Haku

I was going back and forth about the front axle lift. My argument for not initially ordering it was that I had managed just fine without it on my 997.2 GT3.

My opinion changed when I saw my friends 991 GT3 last week and in particular noticed that the splitter is positioned almost at the same height/level as the bottom of the front bumper! So, if you scrape the splitter, you're going to scrape or break the bumper! I took the attached pic with the camera pointing upward from the floor. Even with the lift, this car had some scrapes!

Do yourself a favour, get the lift!

ipse dixit

I think if you DD your GT3, the lift is a must.

SanDiegoDavid

Yep, the lift is a must. I have scraped the splitter at least 3 times with the lift.

Mike in CA

Agree completely. The way the rigid splitter is attached, a good knock on the splitter could damage the bumper. While the lift may not eliminate that possibility, it limits the opportunities for it to happen.

CAlexio

Or even if you ever want it to get on a trailer without creating the worlds shallowest ramp angle.

Man oh man are we good at dragging on a subject for literally years at this point... :-)

Macca

Although I've scrapped the splitter underside many times (its a bit furry now!) I have not damaged that white plastic part your lower arrow points to (I have no lift, car is 8 months old now covered 3000 miles mostly DD/road). I did buy a replacement splitter as a spare on hand and it was approx $240 USD from FDM (which I thought was remarkably cheap for such an item).

If you are regularly trailering this car I would advise the lift for easy of loading. Otherwise I still maintain if you are on a budget (like me!) then you should beable to manage fine without.

The part I have damaged now, replaced and damaged again (and will not replace!) is the passenger side lower front fender liner piece which sits well below the splitter and closer to the ground infront of the front wheel). The replacement unit was cracked when I gave a friend a drive on a particularly fast road drive over some very broken seal in the apex of a fast corner). Theres no way the lifter could have staved it. The first breakage was a very similar situation! The inside crease just cracked. Ive left it second time around as its only visible on a lift (its facing the inside) - until PAG see fit to realease it as a single part (currently you need to buy the whole inner liner and unscrew the piece you need - its not expensive at $147 but its huge and the freight is high)...

Mike in CA

Macca, that bit about the fairing is confusing to me. I'm sure you're right that it isn't listed as a separate part, but I could have sworn SamFromTX mentioned that when he got his new liner with mesh, the fairing (which he had also previously trashed) wasn't included. What piece of this am I getting wrong?

Macca

Unfortunately Mike you are missing nothing.

PAG in their PET define the "fairing" as a single piece with the front inner guard liner. You cannot order the fairing as a single piece even though its a separate piece in reality held on by speed nuts.

When the dealer replaced my engine they were sent the new inner guard liner from PAG with the mesh. Surprise, surprise the bulletin instructed them to remove the old "fairing" and re use it! Clever accountants!

I have asked my dealer to notify PAG they need to make this part separate. the existing PET looks like an incomplete project as the dealer says - many things are sold as complete units even though they are clearly able to be broken down into smaller parts. They are hoping over time PAG will break out the parts to be ordered separately - heres hoping!

I refuse to buy any more of those damn things as they are totally stupid. One hard hit (even a deepish pot hole) and they will take a hit. They are only 30-40mm from the ground! They arent designed to before - they are rigid and box sectioned. They needed to be at least concertinaed or better made of flexible rubber/plastic. Ive elected to dispense with the long run in and started driving may car hard on road/track (lifes too short) and subsequently the replacement one is already suffering and wont hold up more than another 1000 miles hard driving. Unless someone can tell me what the heck they do (aero for the wheels or guide for air for the front brake scoops?) I will elect to have them dremeled off when they are past their usability till PAG can supply them as a stand alone...

From my experience as a "non lift' owner (after all its mainly lift owners and those without any real life experience at all that respond to these posts!) the front lip isnt actually the weakest link but these damn fairing thingys!

Mike in CA

Ok I get it. You can get the "bump" with the liner if you buy a new one but Porsche were too cheap to include it with the warranty replacement liner even though it's listed in PET as integral to the new part. Geez....

Haku

Sorry for more on the subject mate. Really only wanted to post a pic of what I thought would help a prospective buyer decide. It was a tough decision for me.

Thanks for the comments Macca. Appreciate reading about your first hand experience regarding the issue. I was surprised at how different the splitter/bumper spacing is on the current GT3 in comparison to its predecessor. The current design of the bumper just seems to make its bottom (behind the splitter) much closer to the ground than before.

Further to your front fender liner woes, my mate has even had his rear brake cooling duct fall off during an autocross! Luckily he managed to snap it back on. He does however reckon that it's only a matter of time when the thing breaks into smithereens!

Thanks again for all your input.

mainly

on the same level when the car is level, yes, but when the car is on a decline, the front splitter becomes lower, which is why the splitter should be the first to hit.

Macca

Hi Haku. I confer with you on the old vs new splitter design and in relation to the number bumper part (which is infact integral to the whole bumper and requires a new $6000 bumper skin if you were to really badly damage it and it bothered you!). The new design is more rigid, more integral (as it provides substantially more down force on the front axle) but unfortunately also more costly to manage in the case of a "incident"!

By the way Im 99.99% sure that the new 991 GT3RS has identical front bumper PU to the 991 GT3. The lip spoiler itself may be fractionally different but the bumper and most fixtures remain the same...despite the longer nose as it appears on recent patent drawing leaks (the image is out of perspective IMO and they are identical).

The design of the new spitter is far different from the old. Its a rigid preformed piece with "lugs" on it that clip into the moulded "ledge" (part of the bumper PU itself) and is far more substantial than the older 997.2 GT3. My tech said that although its designed to be far stronger its far more rigid and the bumper itself extends out almost as far as the splitter so f it took a really hard hit it would damage the whole lower bumper just like Sam experienced when he came off at the track. No way around that lift or not.

Mike, in answer to your question I saw the liability of the "fairing" piece early on in Europe when driving the car (although managed to do nothing more than put a few gauges in it there as the roads were obviously much better condition than in NZ). So I ordered it from FD before the stop sale and "mesh redesign". When it arrives Mark told me would cost me almost as much as the $147 it cost as a complete unit to freight on to NZ so I asked him to disassemble it and send just they fairing part which he did (to this day he now has a useless old style non mesh inner liner Ive paid for sitting in inventory!). Of course now NA cant easily currently order the mesh liner I doubt you can even order the entire assembly like I did till the situation is resolved. I just hope they move to make that piece available as an individual item (should be around $50 if so as its small).

Tacet-Conundrum

It shouldn't even be an option on a car so low to the ground. Should be standard equipment!

Maverick787

If it were standard it would be baked into the price, and I prefer option buying because you can pick and choose what works for you vs. we get stuck with something you don't want.

ARSGT3

Speaking of Front Axle Lift does anyone have a photo of the car in the raised position? trying to guage exactly how much room there is. Thanks