Charlie Boy

Ooh sounds a bit worrying, I assume this is something you guy's can do? The only problem is my car is still under Porsche extended warranty and I wonder if they might see this as a modification and wriggle out of claims.

NineMeister

I doubt that even Porsche would use protecting your car from corrosion as an excuse for not supporting a mechanical warranty claim, however I'm not sure about how they cover bodywork under an extended scheme? I think lifetime on bodywork is subject to annual inspections/etc. which most owners have long passed having done.

Either way, the fact is that this kind of corrosion is not an isolated case as we have seen the start of similar issues on quite a few 996GT3RS, so the real debate is how long to leave it before you decide to do something about it?

NineMeister

What a job....

Working in the English winter weather does not help, so all week we have had the shell under the radiant heater whilst working on it to prevent moisture build up on the clean metal before we could finally get it into the booth. Neil then fully cleaned and bagged the car before Marc and Phil carried on with the major area preparation using rotary pad sanders.

NineMeister

This morning Phil finished off where Marc had left off, had a monster clean up, then hit the floor with etch and grey primer, specially mixed & tinted to match the colour of the original E-coat. The primer has now been baked & will be left drying all weekend. Note that whilst the etch is completely matt, the primer has a slightly satin finish.

964C4

1 word: amazing !

joshd

fantastic work ... contemplating the cost frightens me though, especially as I think about driving my car through the Winter months here in the mid-Eastern US.

Backmarker

Great thread!

Right now I am pretty glad that I live in California where it never snows and there is no road salt

Rob S

Don't do it! That's what old Subarus are for. Salt is the ultimate killer of cars. Porsches are terrible in the snow anyways. A rusty Subaru or Ford Explorer is perfect for a winter beater.

Tonyb66

I think Porsche might need to reconsider their lightening procedures and actually paint the bottoms to prevent this rusting occurring in the first place. I don't know how much extra weight they save by not painting the bottom of these cars, but the resulting corrosion is quite scary and probably not worth the weight saving if this is what happens.

Nice work Ninemiester, great attention to detail.

all2ofme

It's looking great, Colin - so nice to see it progressing. Wish I could come up and see it first hand. Probably good for you guys I live so far away, or I'd be there bothering you all for a fresh peek!

It'll be lovely to have it back and know the underside is in such great nick.

Ben

NineMeister

Welcome on board, Ben!

With the benefit of a weekend to harden off, the primer was flatted off by Oqqy yesterday and this morning before he started the detail seam sealing with the PU adhesive gun. Fortunately it is easy to see where you have been with black sealer on a grey car....

redgt3

great, thanks Colin....
just going outside now to get my GT3 up on a ramp to have a look at it ...

Nice to see someone doing a 'proper' job to fix a problem

David

all2ofme

Worth having a really good poke around. Even take some bits off.

I had several people look under mine and say it was fine, but it was only when Colin's guys started taking bits off that it showed how much attention it needed. Fingers crossed yours is better!

NineMeister

OK, other jobs finally out of the way, the GT3 is back in the paint booth for final painting. With all the underside of the shell first primered, flatted and seam sealed, next job is to apply another light coat of primer over everything before applying the e-coat replica finish of satin grey two-pack over the top which will be applied wet-on-wet for maximum adhesion. The final coats of yellow will be fully painted around the wheel arches areas and blown across for the factory oversprayed look.

Photos show the first coat primer finish and the detail repair of the back edge of the boot floor.

NineMeister

Primer and grey paint: done! It definitely looks a darn sight better than it did when we started.

The new finish has been baked in the booth but we're leaving it to harden off over the weekend before applying the beige seam sealer to reduce the slight risk of solvent pickling of the new paint.