Introduction - New 996 owner

Dear all, well I finally made my mind and acquired my first Porsche a 1999 911 Carrera. As you may see in the pics the car looks really good outside, also inside (pretty well preserved red interior, pics coming later) and per the inspection and some maintenance records it appears to be in condition. I have been reading different posts on DIY, FAQs, common issues, etc. and it's overwhelming, but I appreciate to all forum members for their postings that had helped me made what I think a good decision. I only had the 911 for 1 day, so still in the process of acquiring the knowledge on how to master it and plan to perform some outside detailing over the weekend to make it look a little better. Thanks again to all forum members. Regards, Cesar

From a newbie to another, welcome. Nice choice in color, I also have an artic silver car. Drive the hell out of it and enjoy!

Take those headlight covers off and embrace the fried egg!

Welcome, nice car

Welcome. Looks like PO did a fair amount of customizing the exterior and I am curious what the interior looks like. Certainly a very distinctive car, can't say I've ever seen anything quite like it. Enjoy the ride!!

Troll post?

Below please find some interior pics. I'm planning to apply the Leatherique product to a small area to determine if the leather can bring more of it's original color. A question that I have is that there is a way to retouch the latch that opens the trunk (take a look at last pic) Thanks, Cesar

Is that a custom job by the PO?

Yes, I was told by the dealer where I got the 911 that the PO did all the customization. He actually traded this one with a 997 convertible.

Welcome! That clay interior looks nice, IMO.

OP, Welcome and enjoy in good health! Try Duplicolor BGM 0340 paint for the alumalook paint on the frunk release. It’s pretty dang close for $6.

Hatchetf15, thanks for the recommendation on the paint for the trunk release. I'm seen this paint comes in spray that I would assume need to uninstall the latch, sand it and then paint it. Regards, Cesar

Correct. It will look great. If you haven’t found info on how-to, try https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...e-latches.html . You may want to tape off the pictures.

Congrats and welcome! 99�s are the best! Don�t be alarmed by the coolant temp gauge. 99�s after often precise but not accurate. Even the Audi HVAC hack numbers can be off and make it appear as though your coolant temps are higher than they should be. Just run with the AC button on if you want to be sure. Don't worry about the IMS either - change it out when you have a good reason to, if you want, rather than worry about replacing it asap.

I really dig the quilted mats. Where did those come from? I'd caution about Leatherique. I used it on my seats and while it made the leather better it REALLY emphasized the flaws of them. If anything it made every crack an/dor crease much more noticeable. It's accelerated my plans to have some work done by an upholsterer.

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He took a step down in my opinion. I�d rather have a 996 coupe than a 997 cabriolet. I�d also remove the headlight covers and the GT2 sticker. Other than that, it looks great to me. But it is your car so do what YOU want to it.

Hatchetf15, thanks for providing the how-to link. I appreciate it.

Mike, thanks for your comments and suggestions. The IMS was taken care of in 2016 (25k miles ago) so no concerns from there.

Cesarr64 that’s one nice looking car. I can see why you bought it. What’s nice about these cars is that you can do what YOU want to them.

Idaho911, thanks for the warning on the Leatherique. I would test a small area first to check the outcome.

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Brian, thanks for your comments.

Looks like a full leather interior that makes it much better than non full leather I like the look. Stripes and all. very unique.

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I too had a bad crack that turned into a rip within weeks of treatment.

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808Bill, thanks for the warning, then it appears I need to visit the upholster guy first to get his feedback before starting on the Leatherique.

I just bought the xlarge kit leatherque kit and used on my S63. It seemed to be ok I followed directions and applied like instructions stated and seemed ok but I’m gonna hold up on my 996 interior since you guys are having issues. I thought it did really nice job but car is on new side. Maybe older leather it’s not so good .

I'm surprised to read negative leatherique comments. I agree that you should test it and see if you like it - I've used it for years and years and I love the way my car smells like fresh hide when I get inside, not like chemicals. My leather also doesn't have flaws beyond the wrinkles my fat duff puts in them.

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Went to the upholster and he noticed that the seats have a different color than other leather pieces and recommended to have them dyed ($300 for both front seats) to match the color that would also help to blend some of the darker creases on the seats. It should last around 4 years in the Miami weather. I also asked about to use Leatherique and he didn't know what would be the end result. Based on all the information that I have I think the best approach is to initially use Leatherique test a small part of one of the seats to determine the results. I would post some before and after pictures to show the results.

Below please find the before and after pics after applying Leatherique to a section of the driver's seat. It appear that the differences between the before and after are not that evident in the pics (also de light was different), just subtle differences in the color, clarity and appearance of the leather. Let me know if you see something different. Thanks, First and Third pics are the before, second and fourth are after.

^^ Looks quite different. The before pics are more brown. The after pics have more red in them.

^^^The seats are quite a bit cleaner. Just look at the little carpet triangle in each picture and you can easily pick out the difference. Might want to try another product to do a side-by-side and see which does better overall.

Looks good. I just cleaned up some pretty gnarly seats in a BMW, before and afters are always great.

Thanks for your replies and comments on the Leatherique testing, that give me a better comfort that I can apply it to the whole seats.

Before you do anything to those seats, you need to *clean* them. First, you need a horsehair brush. I use this one and it's great for the money: Amazon Amazon Then, you need a general purpose cleaner. Something like one of these: Amazon Amazon Amazon Amazon Use the cleaner with that brush to thoroughly clean the seats of your car. The color difference is largely due to the presence of dirt and oils in the seats. Cleaning them should bring them back to a much more uniform color. After you've done that, THEN try the Leatherique. Here's a great video with different techniques for cleaning your interior surfaces: You Tube

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Capt. Obvious, thanks so much for your recommendation on cleaning the seats first.

Mine is a Natural Brown interior (basically sitting inside a big baseball glove) and I have Lexol�d the crap out of it a few times since purchase but never thought about using a leather cleaner first. thanks Cap�t Obvious. Will get cleaning.

You don't really need a leather cleaner, you need a mild general cleaner. The leather in these cars has a coating on it that is basically plastic, your leather cleaner/conditioner isn't really doing much besides putting a layer of stuff on the coating.

I believe that’s the cinnamon brown interior, like mine.