PasPar2

I heard horror stories about non oem aero bumpers fitting badly and eventually flexing/chipping/cracking etc.

The fit on this one around the driver's side fender by the headlight looks off so I am guessing this is aftermarket - can you tell by looking? The salesperson selling this car doesnt know...

Thanks

PasPar2

another:

alexb76

Well, looks OEM, BUT this looks like GT3 conversion, the OEM aerokit doesn't have the slot underneath the hood... so either aftermarket, or GT3 was retrofitted.

PS. Your avatar makes replying to your Rennlist posts at *work* very difficult!

PasPar2

I have the options list on the car and it didnt come with aero so this was added on. I did notice the upper intake as well... what material would the OEM be made of? and the aftermarket ones?

Avatar: got tired of the old one - Ill find something more... toned down

Menmojo

It's definitely not the factory 997 aero kit. As mentioned only the GT3 has the "slot" for the oil cooler. Does it have the aero kit wing on the back? If not you will need it. They are made to work together. If you do not have both components the car can become very unstable at high speeds......not a good thing.
The factory aero kit is made of the same material as a factory standard bumper cover.
It's somewhat flexible.

Neotorque

As someone with the factory aerokit bumper, it does look exactly like it, other than the third radiator vent at the top. The possibilities are:

1) It is a factory aerokit bumper, that was added after purchase, and the owner also added a third radiator vent (Suncoast sells these, so you can add them to an aerokit bumper to give it a GT3 look: http://www.suncoastparts.com/product...ory_Code=997AK)

2) It is a factory GT3 bumper, that was added after purchase, on which someone has painted the lower lip, instead of leaving it the stock black.

3) It is a remarkably faithful aftermarket replica.

My guess is that it's 1 or 2. Usually, there is some tell on the aftermarket pieces, at least on the ones I have seen and this doesn't have any. My best guess is #2, but I bet the dealership could tell you for sure.

duke92

Agree with Neotorque. A concern I would have-- if this was purchased as OEM aero bumper and the $29 grill was purchased and added later, then someone (not German and without millimetric precision) took a hack saw to the bumper to cut the space for the grill. I would inspect around this area carefully for fit and finish.

PasPar2

Does this look normal for an OEM bumper? was this just bad installation/alignment?

RollingArt

Looks like an OEM GT3 bumper with a poor fitment to me. Don't recall seeing an exact OEM repro from an aftermarket co. Of coarse that doesn't mean that one doesn't exist.

I wouldn't worry about front aero only on a 997. I know Porsche will say they were designed to work together, but I think the only real problem would be running the rear wing without the matching front aero bits. The 911 is already *** heavy and light on the front axle. Rear aero only will exacerbate this imbalance. At speeds over 80 mph, when aero really starts coming into play, the front of the car will start getting lighter and lighter and weight is being transfered to the rear. The car will lose traction and stability at the front end. Not a good feeling at 100+ mph.

Adding front down force only on a front end light car shouldn't be a problem.

Neotorque

Yes, that does look normal enough to me. But it's impossible to tell from the photos. You'd need to check it out in person. I would think a PPI could tell you if the right Porsche part number for a GT3 bumper was on it.

Also, completely agree with Duke92. If it's the aerokit bumper and someone added the vent after the fact, it's probably not a great job. At least judging by Suncoast's prices (I bought my Aerokit through my dealership, but assume Suncoast is reasonably representative), the GT3 bumper is almost $1,000 more than the aerokit and the only difference is the lower spoiler lip (which has a cost difference of about $20 between the aerokit lip and the GT3 lip) and the vent, which Suncoast sells for $30. So, if someone was trying to save money, they could order those parts separately and try to install themselves. The only thing is that the labor cost of installing the vent would eat up all your savings at a lot of good body shops, so if that is what happened, the odds are the guy went to somewhere cheaper to have it installed.

I still think that's a long shot, though. Most likely, this is a factory GT3 bumper that was added after the fact.

Edit: Also agree completely with Rolling Art. I only have the aerokit front end and there is no change in driving dynamics. I chose not to do the wing for aesthetic reasons, but I do tend to leave the deck lid up even below 75.

66mustang

Please don't, just put more pictures of her on here

sandwedge

That's a good possibility. I had the rear bumper on my -06 resprayed and it took the shop three attempts to get it back on the car just right.

rdstemler

Are those real diamonds on your avatar??

alexb76

You know that rear bumper removal is part of 991 maintenance, eh? Imagine how many misaligned 991 bumpers after an oil change!

sandwedge

I saw that. I don't like the looks of the 991 rear bumper to begin with and I like it even less for that reason. If I ever get a 991 I'll probably have an after market rear bumper installed with the first oil change. Should be plenty to choose from given the look of the stock version. And labor for the install will be at the rate of an oil change.