Originally Posted by Eric - Plug Guy

As many of you know, we offered the aluminum trim rings for the 996/986 for many years. The nice part at the start was the quality was right to begin with, a few rejects, but nothing too bad. And this was due to a relationship we had with the then supplier of interior trim parts to Porsche. Over the course of many years, we began to offer them in painted finishes too. But then about 4-5 years in, the supplier's quality slipped, and we were returning 80% of our shipments (to Europe) due to poor quality. We even sourced a few sets from other places to see, and that quality was even sub-par. So we dropped the product, and the primary supplier stopped producing them (claimed it was an equipment issue in the mfg process).

Not long ago someone sent us some of these rings pictured, and they looked eerily similar to what we had seen a long time ago. The plan was to check the quality, get them in production, and test some paint processes on the material. We did. Unfortunately, the results (and time that it took to get it right) were not to our liking. It would require an inordinate amount of time (a lot of prep, in-process sanding and other tweaks) and material to get it right. Couple that with the pressures we use in our (even smallest) paint guns, and it's truly challenging. I think out of 8 rings that we tested, 3 came out 9/10, the rest were well below that.

Alas, as much as we'd love to provide this, it's not practical and would likely cost a small fortune to do it right. But if the raw finish offered looks good, and fits well, it may be worth having for some. I like the look in silver on the GT Silver C2S (congrats). Wish we had a better answer, but for now, not something we can make work.

Thanks for the heads up, LexVan.

Originally Posted by YoungTurk

BradB - 29k original miles on your 993?

Originally Posted by LexVan

This is why you are one of the very top vendors to the Porsche community. Thanks, Eric.