Now Available: Porsche 986/996 MK1 Headlight Conversion Covers
 

AVAILABLE NOW! Click Here to Shop Variel Design Headlight covers!

These headlight covers fit all 1999-2001 Porsche 911 (996 Mk1) models (excluding Turbo) and 1996-2004 Porsche Boxster (986) models. The covers will convert your car's headlights to a classic round Porsche headlight look and are made of high quality polyurethane (the same material as car bumpers) that is impact and temperature resistant. This all-original design was created working with an automotive industry 3D designer referencing a 3D scan of the original headlight to ensure optimal fitment. There is no comparison with cheap, fiberglass covers on the market.

The covers come as unpainted black polyurethane, prepped for painting, and can be adhered with 3m double sided tape or silicon adhesive. It is recommended to put a headlight protective film (e.g., Xpel) over the headlights before adhering the covers to ensure easy removal with minimal tape/glue residue.

Please note the covers will cover over the fog lights, however the turn signals remain visible through the oval cutout. The turn signal cutout can be covered over with optional turn signal cutout plug (sold separately). For cars with headlight washer nozzles in the corners, the washers will need to be popped out and removed before installation and the covers will cover over the hole completely.

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These covers are very high quality, nicely made and look great. One thing that has to be addressed is where the cover meets the edge of the headlight, it is cut too short, see pic. On a black or certain colors you could run a colored tape stripe along that edge and it would cover it. No such luck finding a tape stripe for guards red. Also you should have a option of a set with no turn signal hole. The plug in the hole idea is not the best. I had to return mine.
Just an opinion, trying to be helpful.

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The best solution would be to size them a little big bigger, so that everyone can grind/sand them down to their liking. And those could outs should be just cut out markings (blinker/fog light/washer).
But for now, I think they look great and wrap will do the work as a cover up.
As I said before, it seems that the factory gaps were the reason for the wrap work around (just a guess). And there are A LOT of wrap colors choices on the market. :D
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I agree but for the amount of time the producer has put into these, working on since 2017, and the price $400+, you shouldnt have to do anything but paint them.
Over the last several years I've tried six different shades of several diff wrap manufacturers for my own projects and have not found a match. I even ordered custom made to color wrap, very expensive, didn't match so if someone finds a color match for guards red let me know. I'd gladly buy some. 😁

Thanks for the info - we'll mention this to the producer.

NOW AVAILABLE! -

https://www.pelicanparts.com/More_Info/PEL986MK1CVR.htm?pn=PEL-986-MK1-CVR&bt=Y&fs=0&SVSVSI=4384

So, Dmitry, does this mean that the anomaly has been corrected? Or, do we still need to fudge with tape or whatever else to correct the design error? Thank you.

Picked mine up from the customs today. PU chemical smell was not so pleasant, will let them sit outside for a day or 2 and it should be fine, I hope.

I have had all the former plastic headlight covers...THESE ARE NEXT LEVEL, guys!
NONE were fitting any better. Pretty thin and flexible, impressive... so a perfect fit is to be expected. I might take a few photos over the weekend.
As expected, the "gap" is very tiny as the cover can be bent a little, adapting to the slope. It wouldn't make sense IMO to put any more material on the covers, as they would ruin the 4mm gap impression.
I will use a gray wrap for the missing 2mm, I guess, which won't ruin the 4mm gap impression. No one will ever see that little workaround, and if so, I don't care...lol

We will see, but I am very confident. having a perfect solution sitting right here.
:cheers:

I couldn't find an acceptable match for guards red. OCD I guess ��

Just ordered a pair of these. Should receive early next week. Don’t expect great things frankly, but we’ll see.

Please let us know what you think. I'm wondering if they have made any changes.

Will do! Expensive test :cool:

Perfect. I’ve been considering these too, so I’m looking forward to what you find. Keep us updated for sure :cool:

Well, they’re in and primed. YMMV, but I think these are going to work out well. Again, YMMV but I don’t see the concern regarding the flunk/headlight join. Looks like it will be fine for me. If not, a little 3M satin black wrap should address any issues.

Researching 3M ‘no carrier’ very thin transfer adhesive ‘tapes’ now. Don’t want to use an adhesive that will harm the headlights and don’t want to use a headlight protection film.

In the pic, the covers are just sitting loose on the headlights so don’t judge the final fitment from this.

