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Well, here's the dirty little secret of the car industry, at Port of Entry, each manufacturer has a detail and touch up center where cars damaged in transit are repaired. It's a regular occurence, and each manufacturer has a set criteria for what can be a touch up (typically a dollar threshold in repairs). You don't think every car makes it from Germany to Jacksonville (or other POE) without a few getting whacked here and there, do you? So if your bumper took some damage, it could have been removed at the Port, repainted and re-attached - or even replaced. That's not uncommon. How do you tell? If you are really curious, get a paint depth meter and measure the mils of paint on the bumper. Most bumpers and side panels and 2 to 3 mil of paint on them. If you have a re-paint, it will have 5 to 6 mil of paint on it.
In 1995 I bought a brand new BMW M3 in Avus Blue. My friend that is an expert body shop guy looked at it and said "your hood is repainted", and I couldn't see it, not at all. He pulled out his paint depth gauge and showed me. I flipped out that BMW sold me a car that had been repaired. That's when I learned about POE operations run by the manufacturers. The dealer did not do it. BMW didn't try to hide it, and said they would either replace the car (6 months, long wait on M3's in 1995) or take the hood to bare metal and re-spray so there was no deep paint on it (more prone to rock chips) and supply me with a loaner and give me $ 1,000 worth of BMW Accessories. I chose the latter.
Not saying you have a fix on yours, but its very much possible. If it really bothers you call Porsche USA Customer Service with your VIN number and ask them direct if there is any records of POE repair. They do keep records on it and won't try to hide it from you. That would explain a slight gap alignment issue from left to right.
Well, here's the dirty little secret of the car industry, at Port of Entry, each manufacturer has a detail and touch up center where cars damaged in transit are repaired. It's a regular occurence, and each manufacturer has a set criteria for what can be a touch up (typically a dollar threshold in repairs). You don't think all every car makes it from Germany to Jacksonville (or other POE) without a few getting whacked here and there, do you? So if your bumper took some damage, it could have been removed at the Port, repainted and re-attached - or even replaced. That's not uncommon. How do you tell? If you are really curious, get a paint depth meter and measure the mils of paint on the bumper. Most bumpers and side panels and 2 to 3 mil of paint on them. If you have a re-paint, it will have 5 to 6 mil of paint on it.
In 1995 I bought a brand new BMW M3 in Avus Blue. My friend that is an expert body shop guy looked at it and said "your hood is repainted", and I couldn't see it, not at all. He pulled out his paint depth gauge and showed me. I flipped out that BMW sold me a car that had been repaired. That's when I learned about POE operations run by the manufacturers. The dealer did not do it. BMW didn't try to hide it, and said they would either replace the car (6 months, long wait on M3's in 1995) or take the hood to bare metal and re-spray so there was no deep paint on it (more prone to rock chips) and supply me with a loaner and give me $ 1,000 worth of BMW Accessories. I chose the latter.
Not saying you have a fix on yours, but its very much possible. If it really bothers you call Porsche USA Customer Service with your VIN number and ask them direct if there is any records of POE repair. They do keep records on it and won't try to hide it from you. That would explain a slight gap alignment issue from left to right.
This works both ways. About 15 years ago I did ED of an E60 545i 6spd. Driving around Italy, not quite used to the active steering, which was later dialed down in a software update, I curbed a wheel in Florence. Well it hung out at port Hueneme for a few extra days, and I found out they replaced that wheel for me.
I just noticed this same gap on my 2022 911 and came to this forum to find this post. Makes me feel better… I thought my car may have been damaged during shipping. On another note, I have agate grey and noticed the metallic sparkles a bit more on the plastic bumpers than the rest of the body. I used a flash light and noticed it pretty clearly. Anyone else notice this?
12-31-2020, 09:28 AM
