Hey Guys, I saw a recent post by an owner of a GTS in which he documented his ownership and modifications. I thought it was a wonderful idea and really appreciated reading it. I wanted to do a similar thing here, but to start a little earlier in the process. I am going to describe my process in coming to the 911T. I will post pictures of the car when it arrives in June 2023 and will then post additional pictures as I make modifications. I hope to be able to reference this thread in the future for myself as I look back on the things I've done to the car, and I'm happy to have others chime in with their thoughts. I’ve included links to each of the parts I am considering for my own reference, but also in case someone else wanted to do a similar build. Lastly, at the end there is a listing of You Tube videos showing how to do the install for these parts.

JOURNEY TO THE T:
I was on a waitlist with my local dealer for a 911 GTS starting in December 2021 at number 4 on the list. A year later, in December 2022, the rep told me he thought I would not get an allocation for the 992.1 generation. I had paid a $2500 deposit, and been in touch with him every few weeks. To have waited a year and then be told the car would never come was discouraging. I initially asked for my deposit back and thought about buying a C8 corvette. However, I have two small children, and coveted the idea of having them on the drive with me, so I wanted a rear seat. Also, I really wanted a manual. I then started looking at used models, but this was 2022 so they were all over MSRP and I refused to pay the markup. So after a couple of months, I went on the waitlist again at my local dealer, this time for a C4S, which he thought I might be more likely to get. I was number 7 on the list. There was no movement for some time. I started talking with a colleague at my work who had bought a few 911 and Cayenne from the same dealer. The colleague said he would put in a word with his rep, and shortly after that, Viola!, the rep called me and offered me a 911T allocation that another customer had backed out of. Initially I was unsure because I wanted some of the interior options and the higher HP on the S or GTS models, but knowing it had been two years on the waitlist with no movement I decided to jump at the allocation. When I chose my options, I tried to weigh the fact that it is a T, and not go too crazy on the option list, but I am now regretting this a bit. Now that the MSRP has jumped a bit on the new models, a tricked out C4S build is about 45K more expensive than my car. So rather than trading in when a C4S allocation comes available I may consider adding some interior options to this one to make it more to my liking.

MSRP of 135,080 with the following Manufacturer Options: 7spd Manual Transmission, Guards Red with Wheels Painted in Satin Black,, Carrera T Package in Leather with Slate Grey Stitching, Rear Axle Steering, Front Axel Lift, Heated GT Sport Steering Wheel with Matte Carbon Fiber, Center Console Lid with Porsche Crest, Deletion of Side Decal, Power Folding Mirrors, Lane Change Assist, Surround View, Ambient Lighting, Rear Seats, No Sunroof.

MODIFICATIONS – DEFINITELY WILL DO:

1. Winter Tire and Wheel Set. Have not yet purchased, but will need by October. Open to suggestions.
2. Front PPF - $2200 required installation from the dealer or they wouldn’t sell the car.
3. Full Ceramic Coat - $1700 from local detailer.
4. Matte Carbon Fiber Cupholder Surround - $399 from Suncoast Parts or $372 from DB Carbon. DB Carbon allows you to send in your OEM part for a refund of 10-30% of the list price, so will probably do that (https://shop.db-carbon-interieur.de/...ucts/1686-0001)


Matte Carbon Cupholder Surround. I will do the part around the buttons and shifter in leather as noted below


5. I don’t like high gloss parts, so I am having the high gloss pieces that are next to the shifter and around the seat heater buttons wrapped in black leather to match the interior as shown in these images. DB carbon makes a stick-on for this area, but I would rather they be in leather. This will be done by Exclusive Option leather in California. They will mail the parts to you and offer a partial refund if you return your OEM parts. Cost is $937.


Leather wrap of high gloss pieces around the seat heater buttons and MT shifter


Will Probably Do:

1. M-Engineering Stage 1 Tune - $2,500. (https://flat6motorsports.com/collect...era-power-kits)
2. Matte Carbon Fiber dashboard trim - $1,115 (https://www.suncoastparts.com/produc...2dtcarbon.html). Suncoast has silver trim along the front of their carbon piece as seen in the image below. I like this silver trim because it will match the stitching in the car and the rest of the trim pieces. DB Carbon makes a full carbon piece without the silver trim, but I prefer the OEM version from Suncoast
3. Matte Carbon Door Trim - $1,450 from Suncoast (https://www.suncoastparts.com/product/sku992cfdpt.html). The website says these have to be plastic welded on and require disassembly of the doors. I am not sure how hard that would be. Has anyone done this? If so please chime in and let me know how difficult it would be. I could not find a You Tube video.

