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YOUR RESEARCHShould the Aerokit center grille be black or painted?
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On my 1999 with aerokit the center is body color, even though by all indications the aerokit was dealer installed after purchase.
Should the Aerokit center grille be black or painted?
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Leading evidence: 'Install after purchase' (no explicit attributable resolution; this is a reported action or suggestion). Across 1 matching discussions, The most frequently discussed action is 'Install after purchase' (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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My 99 was painted silver, my friends red 99 which was a dealer installed wing and tech art kit, it is black.
Should the Aerokit center grille be black or painted?
Install with an aerokit at some point
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In my experience, a black Gurney flap is a quick indication that the car was likely fitted with an aerokit at some point after it left the factory and thus won't have the XAA option code.
Should the Aerokit center grille be black or painted?
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I honestly probably would have preferred it to be black, would cover up all the stone chips that now need a pretty decent amount of repair work done.
Should the Aerokit center grille be black or painted?
Install with an aerokit at some point
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In my experience, a black Gurney flap is a quick indication that the car was likely fitted with an aerokit at some point after it left the factory and thus won't have the XAA option code.
Should the Aerokit center grille be black or painted?
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I had a 99 and the center was black. I looked at a 2001 today and it was body color. Both are factory Aerokit cars.
A quick google image search yielded inconclusive results showing black and body colored examples.
on a related topic, should the lip in the rear wing be black or body color from the factory.
My 99 was painted silver, my friends red 99 which was a dealer installed wing and tech art kit, it is black.
Unfortunately I don�t have a clue and have wondered the same thing. It is black/unpainted on my �99 (built in 9/98).
The Gurney Flap lip spoiler should be body color.
Interesting. All US XAA-equipped cars I've ever seen have been body colored. In my experience, a black Gurney flap is a quick indication that the car was likely fitted with an aerokit at some point after it left the factory and thus won't have the XAA option code.
Here are some more examples of the center grille
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/20...11-carrera-97/
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=...AAAAAdAAAAABAG
https://www.dealermanager.co.uk/imag...7521-947_1.jpg
https://ml7ogwqxeayt.i.optimole.com/...17-12-07-1.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/4049/4...1265cd32_z.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...k_alike%29.jpg
https://uploads.carandclassic.co.uk/...he/9473430.jpg
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1999-porsche-911-39/
A few comments on these.
The silver '99 on PCARmarket.com isn't a real XAA car. You can see that the rear wing is aftermarket due to markings (embossed logos and decals) that are missing from the the underside of the wing. And it's got a terrible (IMHO) metal grill insert for the air intake area of the wing. Additionally, the rear wing is missing the Gurney flap entirely. So I don't think we can use this one as a baseline for what a '99 XAA should look like.
As to the other pics (other than the '99 on BAT that shows the window sticker verifying the aerokit), I don't think we can make a proper judgement call unless there is a way to verify that they are real XAA cars and that they haven't had a front fascia respray. I know we are splitting hairs at this point, but I think that's also the point of this thread, right?
My understanding all along, which could very well be incorrect, is that most/all 1999 XAA cars originally came from the factory with the front air dam in black. Then at some point late in the 1999 production model year or 2000 MY they switched over to body color. This isn't based on any direct knowledge from Porsche, but simply on years of observation.
Yeah the Gurney flap is a separate piece that is simply attached with 3M tape. For some reason many folks who install the aerokit after it's left the factory don't bother to put it on. I don't know why that is.
Lol,
That happened to some months back when a member started a thread on the darn 996 umbrella that goes in the passenger side door sill.
Got vamboziled on the first purchase, it was for newer model Porsche.
The 996 had a certain part number.
Sent the first one back and paid up for correct model.
Now I open the door for my wife to get in, and distract her so she doesn't see it and ask where that came from and how much it cost.
They are expensive.
I bought the cup splitter for my .2. Perfect fit with push pin fasteners and tape. I may modify the part/shape to resemble more closely the correct, more expensive oem part.
Wow....this all does seem to make it confusing .... And I really don't know anymore....
The one thing I guess we can say with 100% certainty is that all black aeros come with the center in black!!!
Not to derail too much, but I hope to sell my Panamera this week, and I've got a couple of local-ish options, one of which is a 1985 928S. I expect to have a new rabbit hole to go down shortly!
This aerokit discussion is interesting, particularly given the premium the XAA cars are fetching on the auction sites right now.
Best of luck. Be sure to check out the 928 sub forum if you haven�t already. The 928 rabbit hole can be incredibly expensive if you�re not careful! Buy right the first time imho.
Center of mine is red, never really noticed others that were painted black, pretty interesting tidbit.
With that, I also have seen a lot of people say the rear spoiler should be stamped from France or something, and others that have said their factory XAA rear spoiler is not (mine included). Has there ever been any true confirmation that either or is correct on an XAA car? I can't imagine mine is not original as there's never been an accident or repair over the course of the low miles it's been driven.
FWIW, the center piece isn�t painted black. It�s simply that the factory left that portion of the polyurethane bumper unpainted.
I�ve confirmed on three �99 XAA cars, including my own, that do not have the �Made in France� embossment. Yours would now make it four. Just as with the unpainted portion of the front bumper, it appears that this was added later in production. Possibly MY2000 and beyond?
🤓
Ahhh okay. I honestly probably would have preferred it to be black, would cover up all the stone chips that now need a pretty decent amount of repair work done.
Okay, that's reassuring. It's Something that's been in the back of my mind for a while but stopped looking into it since there was a lot of answers on both sides.
Yeah my point was more that the lack of the embossment isn't an indicator of a non-factory wing. Could you share the last 6 of your VIN or the build date? That might give us some insight on whether there was a changeover at the factory. Though with Porsche, it frequently seems that there's no rhyme or reason to many things.
Cool. I don't have the car but I sold it to a coworker so I see it regularly. It's funny what a small world Rennlist is. When I started researching the purchase of it, I found the aero kit picture thread. The person who started that thread with a picture of a silver car was the third owner of the car I ended up buying. Then right below that post was a red aero kit posted by its then-owner which is now another friend's track car.
