keithgreer

I am having a professional detailer do a paint correction and apply a ceramic coating to my black 991.1. He assures me the best way to do this is to remove the rear lettering so he can really cover the back effectively. He also assures me he can get them back in exactly the same location using stencils, etc. Any input on this would be greatly appreciated.

PTS-BRG

For paint correction and ceramic I say leave them on the car and work around them. For PPF film install I would say to remove them.
Not a matter of getting them back on correctly, its the cost of replacing them which is unnecessary for paint correction and anyone that says they can re-use the same letters is creating a new problem for you.

Cyberbug

Your Installer is correct, they make a template and reinstall the letters as OEM

pfbz

Do you trust your detailer?

keithgreer

Not enough to take off the letters. Or any detailer. That is why I am getting input. If they aren't on exactly the same it will drive me nuts. I think they use a jig at the factory so there are on there perfectly when new. Thanks to everyone's input. I was strongly leaning to not remove them. Seems like more downside than upside.

pfbz

I agree... I'm sure he gets it perfect almost all of the time, it would suck for your car to be the one he doesn't get perfect.

chuckbdc

The factory jig part is available for paint/repair shops. I think it runs about $125 including new script- but that may have been associated with an estimate I got for a rear bumper cap paint repair. So if that is what it is, it is just a matter of paying for it.

MJG911

If he takes them off, leave them off. They just gather impossible to clean dirt in the nooks and crannies anyways. Everyone knows its a Porsche already. That's what I decided to do with mine, even though I made a template before removing them.

jsaviano

I watched them apply at the factory. Very precise. Not sure a detailer would do that same, and if they were 1mm off you would hate it every time you saw the back of the car. If your car had been damaged, you could put up with it, but intentionally ...?

jsaviano

Or leave them off completely. Very popular in Germany. If I ordered a 911 would only have it say Porsche.

NJ991

If the shop has the actually stencil for it, do it. Otherwise, tell them to work around it. If anything is off, it bugs the hell out of me.

Bud Taylor

I would weigh in with a no...it would drive me crazy and I have seen to many floating around with obviously screwed up lettering. I have the badge delete but don't mind the subtle Porsche. If it says anything else you could delete those letters and have a badge delete car which in my opinion looks clear. I think no letters makes it look like its been modified or even painted. Two other things to consider, it is a low impact area and PPF last 7 to 10 years so you might be looking at having to do it twice if you keep the vehicle.

Hurricane

I had my script removed and put back on for PPF - the detailer measured precisely and it looks perfect.

Esoteric_Detail

For simple paint correction and coating on a new car, we would opt to leave the badges on the car and properly mask them off. However, we have seen a lot of PTS cars where the factory technicians sanded the paint, left sanding marks in the clear coat, then applied emblems over top of the imperfections. If this were the case, then we would recommend removing the original emblems and replacing them in order to properly remove the sanding marks.

For paint protection film, you would definitely want to remove them. A qualified detailer will be able to create a template (if he/she doesn't have one already), and replace the emblems in the exact position from which they left originally. Check out this link where we took apart a 991.2 Turbo S in Saffron Yellow Metallic, taking particular note of the position of the stock chrome emblems, and the replacement Exclusive gloss black emblems. This car received a full paint protection film wrap.

MJG911

I decided that especially with the wing, there was just a sea of black back there, so I put the letters back on, but with a caveat. I cut them out of gray metallic vinyl to match the satin platinum wheels, and also because it bugs me when dirt gets caught in the lettering. I made a stencil before removing the letters.

and used it to reapply. I scanned the letters I removed, converted it to a cuttable file and used my vinyl cutter to make the replacement ones.

Initially I placed the stencil slightly off center, so it took me two tries, but I think it came out alright.