MAY DO IN THE FUTURE:

1. Now that I see how much a MY24 C4S would be I am regretting not making the interior of this car a bit more special. I plan to drive it for 6 months and if I miss having the extended leather package on the dash and door and seat backs I will take it to a local shop and they can add these features for a premium over what it would have cost to just order it from the factory.
2. Numeric Aluminum Racing Pedals - $499. (https://flat6motorsports.com/product...32957202301012)
3. Musicar Audio Upgrade (https://rennlist.com/forums/vendor-a...ose-992-a.html). Currently they only have it for the Bose stereo. Mine has the base. If they come out with a base upgrade I’ll probably buy it.
4. Hawk Performance Low dust brake pads - $300 (https://www.hawkperformance.com/hps).
5. Sport Chrono Gauge Color Upgrade. (https://www.suncoastparts.com/product/992g2scface.html)
6. Aluminum Shifter ****. Haven’t picked it out yet, may never do it.
7. Stage 3 Power Upgrade from Flat6 Motorsports. Would take the car to 600 HP. Not sure if that is needed, or too much for the street so I will drive it for 6 months before deciding.
8. Upgraded exhaust. Not sure if it is needed or not, so will drive for a while before deciding.
9. Zunsport Radiator protectors. Any thoughts on these?

YOU TUBE HOW TO VIDEOS:
1. How To Remove Dashboard Trim ( )
2. How To Remove Center Console Parts ( )
3. How To Install Chrono Upgrade ( )

 

The only thing here is when you mess with the originality of the car, you will bring its value down unless you find someone who really aligns with it. If you trade it in, you're not going to see a dime of the mods you're talking about. This isn't a Civic, originality is very important to future P buyers and at auto shows. Regarding the build, its actually a REALLY nice spec just the way it is. Congrats. The only regret maybe the stock radio. Unfortunately a lot of T builds were stuck with the stock radio (no sub) because of the Bose shortage and timing and its a bummer because that is one of the most popular options that people look for.

 

Good points and appreciate the feedback. Definitely don't want to make it a clown car. The only stereo option on my car was the Burmeister at almost 6K, which seemed like a lot. MY24 has the Bose as an option, but mine is a MY23 and it wasn't available. MY24 is 9500 more expensive though, so I'm still doing alright financially. Any suggestions on a reasonable way to upgrade the base stereo? Musicar does not have an option for the base stereo.

I'm hoping the carbon fiber trim pieces, which are OEM from suncoast, would look nice and would match the steering wheel that I chose. The only trim upgrade from the factory was to have the inlays painted in exterior color (red) and I thought that would be too aggressive for me. I totally recognize that i won't see any of that money back if I put them on aftermarket.

Other than that, I think the only other mod that seems likely at this time would be an ECU tune if it feels under-powered. The other stuff I listed is seeming less likely the more I think about it. From what others have written, there is a good chance that once I drive it I will stop caring . I'll post some pictures when the car arrives.

 

If I were buying this car second hand, I would appreciate the OEM trim pieces installed in something else other than piano black. You will find a lot of people hate that and as long as it is OEM, anything else would be welcomed

 

Congrats on the car.

As others have said, modifying the car will not only impact resale (assuming you care about resale) but will also affect your OEM warranty (depending on the mod, but the engine tunes definitely will).

Obviously, it's your car and you should enjoy it the way you want.

But just do it with eyes w-i-d-e open.

 

Congrats on your T. I have one coming too and we have some overlap with intended mods. Here are some suggestions:

1. piano trim - I'm planning on wrapping it with clear frost and seeing what that looks like. It might cost $200 vs your $3k solutions.
2. exhaust - I'm planning on doing M tune as well and it opens the valves to 100%. I'd wait until you do the tune before you decide on exhaust.
3. gauges - I added them to my build and regret it now. The dash looks cleaner black. If you're set on them, I've seen the pair aftermarket for $150, which is about what they're worth.

 

Regarding the power tune I would drive the car for a extended amount of time. You might find the power is more than adequate. Voiding your warranty is a big price to pay if you are going to do any ECU tuning IMHO. Been there done that and won't do it again for my cars under warranty...

 

Nice thread. Subscribed. 👍

 

I changed my dark silver trim to the matte CF trim, I opted to pay a body shop to do the plastic welding ($400 per door). There is a thread about it on here. The rest of the matte trim was pretty easy to do. The silver trim around the center console was not much fun to do but I succeeded in completing it. There is a thread on that as well. I will probably do the DB CF on the rest of the piano gloss trim at some point, I am more focused on performance mods right now. I upgraded to EBC Red brake pads, Goodridge SS brake lines, Soul valved exhaust and BMC air filters. I am thinking about the M Engineering tune. Good luck with the mods!

 

Thanks for the thoughts and inputs. If you end up wrapping your trim please send me pictures and I'd love to see how it turns out!

