355dreamer

I'm a 993 noob with a recently acquired beautiful NB coupe. (Thanks Ryan).

Anyway, I just had the car fully detailed by a professional over the last two days. The black paint now looks like a mirror, except for the absolutely horrible cracking on the stone guards on the rear fenders.

They need to go. I have 2 questions...

1. How hard of a job is this for a DIY on a scale of 1-10 (one being adding gas and 10 being a motor rebuild). Being that mine are really cracked, I suspect they might be harder to remove.
2. Who's the best source for a good product? (I tried a forum search with no luck)

Thanks
Luke

355dreamer

Here's a picture FWIW. (The flash in the dark garage really makes them look much worse than they are in the sunlight.)

linen grey ghost

search is your friend - numerous threads on this issue - lots of chemical and friction suggestions for removal - FD Motorsports is a source of quality replacements (no business connection, just a satisfied customer)

bcameron59

Some info here:
https://rennlist.com/forums/993-foru...ne-guards.html

Sounds like removing the old ones is the hard part, a heat gun is strongly recommended. Removal may be harder on cars that have lived in the south for a long time and some have had paint come off.

Looks like FD sells them, probably the dealers and pelican will too. They are also available at places that sell / install 3M or similar paint protection film (usually they have to order a kit). I have never had the knack with film installs so for what it would cost I'd get the seller to install them.

Knight

+1 on FD and these can be a real PIA to remove too. The biggest concern is whether it will peel your paint, it's possible if you've had any paint work done in that area.

Don't bother buying the OEM ones (ie Pelican). The clarity on FD ones are far superior, less orange peel. I've compared both of them.

997rs4.0

I have a set of FD stone guards that I never installed. Still in the tube. PM me if you want to buy them.

Todynot

Removal is a pita, but installing new ones is cake. I was all worried, but I sprayed the hell out of the fender as well as both sides of the guard with a slip solution, positioned them, then used a bondo squeegee and they came out perfect. Literally took like 5 mins per side.

bruce7

Here is my writeup on this: https://rennlist.com/forums/993-foru...ne-guards.html

I created my own file that you can take to a place like Sticker City and have them
cut the guards for you and then you can install them.

I've replaced mine about 3 times in 4 years for various reasons. It's cheap
enough you can easily replace them every couple of years if they get damaged.

-bruce

355dreamer

Man! You guys are awesome. Thank you for such detailed responses.

So I'm the time since I posted, I went into the garage with the wife's hairdryer and an old credit card and tried to start on removal.

Looks like this is gonna take awhile. In 20 minutes, I made about 3" of progress. I'll get her into the sun tomorrow and try to see if I can figure out a way to move more efficiently.

I think I'll go with the FD product. I was able to place an order inquiry online. (Odd that I couldn't just order them..)

Thanks again for all of the feedback. I'll keep this thread updated with the progress.

fatmike

Much easier with the right tools. Buy a steamer.

/

ble2011

Be extremely careful. I took mine to a professional. Even when he tried to remove them, paint came off as well. He had to paint the entire rear quarter and blend. He did a great job correcting and you cannot tell, but it quickly became a bigger job than I intended.

13BEEZ

It took me 13 hours to get them all off, but I was very slow and careful not to mess up the paint. A steamer and microfiber towel worked best for me. And a big +1 on the replacements from FD.

phoneyman

the stone guards are definitely something that need to be marked down as a maintenance item. After a certain amount of time they become exponentially harder to take off, just like clearbra and other types of wrap products. Good luck.

royc2s

Have a professional install Expel for the best results.

x50type

As ble2011 said inter alia -- removing the old ones, crazed like yours, is almost impossible without paint damage.

Hope you don't need to but be prepared for a quarter panel repaint, fortunately you have a black car.