swftiii

Steve - congratulations. They do look awesome and make the getting-in experience more appropriate for a Porsche.

Kim - I double checked the height of the sills based on your comments and they sit down from the edge of the body and the doors work just great. No probs with that.

Boris - I understand your thoughts and am usually that way, but after Steve's experiences I figured it wasn't really worth it to me and no one except the Rennlisters that have read this thread would be the wiser.

As Bobby said, if it is good enough for the Porsche Dealer, it is good enough for me.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

-Skip

Mark in Baltimore

Congrats on your epic journey, Steve!

Sachin Misra

The easiest way to do this in about 2 min is lacquer thinner. It chemically reacts with the styrofoam and adhesive to create a gel that can be wiped off. A chem engineer taught me this trick. In fact the gel is chemically similar to napalm, so be carefull (no smoking !)

Steve 96C4S

Sachin - where were you a week ago when I was struggling and bruising my fingers! )

Lacquer thinner? That doesn't hurt the paint? Oh, what do I care at this point. Mine's done, and I hope I never have to do that again!

Thanks everyone for your kind words and helpful experience. Now I'll actually have some info to help the next newbie.

Now, if the snow would only melt and the salt would vanish from the roads... then I'll be ready to roll again.

February 29th, "Washington-Balitmore Metro Area Leap Year Meet and Drive" - I'm READY! Mark from Baltimore, did you get any ideas yet as to where we're meeting, driving to and eating? I love to have something to look forward to.

Steve

Mark in Baltimore

Steve,

Sorry, I've been busy with end of the year tax/holiday stuff and have not given it much thought. Good food and some twisty back roads driving sounds like a basic framework; details forthcoming.

Have a great holiday. Hope those blisters heal soon.

cwlred911

Steve. I have been following your posts with great interest. I also purchased C4S door sills from Dayton. He is great to deal with. I am 80% done on one of my sills, it took me 1-1/2 hrs so far, and my finger tips are sore. Like Boris, I am also a purist, I had to do it "right". Did you take off the adhesive on BOTH your door sills? Or did you do it the lazy way on the second sill?

Skip. Can you see any gap on the rear edges of your ss sills since you just glued the ss sills on top of the old adhesive?

Calvin

Steve 96C4S

Mark: Take your time with the Meet and Drive info. Nothing more important than tax stuff! BTW, what's the best digital camera for UNDER $250-300? I need to replace the one I broke in Paris this summer.

Calvin: I felt your pain... Yes, I did the sills correctly on BOTH sides. No lazy man method for me, not that there's anything wrong with that. I would have always wondered if they were going to come off or loose in time if I didn't putty scrape the old adhesive tape away down to bare metal. I did cheat a bit, as I couldn't get ALL the white adhesive off near the door hinges, but it was MOSTLY off. Enough for me.

Boy do the new sills look hot. I would never tell my friends all I went through to put them on. I wouldn't mention to them anything about me sneaking a peak twice, JUST to look at them late at night last night! They'd think I was a freak. In actuality, I am, as I obsess a bit over my car. Like, I won't drive it in this snowy, slushy crap outside. I'll wait till it's almost all melted to take the car back out.

Thanks god for my BMW daily driver.

Steve

John D.

OUTSTANDING!!!!!

Now - if you REALLY want a DIY (since we are on "stupid adhesives" ) - try taking off window tint from the rear window.. Wonder why I wasn't on-line this weekend??? A dammed rear window tint "effect" that a PPO (previous-previous owner) installed on Jen's 964. Or - sure the tint peels right off.... THE DAMNED GLUE??? LOLOL!!!!

Tried: 3M adhesive remover, Goo-gone, WD-40, Wurth Citrus, kerosene, gasoline, windex (the no drip kind - if THAT would matter), Castrol Super Clean, Bio-tron, alcohol, spit - hell - just about anything..... When you use these chemicals in combination - DO NOT DRINK OR SMOKE..!!! Hell - you don't have to drink given the effect from the fumes.. And "smoke"? You light up - and you'll blow your kiester to Venus....

Eight hours later - I have NO idea what actually worked....

I'd love to meet the MIT Graduate who invented window tint and the "adhesive". Have I got a present for them....

/rant off

Not me - can you tell?? I just love it - and sit in the garage staring at it....

Door sills - huh??? Hadn't thought of that upgrade

Congrats to you...!!! We want pics of the new sills!!!

John D.

Psssst - Kim......

Already BTDT....!!! LOL!!!! Did I tell you about the GAWD DAMMED LEAK FROM THE "NEWLY INSTALLED WINDSHIELD" the PO had installed???!!!!

However - for the "nightmare carpet glue" - use the 3M product - only. Anything else stains the leading edge of the carpet where it attaches, and while it takes a while to set the release of the carpet - pull it up gently from the foam rubber backing after about 10/15 minutes (just before the release of the 3M product evaporates and resets the glue). It will come up......

OH - and also do NOT smoke while using the 3M product... Ask me how I know...

Heh..!!!

Sachin Misra

Steve,

Good to hear from you. Hope the car is doing well. The thinner doesn't hurt anything if you use it sparingly and wipe it up quickly. Left overnight I'm sure it would do some damage.

swftiii

Calvin,

There is no gap, but is a little seam. This is unavoidable no matter how you install the sills. The sill actually sits a little below the body work where the sills are supposed to sit - they would only sit lower if I had removed all the adhesive.

I think the sills look great and am pleased that everyone is finding them as appealing as I do. Enjoy the new look!

Skip

Mark in Baltimore

Steve - in that price range, I really don't know what to specifically recommend but if you're willing to spend a tad more, you should consider the Canon A8 for about $400. A friend who is a pro just bought one and loves it. If I had the coin for a small camera, this would be the one I would get.

It's going to seem like I'm in Canon's pocket since I recently purchased a Canon 10D but you should really consider whatever Canon is in your price range. A good online reference site for digi cameras is dpreview.com

Skip - not to throw you under the bus, but I was thinking: how can someone who's username is pronounced "swiftee" be on the HWFM team? Would you consider changing your name so it sound like "slowee"?

Simon Shearer

Steve:

I did this DIY too...and you're right, it sucks!!

Not one of those supposed adhesive thinners/removers did anything at all to those damn white strips from hell. I think I tried them all.

The only thing that worked in the end was time and perspiration - good luck!!

BTW, it was worth it in the end - the new sills I put on look fantastic.

Steve 96C4S

Thanks for the Canon camera recommendation, Mark. I'll wait 2-4 months and look to buy one. Maybe by then, it'll be last year's news and be half price .

I just found out the one BAD thing with my new C4S door sills... when you wash the car, little droplets of water seem to end up on the sills, and even after I wipe them down to "dry", little drops of dried water end up finding their way onto them to smile villainly at me later. I wiped them down yesterday and washing the car and drove it away, I looked at them 3 hours later and more dried water droplets turned up to say "Hello Steve! I'm some water that mysteriously sneaked in here to leave your new door sills looking bad.... Mawhhhhhaaaaaaaw."

I guess water is somehow dripping into the door sills area, just waiting to curse my pretty new sills with unsightly droplet marks!

Whatever. I'll just wipe them down again, and again, and...

Steve

Mark in Baltimore

Not to complicate your life more, Steve, but maybe you should get an electric leaf blower so you can blow all of that water out? I sometimes use mine to get moisture out of the spokes of my Fikses. $70 for a nice Toro that spews out an advertised 225 mph of fury.