Airborne Pizza

Hey all, looking at a 981 Boxster - mechanically it's pristine but the door panels are doing the typical warping. It's out of warranty and while hopefully there might be a goodwill situation, obviously you can't count on that. Is anyone else out of warranty and have done some kind of satisfactory repair that's not the $4K-$6K panel replacement? Are you just living with it? It seems silly to turn the car down for door panels, but I didn't realize how expensive it would be.

jeffm

This happened on my driver's side panel only. I found a used one on eBay, in perfect condition, for around 200 bucks. I still have the old one and wanted to experiment with some epoxy and attempt to fix it. Hmm....I may make that one of my summer projects.

Also try car-part.com for used panels.

Airborne Pizza

Thanks! Did you look for the same part number as your existing or did they revise it?

PorscheAddict

How bad is it? Mine squeaks occasionally, but it's not a big deal to me because it is infrequent. If it was all the time I'd probably go nuts.

Airborne Pizza

No effect in terms of sound, but I assume that's because the warping is so bad, almost the entire top edge of the panel has separated away from the door (this is the driver's side but both sides are about the same):

jeffm

I will admit that the panel I found was from a base model and not an S. The panel, including the seat memory buttons, are exactly the same....however, the armrest section is vinyl rather than leather. I could have swapped that part out, but it requires melting these plastic tabs, removing the arm rest pad, then remelting the tabs to secure the armrest. Initially, I thought this would bother me, but it doesn't. As I can't see the armrest portion (because my arm is on it) I could care a less. In fact, as I usually travel solo, it would bother me more if it was the passenger side.

Are both panels warped? I'd suggest perhaps finding a good replacement for one side and experimenting on the "extra" panel. For sure an annoyance, but it won't affect your driving experience!

Difficult to tell from the pics, but this one looks in good shape: https://www.ebay.com/itm/2013-Porsch...EAAOSwv4FciW7H

Good luck.

Airborne Pizza

Oh wow, appreciate your finding that. I did a quick search with the part number that turned up a couple that look pre-warped, but didn't see this one. Both of my sides are warped, yeah, so this is going to be painful.

Dr.Bill

Which years and models does this affect?

PorscheAddict

Oh man that's pretty bad. Mine is not visibly different.

Airborne Pizza

I believe it potentially affects at least any 2013-2014 991/981 models with the standard non-leather panels.

dj97223

I have the panel warping on my 2015 Cayman. I'm still under the original warranty. One side has been replaced and the dealer is waiting on the correct part for the other side. If buying used parts, make sure you are getting the correct parts. There appear to be many different part numbers depending on speaker type, etc.

Airborne Pizza

Yikes, 2013-2015 then. You can put the Bose panels in a non-Bose car, right? It looks like the only difference on the panel itself is that the speaker grille has the Bose logo, even if your speakers underneath are inferior.

jeffm

Correct

Also, 991 panels will fit, but they have a slightly different interior door pull design so you would want to buy those in a pair. I've seen many pairs of panels sold for around $1,000. That may sound expensive, but often they will be an upgrade and have complete leather, deviated stitching or alcantara. Worst case. factor in $1k for replacements and make that part of the negotiation.

Airborne Pizza

Perfect, thank you!

Pep!RRRR

See if BGB Racing has any panels they have stripped out of their race car builds.