Kurzheck

When I purchased my '05 C2, I was aware that there was on odd "pimple" on the rear passenger quarter panel. Knowing my brother does interior restoration for the local Porsche dealer, I knew I'd be able to fix this with a local vendor that he recommended. Here's what it looked like:




I figured that somewhere along the line, the rear wheel must've grabbed something on the road, slung into the wheel well and popped outwards. After looking inside, I could see it would be impossible, as the wheel well lining edge was below the affected area. I called the vendor, who does the service and retail work at the Porsche dealer that my brother recommended. He told me that he has seen these with a few 997's and he thinks that it's a build/design flaw with a spot weld for the wheel well liner/shroud that puts pressure on the metal it makes contact with and then over time, starts protruding, but that's just his theory and he doesn't know for sure, he just knows he has had this very issue on multiple occasions and was able to fix them. In any case, he fixed it and it came out great, and you can't even tell anything was ever there. The guy is an artist.


If you guys have come across this with your car, I highly recommend a good dent guy that does work for the local Porsche dealer. This vendor has seen the dealer have to take out the rear seats and interior panels to get to this area, and it's just not needed in most cases, not to mention the fortune in labor. I spent about $200 and it was done in about 1 1/2 hours (he also did a couple of small dings).

Mack73

I am just regurgitating but I remember reading (shopping for a 997 so reading everything I can find) someone say there are some parts related to the rear quarter windows which is hard to catch when taking the window out. They will fall inside and work their way down to this area and cause this.

Maybe I can dig it up

EDIT: found it. Rivets that need to be drilled out: https://rennlist.com/forums/997-foru...l#post13854842

nwGTS

My car had one on each side. PDR guy took care of it. I've said this in other threads but in some cases it's actually rivets from the rear glass seal. it's riveted in place and rivets need to be drilled to replace the seal when the rear quarter needs a full respray or new paint. It's a good sign there was rear quarter damage. However, these seals were installed manually back in Stuttgart and sometimes old Hans would mess up and pop a rivet through the hole and it would wind up in the wheel well. Anyway, the rivets are drilled out in the case and likewise, fall into the crease where the wheel well and rear quarter meet.

They cant be pounded out because there's something inside that's pushing out.

There are a few access holes that can be used after removing the plastic wheel well liner. A PDR guy can get a tool in to push the rivet or other obstruction out of the way where it will fall down and can be picked up with a magnet. Then he does his PDR work.

I was too late and the clearcoat had cracked in that area so I had them paint both areas on both panels. Hope anyone who has these catches them early.

I've seen them on quite a few 997s. It's more common than one might think.

Another 997 nuance.

nwGTS

ha. Was writing my response when you posted. I've since heard from multiple sources that it was a problem with manually riveting the seals at the factory too. So it will not be a respray or accident in all cases. This was easily verified with mine with a paint meter. Same mil all around.

Sam Zamir

This thread may be helpful to you. It discusses the problem and solution:
https://rennlist.com/forums/997-gt2-...ward-dent.html

wroehr

I have this on my right side. I assume its because the car had minor damage reported to qtr panel, so maybe after qtr glass was removed for repair.

groovzilla

Wonder how many of these dings are possibly from snow chains?

nwGTS

The cavity is hollow and sealed. The snow chain would have to not only dent the underside but push all the way through to the outside panel which is several inches.
Not really possible without other major damage to the area.

Bxstr

Yeah as nwGTS mentioned, this is from rivets. The area in the rear wheel well is boxed off from the actual rear quarter that you can see. It's pretty well documented in the thread linked above.

Also, my previous 997 that had it was in ATL its entire life, so it's unlikely that car ever had snow chains. My car had a repaint on the rear quarter before the first owner picked it up, which meant the rear quarter glass window seal came out.

63mercedes

It's most likely some kind of damage that needed the seal replaced to be fixed. It's possible that the car has no damage and the seals are just old and needed replacing. I was thinking about doing mine as rubber don't last forever, let alone 18 years. Either way its fixable.