996 side skirts fit 986 ?
 

Does any one know if the factory 996 gt3 style side skirts fit on the Boxster ?

Of course not, the cars are different length between the front and rear wheels.

that's what i thought . i just wanted to make sure . i had a good deal on a pair of them.

The boxster has a longer side skirt than the 996 .

wow ! i would have thought the carrera side skirt would be longer .

I learned this years ago when I purchased a set of Ruf side skirts .

you can get gt3 style for the Boxster in the aftermarket. But they are unfortunately fiberglass and not polyurethane. This was one mod that turned out to be more expensive than I thought it would be at the time. I picked up the skirting from precisionporsche.com (an Ebay seller) for barely $300 but finding a mid level shop to do the paint work was more than double. I think I got hosed. In comparison I picked up the front OEM GT3 bumper from an infamous Ebay seller who was notorious for taking too long to ship for $1000 and a recent quote for a repaint was only $250.

Am I reading this correctly; a shop quoted you $250 to paint a front bumper ?

to repaint a bumper is not that much money . there is literally a 1000 body shops near by where i live.
I am way to afraid to buy anything fiberglass for my car. even the high quality fiber parts need a ton of work and if it's a polyester based resin it will distort , crack and shrink over time no matter how good it was done. i wish someone did epoxy based body parts i would use them . I really like the RUF front bumper but they want 2300 shipped to my house plus paint and install . ouch !

I agree with you on the issue of fiberglass to the extent that there are varying degrees
quality between manufactures. It's been my experience that most of the European made products that meet TUV standards are far superior in term of quality and materials as compared to a lot of the domestically produced parts . On the other hand, there's nothing worse that a poorly designed aero part that's made from polyurethane; simply because there is little that can be done to tweak and manipulate said material in order to make it fit properly . I've seen several bumpers that were made from poly or PURIM that yielded a terrible fit . In which case you're SOL ! The Ruf bumper is an exception. It's very well made with excellent fit characteristics . With that said, one can amortize costs by simply not having to fuss with it .

that is correct. bondo does not stick to poly and fiberglass is much more rigid . i would only use the ruf or factory porsche aero parts. i actually have some basic working knowledge on fiberglass molding and mold making . i have made some small architectural parts in the past. polyester resin(which most body parts are made from) is nasty stuff only barely good for making a mold in my opinion . it's major problem is shrinkage (because it is cheap). then i would make the part out of epoxy and glass. I am surprised they don't use epoxy in the aftermarket . epoxy resin is much more durable , no shrinkage , resist water better and is not toxic but cost 3 to 4 times more than polyester . I think the problem is that it can not be gel coated but who cares your going to prime and paint anyway.
i have had many thoughts on trying to make parts for the boxster. but designing a part that looks proper and fits seamlessly to the car ("the plug" usually made out of foam or plaster) and making a mold are extremely time consuming for one person.

It's funny that you should mention the idea of making your own parts. When my vehicle first went under the knife, the project manager said that he could perfectly replicate my body kit by creating his own molds for just a few hundred dollars in material ! Needless to say , that was a tough pill to swallow after I had just laid out thousands !!

you should have made the molds . made a few bumpers and side skirts . you would have paid for your body kit. then everyone would have what you have. i would have rented the molds from you and ran some epoxy parts. Once you have molds the process is easy. mold release then resin and glass , pop it out of the mold , Done.

I could have named it the "Danger Kit" ! And for an additional charge, you could have gotten one that was autographed ! :D

and I wouldn't pay much more than that for either. Ditto for the rear bumper.
The probability of having to paint one of those more than once is very high. Either from someone rear ending you when you leave the car parked (happened twice) for a few hours or rock chips dinging the front end. The previous owner had a dealer installed clear bra on the front bumper and half the front hood but that cost over $1500. Excellent work though you couldn't see in photos and I had to point it out to most people before they noticed it. Too pricey though...I'd rather put that money towards a new top or my new RE-11's. :D