Hope to paint this weekend. Stay tuned.
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Yes! They look nice. Once they’re painted and fitted I think they’ll look great. Really updates the look of the front end. Again, definitely keep us posted.

Now Available: Porsche 986/996 MK1 Headlight Conversion Covers
 

Did the final dry fit today. Plan to start painting tomorrow. Had to make the same small trimming mod on each side. It can be seen in the pics. I had no problem to trim and re-contour the edge. Also, I do not have the problem regarding the exposed headlight edge as shown in some posts. YMMV, however due to fender/headlight fitment, how you want the cover positioned, thickness of your tape or adhesive, thickness and fit of headlight film, etc, etc.

To properly test fit I had to apply pressure in the center of the cover to press it to the headlight surface while ensuring that the raised edges around the perimeter were properly positioned. The cover spread toward the edges somewhat when under pressure.

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Base coat finished. Generic ‘hyper silver’ for the headlight trim ring with the rest in GT Silver Metallic. Will do a 2k clear coat as soon as the weather cooperates this week.

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So far so good. Are you doing the paint yourself? I figured I would just take it to the shop, but I may try it myself.

Piecework things like this I do myself, big things (like the hardtop) I’ll take to a shop. On the Porsche I did the side skirts, side vents, seat backs, head light clear coat and now the headlight covers. Joe Thoth’s painter did the rear spoiler because his price was good. I’ve been painting since I was a teenager working in my dad’s shop, so I’m an ‘ok’ painter. A competent paint shop would have done a better job. It’s a driver not a show car so I’ll be happy with the result if I don’t screw up the 2k clear coat too badly.

IMHO, if you haven’t done a good amount of polyurethane prep and painting I’d go with a competent shop that does a lot of custom work unless you want to gain some experience with the process for future projects.

Bored today, too humid to clear coat so here’s a before / after pic. The covers are just sitting loose on the headlights, they will mount flush everywhere except the frunk lid and practically flush there because the cover edge tapers to nothing along the frunk lid edge. I deleted the headlight washers and replaced the corner pieces in anticipation of this install, so the before pic is after the washer delete was completed.

3M 950-300 transfer tape arriving today. Should not add any detectable mounting height. I’m definitely going to mount them and live with them for a while. First headlight covers I’ve tried that I’m actually considering keeping on the car.

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They look great!

Thanks JB! Looking forward to doing the clear coat and final mounting ASAP this week. I’ll take some closeups and different angles as soon as I’m done.

They do look great, Fred! As expected.
:cheers:

Thanks Bran, just trying to uphold the high standards set by you and JB :cheers:

I love it. I think it gives the car a very classy vintage look. I've never been a fan of the covers but these have changed my mind about them.

Thanks Mipstien, I did the 2k clear coat today. Probably will try a test mount with the 3M tape tomorrow or Thursday.

Now Available: Porsche 986/996 MK1 Headlight Conversion Covers
 

Clear coat cured, but no final cut and polish yet. Just stuck on with a loop of gorilla tape. Will probably try mounting with 3M transfer tape tomorrow. Color match is better than it looks here. The GT Silver Metallic changes with every angle nuance. Not for everyone for sure, but I really like them. May have final mount ‘glamour pics’ in a few days :)

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Now Available: Porsche 986/996 MK1 Headlight Conversion Covers
 

Done! Right (passenger side) overall is as good as I could do. I could have done a better job trimming the left side (driver) where I had the overlap problem (which was the same for both sides). Color match is as good as could be expected for 16 year old paint.

Before mounting the covers I applied a narrow strip of matte black 3M wrap to the inside edge of each headlight to kill the edge reflection.

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Well done!:cheers:
Your trimming turned out pretty perfect. Indeed the driver side and the right side need slightly different trimming.
I wonder, if I will get the washer jets to work properly with the covers.

Looks great!

Thanks Bran! The washer jets protrude from the lens ~1/2” even when retracted so you would need to cut the covers precisely to fit. The washers extend ~2” when in use. The problem is that the washer nozzle assembly is not very cosmetically appealing (at least to me). The next generation extension washers used the flush ‘button’ covers, but they might be too large in diameter. One of the later year models have the small nozzles that permanently mount ‘out’ but I’m not sure which year models it is.

Thanks Dmitry, I’m very happy with the results.

Nice work Fred! I see these covers being a part of my future ;)

Thanks Traveno! They came out so well I wish I had spent more time on the prep!

