Yikes. These kind of kits are very 90's AutoZone parking lot hangout. They always look and fit worse in person and only add weight to the car while reducing the car's value. Whenever I see mods like this, I wonder what other hack mods have also been done. B16 engine swap?

 

Hey, were you really questioning if that PepBoys grade kit is actually functional? Fit is atrocious, so it'd probably break off before you could find out. But my question for you is: Would you buy it if it did? Wonder how many have been sold. My guess is 0, but could be wrong.

 

Let me see if I can understand this ...

This is a kit that:
- adds weight
- adds air drag
- reduces clearance needed for real world roads
- offers no measurable offsetting benefits (downforce)
- doesn't cover or improve any styling defect on the original car
- doesn't extend or continue the original car's styling concept; it actually clashes with the vision of the original car by adding warts
- costs actual money

I sincerely hope that, as a company that has potential for actually making some really great carbon fibre pieces, that you put down the iPad sketchbooks and hire some real engineers to produce parts that you can proudly demonstrate, with real objective measurements, do significantly improve performance or durability or comfort of the car. If this kit attempted that, the review in this forum would have been much more positive. It's a testament to Porsche owners that, while some will overspend on trim that doesn't really matter, almost all of them are technically savvy enough to know when too much is too much.

 

Allow me to humbly offer some suggestions on how to improve some of these pieces. You will note that, while the 718 models may be owned by some hooligans, the vast majority of us prefer less boy racer tack-on and more functionality. The 987 models even had provisions for a roof rack. Now that's in keeping with the original Porsche spirit.



- front bonnet: it appears you tried to apply some fake GT4 venting. I don’t know how many people in the world appreciate nonfunctional ridges in their line of sight ahead of the windscreen but I do know that Boxsters have a deficit of total storage space compared to Caymans, and some would like just a bit more cargo volume. It would have been awesome if you had sculpted a clean hood with no jarring creases, just a tasteful power bulge to add a few centimetres more height and thus another few litres of storage in the front bin. Leveraging the strength of carbon fiber, you could have made it lighter and stronger with a clean inside as well, eliminating the unsightly stamped panel stiffener of the stock car.



- front air dam: Your thing is complicated. It doesn’t look optimized for track use; itt doesn’t follow the major contours of the bodywork above. It looks like a dirt catcher. Here’s the solution: Offer 3 good products instead of one bad one. get in a wind tunnel and create a (1) track air dam that you can show forces more air up into the radiators. show the measurements. Then make a super slim road version of the front lip that sticks no lower than the factory Porsche plastic lip. Add no creases or splits or complications, other than one beautiful feature: an integrated front license plate holder. Design it so that it places the plate as low as possible instead of being tacked on the front of the painted bumper like some people have had to do. One design for the (2) euro plate, and another (3) for the USA plate. That move would result in your order books flooding overnight in Europe and in half of the USA.


- side skirts: Let’s just say your very busy design clashes badly with the Porsche side panel. If you want to produce a meaningful skirt, you need to show how the front half keeps turbulent air from the front wheels from getting and staying under the car, and how the back half of the skirt actively pulls air from under the car. If you compare the difference between lower model 718s and the GT4, you will see that Porsche added lots of underbody strakelets to manage airflow. With a little effort you could probably offer half a dozen underbody pieces that would work well with a proper side skirt, and you would have racers lining up to buy them if you prove how much downforce they add at speed.



- side air intakes: carbon inserts actually work very well here. This is an area where car owners might like you to have more design latitude to freshen up the car. You already know that many Boxster owners need to buy or make proper screens for these openings because Porsche inexplicably leaves all the air intakes unprotected from leaves and pebbles and junk. Make a great inlet with a built in screen that is really easy to take on & off for occasional vacuuming. You could even offer a cleaner version of the bigger GT4 inlets, which are functional at pulling in more air but not pretty.



- rear fascia: just doesn’t work. It clearly offers no aero advantage and the shelf isn’t big enough to hold tools or a beer. What’s the point??? But I can tell you what a lot of 718 owners have wished for … the addition of a hitch receiver immediately below the license plate. Seriously -- this would not be to tow anything, but to mount bike and ski racks and stuff like that. If you made a clean, factory-quality rear fascia that either finished off the hole in the rear panel necessary to add a structural bracket, or some ingenious carbon receiver integrated into your new fascia that didn’t require hacking into the stock bodywork, and made it strong enough to support a couple bikes (let’s say 60 kg), you’ve have every active touring Boxster owner’s dream on your order book.



In addition, if you wanted to become more ambitious, you could add your own designs for mirrors and window triangle trim pieces that solve the infamous Cayman buffeting sound. You could offer a future-retro luggage rack for the rear bonnet, in carbon fiber but evoking the fun vintage Porsches. How about a nice Boxster carbon fiber hoop roll bar with removable center air anti-buffeting screen?

I encourage Armaspeed to provide more value and less ... well, less overwrought tack on stuff.