Remove front air opening slats?

[Bob Z.]

'08 987 S - how do I remove the horizontal silver slats from the left & right air inlet openings (just below the fog lights)? I want to paint them Black.

Thanks in advance...Bob Z.

Bob, there was a TBS on these grills with the early 987's for fading issues. The TSB # was W608. I would bet the front bumper needs to be pulled.

How did you get your rear trim piece off to paint black? I looked at mine this weekend, and the back side of the rear bumper is completely covered by the heat sheilding.

[Bob Z.]

Thanks...pulling the bumper seems like a big job - my wife says to leave them along so maybe for once I'll listen to her.

Here is a link to a drawing about taking the rear exhaust trim piece off:

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=16051

I got a thin screwdriver behind it, between the exhaust trim piece and the heat shield, and then used my fingers to pull it. I thought it would break since I was pulling kinda hard and then all of a sudden it popped off, at least one half of it did. I then started pulling on the other side and off it came. It has 4 small tabs holding it in, kinda like on some of the slats on the side vents - it would be pretty hard to break them IMO.

I then cleaned it up real good and sprayed it with around 4 coats of High Temp paint, Black Semi-gloss, which I got at Wal-Mart for just under $7. After it dried for a day I stuck it back on and I've driven it a couple times and it still looks fine so I suspect that it will last.

If you study the Bently manual, pulling the front cover off is cake, after the first time I could have mine out in an hour. It's a good opportunity to clean the sealed radiators too, which collect refuse in the furthest sealed corner. If you don't want to do that, I think you could carefully tape off the front cover and shoot the vents the color of your liking, good luck.

Bob, you will need a paint product with a lot of flex too. Those vents are very wiggly.

[Bob Z.]

Agree - I grabbed them and they moved all over...wiggly indeed! I'll do some research on flexible paint unless someone chimes in here first.

Bob, I think this was part of an option package Porsche offered on the 2008. I'd have to check the Buyer Guide to confirm.

I am sure it can be done (flexible paint). They paint the bumpers right.

You could even remove them (if you can find a way) and send them to Eric at Bumperplugs and have him paint them. Won't be the cheapest option but the work quality will be excellent.

[Bob Z.]

Correct - the 2008 option code is DAG ($1245) and includes the left & right front air intakes and left & right rear fender intakes painted to match the exterior color. However, I have a Guards Red car so I could not get them Black no matter what.

Eric did the left & right rear fender intakes (outstanding!)...not sure if he can do the left & right front air intakes but I cannot see why.

By the way, he could have painted the rear exhaust trim piece for me but did not recommend it due to the heat in that area...we'll see how my paint job holds up over time!

[yellowboxster01]

We have painted those before and used semi flat black krylon and if prepped correctly will stand up just as well as the factory paint on a bumper.

[Bob Z.]

And you removed the bumper to paint them?