The dashboard trim is an easy install I think anyone can do. The door trim I've read a bit more about and you either need to pay a body shop to install it at a cost of $800-1K, or alternatively you can try to plastic weld it yourself. This is a one and done situation and once you melt the plastic it is stuck there and has to be drilled out if you don't like the mount. That makes me a little nervous and others have posted that if not done correctly it can be a source of squeaks and rattles. So I will start with just the stickshift and cupholder surround and perhaps wait on the other trim for a bit. Let me know how your wrap goes!

 

Thanks for this! I searched and found the threads you are referencing (links below). Sorry for the ignorant question, but why did you upgrade your brake lines? How do they help you with performance?

In case anyone reading this wants to read about door trim install here are some links:
https://rennlist.com/forums/991/1173...l#post16283966

 

The car finally arrived last Saturday. As a part of the purchase, the dealer required front PPF to be installed, and that took some time in the detail shop, but I got to finally pick the car up on Saturday and I'm very happy with how it turned out. Its an amazing car to drive, and I find myself wanting to take the long way home, and also going off and then back onto the freeway again at multiple points so I can do lots of 0-60 runs. As you can probably tell from the above, I hemmed and hawed about a lot of options when building the car. Now that I see it in person, it feels like a perfect build. I really like the smooth lines of the solid red metal roof, and the car is very bright inside, so I do not miss the sunroof at all. I am super happy with how the T interior turned out. The black and silver accents are perfect for this car. I am also glad now that I did not select the red chrono dial. Keeping it black does look cleaner to me and fits with the black and silver theme of the interior on the car. On "T Regrets Thread" I had expressed some regret about not optioning the seat backs to be painted. But now that I see it, the plastic seats actually look awesome and match the color theme perfectly. I optioned the rear seats to be included because I have children aged 5 and 8 I want to drive with me, and I think the plastic will hold up better as well, in addition to really looking great.

When accelerating the car really comes alive when the turbos kick in and it has plenty of power for me. I'm going to drive it 4 seasons, and will plan not to do any tuning until after driving it at least through the winter. The base stereo is kind of "meh". Totally adequate for podcasts, light volume music, and voice calls, but at louder volumes it lacks base and the high end is not very clear. Bose was not available when I purchased the car. I have found a local audio installer recommended by the Porsche dealer. He will do an upgrade of the tweeters, door speakers, and amp for about 3.5-5K, and I am considering that option. It doesn't bother me that much right now, and mostly I listen to the engine.

So far, I've decided to do the following minor mods to the car. I will keep all of the original trim pieces so it can go back to stock at some point.
1. Center Cupholder surround in OEM Matte carbon fiber from suncoast. Really happy with how this matches the carbon fiber on the steering wheel. The front dash and door trim has black accents (as opposed to silver on most other 992). I could not tell this ahead of time, but now that I do see it, I think it matches the piano black in those locations really well, so I don't plan to change the dash or door trim at this time. I may revisit this in the future, or if I find a discounted set for sale somewhere.
2. Shifter and heated seat surround pieces in leather from Exclusive Options (arrives in July).
3. Leather Key Fob Cover (arrives in June).
4. Custom shifter **** from Sport Shifters (arrives in June).
5. Sport Chrono Cap Cover in OEM Matte Carbon Fiber from DB Carbon (arrives in August).
6. Clear side markers installed by the dealer at no charge to me.

Below are some exterior pictures. My camera is not great so some are a little blurry. I'll try to get better pictures and some interior shots later. Thanks to everyone for their feedback. I'm loving the car!


Pick Up Day!


Clear side markers installed by dealer

I had considered upgrading the pedals to the Numeric Racing Set. This picture doesn't show it well, but there is a nice aluminum rim around the base pedal set, and I think it looks great in the car, so have decided against that upgrade.

Dealer photos, before new side markers were installed

Dealer photos, before new side markers were installed

Dealer photos, before new side markers were installed

 

Congratulations. This is the first T I’ve seen with Carrera S wheels in satin black. They look fantastic, along with the colored crest.

 

Congratulations!

I'm happy to hear you're going with winter tires and wheels. I've always driven my 911s and R8s in winter with dedicated winter wheels and rubber.

I prefer to get a set of aftermarket wheels like HREs in OEM wheels sizes, switch the OEM summer performance tires over to the HREs and then use the OEM wheels for winter tires.

Goodyear and Michelin both make Porsche approved winter tires in the 20"/21" sizes that are available on TireRack. I'm likely to go with the Goodyears since they're substantially less expensive and especially since I'm not looking for the extra % of performance in winter tires. Just something that grips well in cold weather and can handle 1-2 inches of snow/ice.

 

Great advice! Thanks!