Jerry Feather

I have been thinking about this midification for a while since I am going to incorporate it on my DD S4 when I get to do the paint and other exterior mods.

I suppose that the major purpose of any of these kinds of deletes is to get back to the very basics of the 928 design. Doing these deletes is probably giving up certain safety considerations and, in some cases, high speed stability, but I guess the esthetics of the basic design might be overriding for some of us.

My theory about the space where the bumperettes reside is that they are there for only some of the cars that do not require a very wide rear license plate. Given the complexty of the rear bumper cover and the injection mold that was developed to create it it is no wonder that there is only one to be utilized for cars all over the world.

Rather than have a big negative void on each side of a U. S. license plate, it appears that they chose to fill these voids with rubber bumperettes. Cool idea, and they serve some useful purpose, but they are a gap filler, and not much else.

For those interested in deleting the bumperettes (and there is no real reason to promote this delete, other thatn individual desire) I am going to share with you how I envision redesigning the rear bumper cover in such a way as it might have been designed for a U. S. car in the first place.

I have posted some of these first pictures before for Tony as an idea of how he might do his GTS, but I am starting over here.

The object that I have in mind is to simply narrow the license plate recess in the rear bumper cover to match out U. S. style plates and eliminate the negative void created by simply taking the bumperettes out and filling the holes cut for their mounting.

My first itteration of this project was done too quickly and incorporated a simplier approach that would have resulted in the conversion of a blank negative space either side of the license plate to a positive blank space in essentially the same places(s).

When I figured that out I made some additional cuts and moved the recess outline "sculpture" inward with the rest of the license plate recess.

Here is how I originally lated it out and cut some of the material out.

Jerry Feather

Next I cut out the pieces that need to be moved over to fill up the negative void in the license plate recess.

Landseer

You need to order a new ROW bumper and be done with it.

Jerry Feather

Oh.

dr bob

I think the ROW bumper is the same as the US bumper, just doesn't have the cutouts for the nerf pads. Still lots of flat area. Jerry's mod makes it look like it's made for the US standard license plate, vs the wide Euro/ROW plates.

Jerry Feather

What I figured out after I started this mod was that I was getting rid of a negative blank space in place of a positive one (or two). So today, after I worked on the Flush Coversion some, I cut out a couple of additional pieces and moved them over to tighten up the recess without leaving positive blank spaces in exchange. Here are some picture of today's effort.

Jerry Feather

You can see that I have ground off the paint in the area that I am working now. Here is a continuation of the process to show how the recess will be narrower and have the protrusion completely narrowed with the recess.

In these pictures you can see that I am making good use of some clecos to hold things in place while the glue dries. I have also cut and fit some ABS patches to a couple of the blank spaces left by moving the sides inward.

The holes left where the clecoes are will simply be filled with bondo or perhaps ABS glue, which has a nice build-up effect in itself.

Underneath I have cut and fit some 3/16 inch ABS as backing for the patches and the other parts going back together.

Jerry Feather

Next, I have placed the right protrusion piece in place with clecoes and on top of a formed doubler piece I made for underneath. On the left is another formed doubler piece in place and ready to be glued in.

I ran out of Goat Tuff Glue in the shop so quit at this point and came in. I have one more little vial of glue in the refrigerator, so I'll make a little progress perhaps tomorrow.

Once the two protrusion pieces are in place all I will have left is some additional doubler material and two final patches out of ABS to close up the last two holes.

Then I am going to have to double and close up the license recess itself. I still haven't figured out how best to close up the gaps left in the upper inner corners. I have a couple of ideas, but may just end up backing the gaps with ABS and then filling in the corners and sculpting them out nicely in some way.

Jerry Feather

928mac

OMG that looks like a lot of work.
I don't have the patience

Nicole

Hi Jerry:

The reason the bumperettes are there are because of US bumper standards - not because of any aesthetic reason or license plate format. They connect directly to the aluminum bumper under the cover, which is using shocks to absorb an impact.

In cars for the rest of the world, these bumper shocks were an option; otherwise they used some sort of "crash box" that would have to be replaced after a bumper hit.

Great project, but if you want to develop a product, you might want to consider an insert that covers the big holes left behind by removed bumper covers. Make it smooth and paintable; perhaps with an optional grille over the old openings. Anything that covers the holes and integrates nicely would be an improvement over the current situation.

atb

This is going to be cool, can't wait to see it finished.

Jim M.

Great post Jerry. Thanks for starting this. I await further photos. . . But how is the wheel well liner project coming?

svp928

+1, Nicole....

Randy V

I'm looking forward to the finished look.

I recall a few years ago some loon with a white GTS removed the rear bumperettes and installed a white plastic lattice material.

Looked like total rice. Damn.

Jerry Feather

Nicole and SVP, I think, I suppose that much of what I have posted in the past has had to do with a product development. That is not the case here. I do not expect this modification to become any kind of project, and I do not expect to be offering to do this modification, or anything like it, for others. I am simply suggesting that if anyone who has the patience and some basic ability, and who has the desire to delete the Bumperettes on the rear, this is how it might be done so one is not left with blank spaces to fill up with Badges or Latice works or whatever else one might come up with to put in their place.

I am not promoting the bumperette delete, as that is totally an individual decision in the context of everything that might be said about the bumperettes.

Too, I am sure that when my S4 is hit in the rear this whole modification in likely to end up in pieces on the pavement, but so will some of the other stuff on the back of my car. I will simply have to refer the insurance adjuster to this thread to show what is involved in the custom conversion that is incorporated on my car so they can adjust their estimate for the repair accordingly.

From a product standpoint, I am confused by Nicole when she talks about something to replace the rear bumper cover. It seems to me that that is the whole thing that I have on my workbench that I am modifing. I wouldn't think there is a market or need for the whole darn thing to be replaced, and don't have the ability or at least the equipment to do so.

Perhaps you can explain better just what it is you have in mind from a product standpoint. Thanks.

Jerry Feather