911 Turbo S

[Wing Commander]

^^^ Yeah, I guess that comes with a massively larger population of users/members. A small percentage of people who we’d rather ignore/do without.

[adrian991]

Like VanB, I've checked the front splitter and it's plain back plastic, unpainted. Ditto the side skirts and the rear panel around the exhausts.

Well best of luck getting it replaced if you ever need to, there is only one part number for a front spoiler that fits a 991.2 GTS and it comes in Primer. The black unpainted side skirts on a 991.2 GTS are not the same, they are definitely a moulded black material and my information source is the Porsche Centre.

Adrian, I'm not entirely convinced that we are talking about the same thing so have asked my OPC to explain to me in words of one syllable and give me a part number. Absolutely not disputing your position but I think it would be good to know for sure for all of us. Cheers

I hope the following helps to clarify.
First of all it is a 991.2 C4 GTS that I'm referring to and as you know the GTS (all variants) comes as standard with the Sport Design Front Apron which is in two parts, with the lower front spoiler or splitter being detachable from the main section. When I scraped mine and enquired at my OPC (May 2018) I was told there were only two part numbers available for the lower front spoiler lip (as they call it) for all the 991.2 models (except the Turbo and GT3s which have completely different front aprons).

So on the GTS models this is the lower section of that front apron (or PU as it is more commonly by Porsche 911 owners) and that is attached by clips. Before the configurator changed to include the 992 it was possible to configure a 991.2 non GTS model with the Sport Design Front Apron either on it's own or with the Sport Design Package, it was also possible to configure any of the 991.2 models with the Front Apron painted in body colour but selecting that option forced a selection of the Sport Design Front Apron or Sport Design Package. So with the exception of the GTS models, any 991.2 car, i.e Carrera, Carrera S, Cabriolet, Cabriolet S, Targa 4, Taga 4S, that has been configured with the Sport Design Front Apron, the lower detachable front lip will be in the same colour as the rest of the car, the only models that have this section in Black are the GTS models and the colour is Satin Black to match the Wheels and lower sections of the Sport Design Mirrors.
The two replacement parts that are available from the OPC for a 991.2 Lower Front Spoiler Lip (except Turbo and GT3) are as follows:
1. Black moulded plastic just like the side skirts - Only fits the standard Front Apron of the 991.2 all models except GTS
2. Very dark grey moulded plastic - Only fits the Sport Design Front Apron and it's supplied in primer so it can then be painted either Satin Black or body colour depending on the car it's to be fitted to.

If you now take a look at the 992 configurator and select Sport Design Front Apron on a Carrera S or 4S the lower front spoiler lip is different to match the different shape of the Sport Design Front Apron and it's painted in body colour so a replacement will be in primer whereas the standard apron lower front spoiler is completely different and Black and my guess it will be in moulded Black plastic.

When this happened to my C4 GTS, the OPC ordered both parts and it was obvious that the Black moulded part was never going to fit as it was shaped to match the contours of the standard Front Apron. The other part was definitely a very dark grey colour and would have needed painting in Satin Black. In the end I decided to repair the damage myself by sanding it down and then I overpainted the entire part with Satin Black, the tedious bit was masking the front of the car and the floor of my garage to avoid overspray.

Once I had sanded down the damaged areas it was possible to see the base colour showing through in contrast to the areas that I had not sanded which were Satin Black. As I said it's a very dark grey colour and not Black all the way through like on the standard cars.

Given how vulnerable it is, I couldn't see the point of spending £250 plus another £250 (this was the quote) to have it painted. As I predicted it has been scraped again so I just sand and spray the damaged area, unfortunately this is one of the downsides of actually using the car on some of the Porsche Club GB Register drives as we do tend to stay away from the busy main roads with cameras and the 40 mph drivers club.

[VanB]

Thanks, Adrian

This gets curiouser and curiouser!

Just heard back from my OPC that the dark grey, detachable plastic part on the bottom of the front splitter is bare plastic and neither painted nor primed (this is for a 991.2 GTS 4). It costs £131 + VAT and is designed to be sacrificial so it sounds very different from what you describe above especially as I was advised on order not to have the lower part painted (along with the lower sideskirts etc) as they were easily and cheaply (for Porsche) replaced.

Anyone else with any insight to this as I'm sure mine will need replacing in due course and £131 sounds a lot more appealing than £250?

Again, Adrian I'm not disputing what you have said just that we seem to be getting different stories and I can assure you that the current plastic part on my GTS is neither painted nor primed as I've checked. More than once!

Cheers

[Paul]

Pages 289 and 292 would suggest you’re both right .......

(big download!)


https://www.porsche.com/filestore.aspx/ ... pe=default

[Nuclear Nick]

Thanks, Adrian

This gets curiouser and curiouser!

Just heard back from my OPC that the dark grey, detachable plastic part on the bottom of the front splitter is bare plastic and neither painted nor primed (this is for a 991.2 GTS 4). It costs £131 + VAT and is designed to be sacrificial so it sounds very different from what you describe above especially as I was advised on order not to have the lower part painted (along with the lower sideskirts etc) as they were easily and cheaply (for Porsche) replaced.

Anyone else with any insight to this as I'm sure mine will need replacing in due course and £131 sounds a lot more appealing than £250?

Again, Adrian I'm not disputing what you have said just that we seem to be getting different stories and I can assure you that the current plastic part on my GTS is neither painted nor primed as I've checked. More than once!

Cheers

Thanks to Adrian too for the research and lengthy post. I've also closely examined my front spoiler, visually and with Adrian's suggested knife. The knife only scraped away plastic to expose more black, or very dark grey, plastic underneath. Try as I might I couldn't convince myself there was any paint coating. Also, the pits created by small stone chips are exactly the same colour as the surface, with no evidence of primer colour being exposed. I'm beginning to think the only way we'll know for sure is when one of us decides, or is forced, to replace the spoiler. In the meantime, I like Adrian's repair approach.