Maverick1

I really don't see what the big deal is in every now and then scraping the front lip of the bumper from day to day driving.
There is so much talk and worry about this.
Firstly, it's easily replaced.
Secondly, you won't be able to see the scraped area unless you get down on your hands and knees and kink your neck and look up at the underside of the lip.
No one looking at the car will be able to see it, so why stress over it.
No big deal.
If anyone out there is so OCD that this will be an issue for you, I have a great book to recommend to you, it's called
"Don't Sweat the Small Stuff", and a scraped front lip is small stuff in the big picture of life.

vantage

The issue is more of (1) not being able to traverse a certain area without blocking others or crawling at a snails pace, or worse, (2) not being able to traverse a certain area at all because the lip is too low. On the latter point, this is more of an issue for people who live / work in urban areas and must traverse parking garages, ramps, etc. But hey, no one is forcing us to drive a $100k track car to work.

ExMB

Because with the info posted so far it costs more to replace that the one on the GT3.
Time to relax and have another beer. This isn't P9 you know.

ChrisF

When first got my GT3, every single scrape sent chills up my spine. Then I replaced my first spoiler. 8 spoilers later, who gives a $h!t. It's a first world problem.

I've driven all over the place and I've yet to find a place I couldn't get in/out of. Looks like the GT4 has even more cleareance. Can't wait to scrape it too.

vantage

Good news.

katmeho

Best ever!


My only concern would be that a hung up or dragging splitter would catch on something and cause a bigger issue, like ripping off the front of the car or getting caught up in a wheel well or the front suspension. That could be dangerous and costly. If it's designed to easily let loose in that situation and just takes a couple minutes to replace, I'd agree that this issue is no more of an issue than having to run high octane gas or sticky tires. It's prt of what the car is to run and own.

jphughan

8 spoilers later!?!? Out of curiosity, at what point do you decide that the spoiler needs to be replaced? Does it split apart eventually, or does it start just looking so bad that you're willing to spend the cash to get a new one?

FORENN

Big thumbs up for this post.

ipse dixit

Scraping the bottom of the front lip spoiler (FLS) is not a big deal, and is a given. Even on the 991 GT3 with the front axel lift.

The more notable issue is scraping the front of the FLS, such as when entering or exiting steep driveways, or dips in intersections at speed.

Yes, it's not difficult to replace. But saying that already assumes you are and will be replacing it. Which in turns means that the FLS becomes a consumable part like tires.

Some are ok with it. Some not.

#PriceOfDownforce

Maverick1

Yes I completely agree, that's why I brought this topic up because it seemed to me that many were so concerned about scraping the front lip.
And some are talking about spending maybe $3,000 on some sort of lift system.
Personally, if Porsche offered one that was properly engineered for the GT4 I might have considered it, but a no name lift, I think I'll pass and put up with a few scrapes.
Think of how many new lips you can buy with $3,000, around 10!

jphughan

In addition to the points already mentioned above, namely traversing areas at a snail's pace and the ground clearance (related but not the same as approach angle) being so low that you can't traverse at all, I seem to remember someone calling out that repeated spoiler scrapes can deform the brake cooling ducts. I'm not sure how significant an issue that is either though, especially given that these brakes are oversized for this car.

I personally think I'll find it annoying at least initially if I scrape in a lot of places, but I have a feeling I'll get used to it since I'm fortunate not to be "car OCD". The replacement lip price is surprisingly high (even before the unspecified increased shipping costs for an oversize item) especially considering that AP promised they would be priced attractively since the GT4 didn't get a front axle lift, but I guess it's not the end of the world.

To be honest, my biggest concern right now is how the Cup 2s will perform in the cold and rain since I will at least for a while be DDing this car. I've seen a whole range of impressions, from people claiming that grip falls off disconcertingly if the temperature drops even below 60 F to others saying that as long as you're on your game and dial it back a bit, you can drive them without risking your life even in heavy rain, very cold weather, and even light snow. The different Cup 2 variants out there likely accounts for the wide variety of impressions, so I'm not sure what to expect. Crossing my fingers that it's serviceable though, since I just don't like dealing with multiple sets of wheels. I'd want to use the OEMs on the road since I like the look of them, but I haven't seen any aftermarket trackworthy wheel options for this car other than the Forgeline wheels that are sized to accommodate Hoosiers, and a second set of OEM wheels is $$$.

Other than that, my only other concern is egress from the LWBs, especially in tighter parking spaces. I'm betting it will probably get old, but I'm also betting that their enhancement of the driving experience will more than offset a few seconds of annoyance getting out of the car.

But beyond those three items, I'm totally excited to get this car because it sounds like the other concerns I had (cabin noise while cruising, ride quality, clutch stiffness, stereo quality for longer drives) have turned out to be non-issues.

ipse dixit

Might not be a bad idea to start a group buy for the Front Lip Spoiler.

Did one for the GT3 and it worked out rather well with Sunset Porsche in Oregon.

Have to factor in your own personal shipping costs to see whether it's more cost effective to buy from a local dealer.

But we were able to buy the spoiler at something like $1 over dealer cost.

ExMB

And you are already above whats been posted for replacement cost.

Good point. Lets not forget to remind people about salestax when buying local. Some will forget/ignore that tidbit.

matttheboatman

Ok, if all that gets scraped is the plastic replaceable trim piece, I agree with Maverick's post. No big deal.

However, on my Cayman S and GTS, I had two issues with scraping.

First, was on these cars Porsche uses a small rubberized wind deflector that is held on by just two fasteners and little rubber hangers. When you scrape, this would hang down - ugg. Eventually, everyone removes it.

Second, and this really bothered me, the underside was painted plastic material and it would gouge and scrape. This needs protection as it is part of the front end. Some have used a aluminum skid plate.

So, I don't know what it looks like under the GT4 - but if it is like the S or GTS I will have a machine shop make up a skid plate to cover the exposed areas. And, replace the trim as needed over time.

Can any GT4 take a picture of the underside front end?

jphughan

I wonder what the aero impact would be of removing a deflector on the GT4. As for the skid plate, I emailed Schnell Autosports to see if they would be making a version of their scrape bar (hollow aluminum tube) for the GT4, but haven't heard back. Seems like a much lighter and simpler solution than a full skid plate.