the car does look great!

I installed black glossy lug bolts from ECS Tuning for $79.95. I selected these so that the glossy black would match the black on the center cap. They don't look that much different than the rusted stock bolts due to being in the shadow of the cutout in the wheel. With new glossy black lug bolts

Reading through the thread, I was just about to comment that - now all you have to do is replace the ratty stock lug bolts... You beat me to it! The black ones look good - let us know if they start to rust like the stock ones...

Not sure if you were interested in upgrading the headlights, but if so, I made these headlight covers which may look good on your car.

Quotes source post: 14914109

I like the look of the 997 headlights, but I would miss having my fog lights.

A few years ago I removed my front bumper and cleaned out the debris that has accumulated on the left and right air-conditioner condensers, as well as between the condensers and radiators. I estimate that a quarter of the air flow was blocked. To prevent, or at least slow down the collection of road flotsam, I added a pair of Rennline grilles to the air-flow openings in the front bumper. First I removed the front bumper. This took over two hours, as the front wheels, wheel-well covers, headlights, side markers, and trim need to come off.. A lot of parts must be removed to get the front bumper off There were a lot of leaves, a big chunk of a Styrofoam cup, and the usual cigarette butts against the condenser (but fewer butts than last time, a good sign). Debris against the condenser If you're doing this job, pull the condenser away from the radiator behind it. A lot of junk collects there. About a quarter of my radiator areas was blocked. Junk between a condenser and radiator Finally, I got to installing the grilles. They're just mesh that has been custom cut, bent, and painted block. Mounting screws are included. Not much for $275. One grille has been installed The grilles were not a perfect fit, so I had to do some bending to ensure that the bumper would slide back on. After screwing the grille on, I bent the mesh down in some places After grille assembly, I put the car back together. Fortunately I had ordered a bunch of new "exploding" plastic rivets (P/N 999-507-497-40-M58) and fender mounting screws (P/N 999-073-227-09-OEM) to replace the old and lost ones. The external air temperature sensor is no longer mounted in the same place on the bumper, but it's hanging where external air blows past it. Total labor time was about 4.5 hours. The finished product looks like it came from the factory that way.

So apart from your mods, the car's pretty much factory then... 😉 I'm not a huge fan of cosmetic mods, but have been guilty of modifying suspension (H&R blue lowering springs, and Billy B8s), plus fitting 17mm spacers all round with black bolts (car is Basalt Black C2m). The spacers are perfect, with the outer rims flush with body. 2-3 degrees negative camber on rear, tyres too new to report on tyre wear yet... The ride height dropped 25mm and I think is perfect now. The handling markedly improved with minimal drop in ride comfort (she says!). I have kept all original suspension . Having said that your car has been tastefully and carefully done. Congratulations.

Quotes source post: 14930427

Ya, it's stock apart from the exterior mods above and the interior mods documented here: https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...-upgrades.html . And a rebuilt engine (IMSB failure) with the X51 option, with X51 intake and exhaust headers.