I think I am done with upgrades for a while (really!), but my tail lights need to be replaced. They are faded and look terrible. I did a search for these but did not find much.

1. Can someone recommend a place to buy these at a decent price?

2. Do new 964 tail lights still look faded? I am fairly sure they are not as red as the 993 tail lights, even when new.

3. I am considering painting the center reflector black. Has any one painted their center reflector and have pics?

Thanks!

Jim

 

Jim,

I can only answer No. 2 - when I replaced my 'faded' set, I found the the new set was ALMOST the same: you could really only tell them apart when side by side.

Having said that, my 'new' set was actually manufactured around 1992 IIRC and I have seen some on 964s that are much more faded than mine was, so I guess this proves absolutely zilch!

 

Straight from the factory they are not as deep in color as if you polish them to a high shine using a suitable plastic polish like maguiars, at least that's my experience.

If you painted the center section, you will still need to leave a "window" for your rear fogs and reverse light, but you'll see truncated letters of the word "PORSCHE". Better to get the RUF center piece which is designed for painting and still have reverse light (without truncated letters). But it looks like an SC in my view

 

When I replaced mine, I thought they looked better than the old ones. But..... it's about the only money I've spent on the car where I've thought afterwards : that wasn't worth it. I did the centre reflector and the corners, and I think it cost me about £350.

 

Thanks, maybe I will leave them alone them. I think if someone made a deep red aftermarket product they would do well! I will check out the Ruf though, hadn't thought of that.

 

Hi there!

I had the luck to buy a used one from a friend who just bought it before he sold his car! Since he knew that I wanted one I just asked him if we could swap our rear center reflectors befor he sold the car! I once asked for the price of a new one and was slammed down by the price of this plastic piece of s..t! I didn't knew that plastic could be that expensive...almost as platinum...

For the colour of the thing it's really not alot more "red" than the one I had on my car! The main reason why I changed it was that the plastic pieces holding it the the body work wher both broken and glued back i.e "repaired"with some Araldit two component glue!

I would say as long as it's only faded and not broken just leave it alone and keep the monney for something more substantial than the bit of crap porsche sells for gold!!

My two cents

GRUETZI Thomas

 

Pzull - do you have any pics of the RUF paintable centerpiece that you mention? It sounds interesting, and I've never heard of it before.
I've already replaced my lenses once and now they're starting to look a little faded again. Its mostly the outer lights vs the center. Honestly, I probably won't be doing anything on this, but I'd like to see what it looks like anyway.
Thanks

 

To slow down the inevitable red-to-pink fading you can spray the lenses with a UV inhibiting clear coat paint, wet sand and then polish them.

 

Sorry Jack, dont have pictures offhand but they look like a color coded panel which is eactly the same shape as the rear reflector with 2 square reverse light lenses at exactly the same spot and size as the original. The reverse light lens is pale blue in color which is quite nice and the reverse lights when lit are a little whiter because of this

 

Wait are you saying that you can buff the lenses to bring the color back some?
That sounds like the most economical solution.
My center reflector is cracked too, which you can only see when you pop the boot lid. I can live with it for now. Would hate to replace it, to see that the side markers look crappy after. The notion of spending $600 or so on mere plastique replacements makes me ill!

Tell us more about the buffing solution!

Thanks,
Greg

 

Greg,
Dont know if its my imagination but I dont think so:
When I first bought my car the rear reflector was cracked so I changed that without changing the side lenses. After installation they looked mistmatched in color - lenses being light in color and matt looking. After several rounds (circa 10X over a period of 5 months) of polishing with a Japanese brand plastic polish (like toothpaste), the color and shine matched the reflector.

After about 1.5 years the lenses started cracking so I changed those, color of new lens was close to reflector so I just did the usual monthly polish.

After another 1.5 years, the rear reflector started cracking...yes after just 3 years, but I do park outdoor in the tropical sun on daily basis. I changed the rear reflector. To my horror the new reflector was lighter in color and less glossy than the slightly older lenses (first reflector purchased was from euro source, second relfector from a US source). So I started polishing the new reflector with higher frequency till I ran out of the Japanses polish (sorry no english brand name), still the color was slightly off. And I couldnt find the same brand again

So I bought Maguiars plastic polish which has claimed hi-tech granules that get finer as you polish so that it gets shiner the longer you polish with the same dab of polish. A few months of fornightly polishing, the lenses and reflector looked identical in shade and shine. The shine is much better than brand new and the color is deep red, not like 993 cherryish red but a darker shade like blood red when there is no direct sunlight on it. With direct sunlight behind, it looks normal red not pink but still not cherry red like 993

So unless it the fumes from the polish, that's my experience.

 

Excellent! I know what I am doing this weekend!

Cheers,

Greg

 

Greg!!!

Do not get to excited as pzull stated it's a hard & long way! You won't be done in one w-e, read pzull as he writes: "A few months of fornightly polishing, (...)" ;o) LOL

In Switzerland the rear reflector costs 400 CHF (about 242 EUROS) a lot of monney if you consider that it's only an idiotic piece of crappy plastic without anything special!!! IMHO it's one of the most obvious example where you realise that Porsche parts are way too overpriced!

Just another question! I noticed that a lot of plastic and cast Porsche parts where stamped with a sort of LOGO of a "V" bound to a "P". I tried to a search on internet for a company with the VP Logo but my search aborted! I always wondered if it's possible to make out the company and buy directly from it. Has any Guru out there an idea of what's the name of the company???

Gruetzi

Thomas

 

Go to matrix racing for great taillight paint. Works Great!!


http://www.matrixracing.com/BI3447Details.htm

 

Two coats on new taillights. Like 993 in color.