My 2001 Porsche 911 Turbo is nearly out of paint jail after an admittedly quite short stint at Two Brothers in Canton, Ohio. This color-change project started in November and should be done any day now, and I’ve heard of jobs like this stretching over a year. I’m anxious to get my car back to drive it this summer, but the last time I went to check in on it I noticed that the paint was so nicely done that I began to worry about all the other old and worn pieces of the 24-year-old car starting to show their age and look like pure shit in comparison.
The last two things that need to be taken care of before the car can hit the streets again this summer are the wheels and the windows. The glass I’m not too concerned with. I’d considered swapping the rear window and the rear quarters for Lexan windows from the Euro GT3 parts bin, but I can always do that later, too.
The Wheels
The mismatched nineteen-inch BBS and Forgestar wheels in the top photo will be replaced by this period-correct set of color-matched Kinesis wheels. The faces have been completed, but the barrels need to be polished and new black hardware has been sourced. I’m confident this will look incredible.
The Hood
When I sent the car in for paint, I left the hood off the list of parts getting painted, because I am going to replace it with a carbon fiber unit. Unfortunately that piece of the job has been pushed off to this fall, so I’m stuck with the black hood for the time being. I have tossed around a few temporary ideas to make it look a little better. Maybe you can help me make a decision.
Should I wrap the hood in faux carbon until the real one is ready, wrap it in matte black, spray bomb it matte black, or leave it with factory gloss black and just polish it up real nice?
Headlights
My biggest nemesis at the moment is definitely my headlights. I managed to give these lights a period-correct chrome-ectomy several months ago, but the lenses themselves still look quite terrible. I have a few options, but none of them are particularly good. Here’s another opportunity for y’all to give me some assistance, perhaps.
Option 1: Polish and wrap –
This is the cheapest and easiest option that I will probably do to get through the summer and find something else. The lenses will probably clean up a little better with another wet sand, then I can put yellow wrap on them to seal the plastic and give them a cool look.
I’d love to get new lenses, but they just don’t exist. You have to buy a whole housing. Which brings me to my next point.
Option 2: Aftermarket eBay lights –
This picture from eBay should explain why I dislike the aftermarket lights that are available for the 996. On the plus side, these do away with the blemish of headlight washers from the original set, which I also dislike. If they weren’t so expensive, I’d buy a set just to cut them apart for the lenses. A pair of these are $2,065.50 plus $125 to get them shipped in from Taiwan. Not exactly a cheap option.
Option 3: New OEM halogen lights –
I could order a brand new set of replacement halogen headlamps, which also do not include the headlight washer nozzle. These were often optioned on GT3s for simplicity and lightweight, and occasionally on base model Carrera 2s as they were cheaper, but in both cases they are very rare and almost never come up on the used market. These run about $1,800 per side, and I’d rather smash the car for insurance money than pay these usury rates.
Option 4: Custom RSR-style lights –
This is currently my favorite option, though will prove extremely difficult to DIY and I’m having a hard time finding a custom shop willing to risk chopping apart $1,800 headlights. If you know someone, send them my way.
Taillights
Here’s an issue I’ve already solved, so I can check this one off the list. My car’s stock taillights were cracked and faded. This is one thing that the aftermarket didn’t do too terrible a job updating. I got this LED set used on eBay for $300. It’s hard to mess up a red and clear light, but I’m not super partial to the clear section.
So I delivered the whole thing to the painters and had them re-spray everything in a diluted red tint for a uniform factory-ish look. I might throw a small clear light next to the license plate for reversing, or I might just be a scofflaw and run with red reverse lights. I’ve done it before, I’m not above doing it again.
Rocker Covers and Lip
It didn’t bother me before, but my cracked carbon fiber front lip has become an eyesore against the gorgeous fresh bumper. I guess I’ll have to order a new one. Likewise the lower rocker covers, particularly the driver’s side piece, are a bit bashed up. There are downsides to living in the midwest with a 24-year-old Porsche on two-inch lowering springs. They’re about $250 per side, and probably need at least a few pieces of fresh hardware.
Man, a paint job is a lot more expensive than just a paint job.