Update - the 3M 950-300 transfer tape with adhesive promoter on the covers only started to fail under headlight / moderate sun heat. To be fair, this use of that particular xfer tape was at the limits of its specification. I’ve ordered some 3M F9469PC VHB xfer tape which uses the high performance 3M 100MP acrylic adhesive which has a much broader operating temperature range.

I’m going try the new adhesive without adhesive promoter on the lenses because I want to avoid permanent lens damage. It does not look as if I’m going to be able to remove the 300LSE adhesive from the covers. Hopefully it will bond to the 9469 ok. I’ll run some tests before I remount the covers.

I’ll post an update here as soon as I have additional info.

Just brought mine to the paintshop and got the usual comments…

shop: "Oh, they are made out of rubber?
me: Not really, it is more like PU^^
shop: I got to ask my specialist…(after 5 mins) okay, we can do it, but without warranty...and treat them really, really carefully
me: Sure, sure will do

They will primer the whole covers, but will only paint the top, so I can attach them properly.
@Fred: Thanks, for pinpointing the washer movement! Btw did you paint them completely? How did you treat the bonding side?

After having attached lots of plastic covers, trims and pieces over the time, I like to use thin 3M VHB 4941. It always came off the lenses and stayed on the rims/covers. Will do a test when the covers come back next weekend.
Btw, I heavily moddified and trimmed them and I totally understand your thoughts on prepping them. I hope, primer and paint will cover my flwas...lol

Hi Bran, you’re welcome. I had similar comments from the paint shop regarding my sport seat backs. I finally got fed up and did them myself.

Here’s the steps I used to prep, paint and mount the adhesive strips to the covers:

1) washed both sides with Dawn and a soft brush, rinsed well and dried
2) cleaned both sides with SEM poly paint prep
3) spayed top side and edges with two light coats of plastic adhesion promoter
4) primed top side and around edges with a urethane primer
5) let primer cure overnight
6) sanded primer with 400/600 wet
7) taped rest of cover and sprayed ’headlight ring’ with a urethane color called ‘hyper silver’
8) taped ‘headlight ring’ and sprayed rest of cover with urethane car base coat color
9) sprayed entire cover (top side and edges only) with SprayMax 2K ‘Glamour’ clear coat
10) carefully cleaned overspray from undersides with acetone
11) applied 3M adhesion promoter to undersides (single use packets with foam applicator)
12) cleaned headlight lenses with Dawn
13) applied 3M 950-300 xfer tape adhesive to underside of covers, leaving backing paper in place
14) practiced positioning the covers about a million times (you only get one chance with xfer tape adhesive)
15) peeled off the backing paper and mounted the covers

Thanks for the tip regarding the 4941. I really like VHB 4941 also. I actually have some but in this case I wanted the absolutely thinnest mounting possible to avoid as much as possible having the covers stand proud of the surrounding body work (4941 is 1.1mm thick vs 0.13mm for the F9469 because the 9469 does not have a carrier medium).

Looking forward to seeing your custom results! Hopefully I’ll have mine back on the car in the next couple of days :cheers:

Ok, I didn’t like the adhesion characteristics of the 9469 so I decided to quit shooting in the dark and downloaded the 3M Industrial Adhesives and Tape Guide. I settled on 9485PC 5 mil (.13mm, .005in) thick transfer tape for its high temperature and high adhesion ratings for both LSE and HSE plastics / polys. Mounted using 3M adhesion promoter on the lens edges and around the oblong headlight edge (carefully applied, this stuff can distort some materials). Don’t get it on paint or any lens surface that will remain exposed!

So far, so good. I don’t think I could remove the covers without damaging them (at least in the NE moderate summer climate, YMMV), so this is a ‘be sure you really want to before you do it’ kind of thing. Also, this stuff is high tack so no repositioning - practice placement a lot before you commit.

One additional point. Even though my covers extended exactly to the edge of the lenses, I wanted to kill the reflection from the lenses’ sides. I applied strips of 3m 1080 flat black wrap along the lenses frunk edges before mounting the covers.

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The matte black 1080 wrap foil is absolutely the way to go. I like those pressure sensitive 3M adhesive tapes, so you can apply them first and fixate them with pressure fixate later. But you got me going now...have to check their website again. My covers are still in the paintshop...:rolleyes: