You may want to start a poll to determine if it's true that "most of us came from M3's."

Re: Color choice, some say it's personal choice. I've owned three 911's, and the fastest was GT Silver, next fastest is Arctic Silver, slowest of the three was Ocean Blue Metallic. My advice is to choose the color carefully.

Re: "hunting is the fun part." well only if you're into looking at candy through a window, or looking, touching, feeling, smelling and the desires that come with it...only to deny yourself the ultimate satisfaction.

Wishing you the best in your search, and I hope it ends ASAP.

 

Had the same thought. Terrible website. definitely interested, but also weary of having to take the wheel off and send it in, rendering the car inoperative for however long it takes to get this back... Too bad they don't do a "core exchange" like Bumperplugs with the painted center console...

I don't particularly like the search either... Too stressful. Missing out on cars, etc.

BTW, I came from an M3 too!!
(And I actually DO suspect there is an unusually high correlation of current 911 drives to former M3 drivers... In my "highly scientific" analysis of course )

 

http://www.dallassteeringwheel.com/sw1.htm Cost is around $450 with core exchange and roughly double that if you buy a wheel outright. A PDK paddle wheel runs over $1K without exchange. Either way, this is a bargain mod considering what you get in return. In your hands and in your face every minute you spend in the car. And the thickness makes the stock wheel feel like a manufacturing defect.

I agree the website sucks but you really don't need it other than looking up the phone number. Building the wheel....at least the two I've done has been a phone discussion for the most part followed by an email summarizing the build which you then acknowledge and approve. You specify everything from material to color(s) to thickness.

They do core exchanges with a refundable deposit BUT....it has to be for identical wheels. For example, ordering a PDK paddle wheel and sending a button wheel back for the exchange won't work.

Here's the other one I did. Added some alcantara to it since that's already part of the GTS interior. And some red since the previous owner put in the red gauges.

 

Thanks for the helpful info. From what I see in the pictures it looks pretty good, but in person how happy are you about the fit, quality, stitching and seams -- are the seams really tight to the original wheel etc.?

Oddly, I'm actually NOT that neurotic about my car generally (don't care about minor "swirls" on my black car like everyone else does, for example), but for something like leather and the wheel, I am exceedingly exacting. It would be like a nice watch band for me -- I would expect fit within very small tolerances. You like what you get...?

 

I agree, this search is much more stressful even when I searched for and bought my ZCP Interlagos Blue M3

 

Couldn't agree more - I hate the hunt!

 

I have had two wheels done by Dallas. His turnaround is a week. he does phenomenal work. Singly the best money I have spent on my car. Mine is now 3 years old and it looks as good as the day I received it

 

Well...I'm not nearly as "exacting" about leather and wheels as you but if you forced my hand to find something to complain about, look at the GTS wheel posted earlier with the red stitching and red stripe. See how the stitching in the 1 to 2 o'clock position is creeping slightly closer to the driver compared to the 10 to 11 o'clock zone. A non-issue for me and barely noticeable in person. l see it as "handcrafted character" Other than that, seams and stitching is absolutely on par with stock and leather quality far superior to stock imo.

 

I thought the same way and yes mine is due for a bath but just look how nice it looks when it’s clean.



Freshly washed.

 

When I saw the title of the thread, I thought I was reading the Wife is gone, now the search for a 997 is on. Good luck in the search for the new mistress.

 

Wifey still here but do have a new beautiful whip...2009 CS2 Black/Black. Just started preventive Maintenence. Love this car.

 

I picked up a highly optioned (original MSRP 110k) 2009 C2S with 13,000 miles in almost new condition in December within your price range. Although prices will be slightly higher now that the weather has warmed up, you should find a car that suits your requirements. I wanted Guards Red which was a somewhat rare color during my search. Had I gotten a much more common silver, gray, white, or black car instead, I likely would've saved a few thousand dollars but it was worth it to me get exactly what I wanted. I am going through a juvenile kick and have a thing for bright red cars right now. Maybe it will pass?

 

was that your stock wheel, re-wrapped? I love that wheel, but not many 997s came with them (GTS?). Agree with the OP, I came from an E46 M3 and that is one thing about the M I liked more than the 911

 

I just realized that this thread is old and I replied like a doofus.

 

Also noteworthy: Porsche paint quality is vastly superior to BMW (which is disturbingly looking like orange peel even on i8 cars). Especially Porsche's black paint quality is second to none.