928ntslow

As much as I love the look of the 928's, I just can't leave well enough alone. I've always strived to be original, though I am sure there are folks out there that just plain do not like what I do.

In reference to those "after thought" USDOT required rubber thingy doodles, I just never liked the way they looked and thought them out of place on the car. Problem is, how do you cover them up without it looking worse? The front was easy as there are manufactured lenses specifically made for this by Porsche. They replace those stupid black 5mph nubs between the turn signal and driving lights. A little tricky to get out, but the outcome is worth it.





The rear ones are just as tough to get out as Porsche had to cut holes in the rear clip and everything bolted behind the covers. Those buck toothed looking protrusions gave the car a look that annoyed me. I went so far as to color key them to the body to try to make them disappear. Still bothered me after though. So I yanked 'em off...which was not the easiest task without destroying anything else. Even with the remaining square holes, I thought it looked better. However, I knew I had to come up with something. Thanks to Michael/ INTRINSICATE from Nevada, he inspired me to try something different.(Hopefully he will post a pic or two of his work) I am happy with the results at the moment...and the car looks shorter!







The best part is, I've never had to remove the front or rear clips to get to the bolts. Just thought I would share all this with you in hopes to inspire other folks.

cobalt

Very nice. Interesting solution for the rear.

I just replaced my front signals with the clear corners. I am not so pleased with the lesser expensive solution offered and am thinking about buying the factory pieces instead. From the looks of the lenses on your car it would appear they are the factory Hella lenses. I am intersted in were you picked these up. I have looked into the Jacamond (SP) parts which are a bit pricy although they offer the front side markers in clear also. They do not sell the bumperette replacements which really cleans up the entire look. If you don't mind sharing your source for these parts I would appreciate it.

F4GIB

What a neat idea. More detail, please.

IcemanG17

Keith
Very clean....so was there a complete hole where the rear bumperettes used to be? I guess the only other option would be to get a compelete Euro GTS bumper that doesn't have the bumperettes?
Brian

PorKen

That looks decent. I hate the bumperettes as well.

On the early cars that have four holes, I found that painting fake bumperettes to disguise the holes works suprisingly well (and the painted area is covered by the bumperettes, should you reinstall). Only in direct light is it apparent that nothing's there (as in this pic). From a distance it looks normal.



I've often thought that what would be nice for both early and late models would be a (fiberglass?) insert that would fill the whole indent.

Tony

i thought the same thing. There has to be someone here with good fiberglass skills that could make a mold..then basically a plug that wo uld sit in side the recessed area where the plate and the old bumperettes were. The plug would follow the contors of the bumper and would have a slightly recessed area for a standard plate. The plug could be surrounded by the bumper beading material..in black or color matched to the car. The plate could be illuminated by some small LEDs. thatwould take care of that legality.


..I cant recall what sits up behind there, but with some bumper body work and some metal screen like on the CGT, toss the dual exhaust there?? A couple of polished pipes to match that chrome GTS badge

928ntslow

Cobalt-all lenses are factory Porsche except for the turn signals which are from www.turnclear.com. 928Int'l can get you the euro filler lenses where the 5mph bumpers go. Be aware that you will have to remove the metal frame behind the rubber covers. This needs to be done carefully and I had figured out a way to do this without pulling the bumper cover. Let me know if you need the details of the procedure.

F4GIB- aside from the fronts, the rears are easily accessable. One allen head bolt per rubber cover. After that, you have to reach up behind the bumper cover with a 13mm rachet and remove the bottom bolt and upper two nuts. That is the easy part. Getting the metal frames out is a bit tougher. I taped all sides of the holes twice over each other as to not scratch the existing paint work. I used a flat pry bar to carefully spread the hole and work the frames out. You must be extremely careful not to rip or scratch the bumper cover. I worked the frames out starting from the bottom first. Make sure you pull the frame out of the mounting holes before you start working it around.

Iceman- the holes you see are what exist. All I did was clean the edges up a little and paint them the same color as the car as they are black. Yes, only other option is to buy a Euro cover.

Porken/Tony- An insert would be nice and I had thought about that and event mocked one up. The problem I kept coming up with was that "afterthought" look again. It would be nice to somehow transform the whole insert and cover it with the chrome grate followng the contour of the bumper. You would have to cut out that whole area and move the license plate lights and readjust the bracing for the cover. The CGT look is awesome Tony, but the problem is that right behind the cover, about halfway up those little grates I installed, is the big square aluminum bumper. You would have to cut the square holes larger/lower or just make some larger modifications of the whole depression to accommodate the exhaust, but it CAN be done! I personally didn't want to do any cutting on a fresh GTS in case I had to put the bumperettes back on for any reason....call me chicken

Oh yea, for a good laugh, those grates I installed cost less than $4.00. I found them at Lowes and it is a white plastic grate for gutters...lol. I cut them to fit and then used a heat gun to shape as the hole curves over the top next to the license plate lights. The longest and toughest part of the mod is getting the metal frames out. Lastly, eh hem...I used carefully placed duct tape to hold them in...he he. Now you all know my cheesy secrets. Hey...it was temporary to see if I liked it or not.

borland

Will you be deleting other black accents on the car (window trim, etc.) ?

I like the front bumperettes cause they match the headlight washers and other trim pieces; course my car is a dark color.

Either way, still a great looking car.

borland
90' S4, Slate Metallic

justin

I like the exhaust idea, that would be different.

sublimate

Like this?:

PorKen

Looks weird, don't it?

I had not thought of blending the piece into the bumper, just inserted into the cavity ( ) and retaining a lighted spot for the plate. And maybe even angle the plate down for reduced readability.

Tony

exactly but just have a recessed area appx 1-2" deep for the plate. Deeper at the top then shallower at the bottom. So the plate sits vertically in the slight sloped bumper.

Randy V

Now fix that bowed center strip. It only takes 15 minutes with some 3M panel tape.

Jim M.

Randy V Now fix that bowed center strip. It only takes 15 minutes with some 3M panel tape.

OR. . . Roger's T.'s now famous toilet bolt repair . . . worked for me!

Jim Mayzurk
93 GTS 5-Spd

IcemanG17

Tony-Keith
The CGT look would be sweet!!! Hard to accomplish, but many would that look cool!
Brian