I saw once 993 by RUF or Techart with improved aerodynamics, no roof gutters. Driving fast (near 200 km/h on german autoahns) wind noise is quite heavy and it comes mostly from A-pillars. Car with no gutters has mutch slicker look. I have to re-paint my car and this is one mod I'm planning.

Water on side windows is not a problem and I'm not intending to use roof rack.

Any experience? Do I have to re-weld the panel joints or reinforce them?

 

RUF and others sell an insert that smooths the flow of air across the gutters on the a-pillar. Then can be painted the existing car color and become pretty much invisible. A lot less expensive than trying to remove the gutters, weld, smooth, etc...

 

Great question Jack!!! I too have wondered the same and think the car would look better without them. (I've just been to chicken to ask...... )

 

As I recall, the roof panel is actually "rolled" into the side panels in the rain gutters. If you were to simply cut them off, your Porsche would basically fall apart. One guy I know that DID remove the gutters, would cut off a 2" section, re-weld that section, then cut another 2" piece... and so on. He said he was sorry he ever started that project and would never attempt it again.

Mr cheapo (that would be me) has been known to cover the a-pillar gutters with duct tape to try to gain a bit of an aero advantage without actually spending any money or worrying about how crappy it looked.

 

Does any one have a link to a site with these kits on it? sounds quite interesting.

 

Steve,
I think the aerodynamic advantage from the tape over the gutters is probably cancelled out from all of the flapping tape on the front...

 

Red,

Yes, but the other way to look at it is that I regained all the losses from the flapping tape!

 

removing the rain gutter is MAJOR surgery for your 911 !

but, what a great thread to issue a more public "thank-you" to Bob D. for having my Ruf A-pillar filler strips painted when he had his bumper done.
"Thank-You Bob !!"
The arctic silver was a perfect match.

sorry about the picture quality,kind of hard to get a good picture of silver in the blazing sun!












max

 

Max911- Have you noticed a reduction in wind noise?

 

i swear i noticed a reduction in wind noise; but being half-deaf probably makes me a poor db meter

oh, I should also thank ViperBob for the install tips !

max

 

These have really been around for a long time. I had the Ruf version mounted on my old 911 SC years ago. I had forgotten all about it until this thread...

 

Now here is a strange but true tale. The RUF piece is CHEAPER than the Getty Design. Go figure...

 

Max, I was more than happy to have those painted for you. IMHO you are very generous here with your time and knowledge, and you and other rennlisters have provided me with super helpful answers to my posts many times. It was my pleasure.

I have not seen the Getty pieces, but I have to say I was very impressed with the quality of Max's Ruf filler strips. Extremely light and seemed very precisely made, from shape to contour to finish. They may one day grace my car too!

 

I have the RUF aero A-pillar insert in my car. Since the car came that way, I could not compare wind noise factor. However, PO claimed that the aero rain gutter insert and aero side mirrors raised his top speed from 192 to 196 MPH. Here's a pics of the set-ip.

CP

 

Pong, you just had to get a picture in there of your beautiful carbon mirrors didn't you... Nice.