wellsy's 996.1 C2 Aero

[wellsy]

Update time, and hopefully a bit more interesting than pollen filters and battery trays!

I really like the style of the Sport Design GT3 wheels however I wasn't overenamoured with the finish of those on my car. Despite being in pretty good nick they had at some point been refurbished with a satin black centre and painted silver lip :nooo: I've never been a fan of black wheels as I think the detail/design of the wheel gets lost in a black hole.

The tyres fitted were Toyo Proxes T1 and whilst they had a decent amount of tread remaining they were getting on a bit with 2015 date stamps. I wanted to try something a bit more premium and with the prospect of maybe getting the car on track at some point plus the fact I don't intend to drive it on the road if it's particularly cold or bucketing down I opted for Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2. I went for a 285 section rear tyre as the 265 Toyo looked a bit stretched on the 10J rim. We shall see how the handling is affected.

A reminder of how the wheels were looking:

I got quotes from three companies and ended up choosing a company called Fusion Wheels in Swanley. I got a good vibe from speaking on the phone with them and they had experience of dealing with split rims, and specifically with the sport design wheel. So, Saturday before last I made the trip to Swanley with my wife following in the trusty family estate loaded up with tyres (to confirm, you cannot fit four tyres (and a driver) in a 996!). Fusion wanted the car for the week and said they would call if they encountered any issues. I was expecting a call to say they had found cross threaded bolts or something but no calls, only to say it was ready to collect. So, back to Swanley on Saturday to be greeted by this:

I changed my mind many times on the colour choice but eventually opted for Porsche Weiss Gold (code 539) in a gloss finish with the all important machine finished lip. Appreciate it may not be everyone's cup of tea but I'm really pleased with the finished result - miles better than the previous black finish.

A few more pics having got the car home:

With the wheels looking so good the bolts were letting the side down so they were wire brushed, degreased and given a dusting of silver VHT paint:

I have got some black plastic covers on order so will see how they look and decide whether I prefer them or the silver bolts.

The brake disc hubs got the same treatment as they were looking a bit sad:

So that brings things up to date. Really chuffed with the changes and how different the car now looks. All comments (good, bad or indifferent) welcome

:thumb:

 

[jond58]

Far, far better than the black!! And the 'light' gold works with the white paint nicely.

 

[jond58]

I am biased on the gold wheel front !

 

[HSC911]

Wheels look great, I tried to do a similar thing but it's hard to picture the colour of my wheels.

Will buy a decent camera :roll:

Very 8)

:thumb:

 

[Creationblue]

Really liking wheels. Good work

 

[BHZ661]

Wheels look fantastic ,so much better then the black :thumbs:

 

[wellsy]

Thanks all for the positive comments :thumbs:

 

[Marky911]

Great work!

Nothing boring about pollen filters and battery trays either. It's your thread so screw everyone else.
Great job on the battery tray. It looks brand new.

Lovely job on the wheels. 1000 times better and I agree, those are THE best wheels on an aerokitted 996.1. Period.
Diamond cut lip is the only way to go too. 8)

Any tweaks to the ride height planned? That would be the finishing touch. :thumb:

 

[wellsy]

Cheers Mark. It's currently fitted with H&R lowering springs and I believe the standard dampers. Car's only done 57k and to be fair rides pretty damn well but could definitely drop a little further. In time I'd like to investigate a coilover option to give some more adjustability and especially if I plan to do some track time in the future. What is your experience with 996 coilovers? Is general consensus KW or Ohlins?

 

[Dammit]

The wheels look a thousand times better, I totally agree that black wheels just lose all the detail, and I'm a fan of that pale gold colour.

My car is away at the trimmers at the moment but when it's back you're welcome to a run out in it - it's on Ohlins R/T and I'm in SE23, so happy to potter down to somewhere in Kent that has decent roads.

 

[adamw]

My car is away at the trimmers at the moment but when it's back you're welcome to a run out in it - it's on Ohlins R/T and I'm in SE23, so happy to potter down to somewhere in Kent that has decent roads.

Mines on KW's from memory
Maybe we could do a little group 996.1 meet and handling test :grin:
I'm in Sussex but Kent border :thumb:

PS: wheels look great Wellsy !

 

[Marky911]

^^^

From memory! From memory!
It's written in your bleeding signature bit under every post. :grin:
I'm just being cheeky. Hi Adam. :bye:

Yes my old car, now Adam's, has KWV3s on it. Recently refurbished by KW and they're really nice.
They came off my mate Craig's car. He'd run out of things to do on his car so bought some Ohlins to compare, hence I've spent a fair bit of time with both.

I preferred the KWs as the rears of the Ohlins felt a bit stiffer over bumps. It was then reported by the Porsche mags and Neil 'dammit" above, that the rear spring rates were very stiff, so an alternative was being offered.

You'd do well to get together with Neil and Adam as they are both thoroughly sorted cars so give a good representation of how a 996 should drive. There are so many out there wobbling around on ancient suspension. A sorted 996 really is a cracking drive, yet some owners won't ever know.
Bear in mind that the 2 cars will be very different anyway though, as Adams is running more camber due to sitting lower. It's no bucking bronco but I imagine Neils will be more neutral. It all depends what you like. Adams is very sharp. I shouldn't have bloody sold it to be honest, but that's a whole different story. :grin:

If either brand came up second hand or for a good price then I'd buy either. If buying new I'd probably go for Ohlins, as they look like they'll fair better cosmetically and they have an improved method of adjustment.
(An additional adjuster nut where the shock goes into the hub carrier means you can set spring tension etc as normal then set the the ride heights from the base adjuster nut. On KWs you can't alter ride height without altering spring tension. Rubbish explanation but it's easy to see when it's in front of you. :wink: )

 

[adamw]

^^^

From memory! From memory!
It's written in your bleeding signature bit under every post. :grin:
I'm just being cheeky. Hi Adam. :bye:

Haha, yep, good spot !
Not sure how I forgot that but when posting this for some reason slipped my mind.. must be getting old... I did hit 40 last year :grin: :thumb:

 

[wellsy]

It's been a while since I've updated this so here goes. With the car not moving very far over the last couple of months I took the opportunity to get the wheels off, liners out and clean up the arches so I could get a good look at the general condition of these areas. Information I'd gleaned from other threads on the forum suggested there could be the odd bit of rust here and there and I was keen to see how my car had fared over the years. In summary, I found some rusty bits as expected but on the whole was pleased that I was able to clean it up, treat it and add some long term protection. A couple of nastier bits found where the rear arches meet the sill but I'll get these seen to by the bodyshop I think. Anyway I'll let the pics do the talking.


General grubbiness in the arches which I cleaned up with Bilt Hamber Surfex HD, tar remover and the jetwash:

With the initial clean up done I was able to assess the general condition and identify which areas needed attention. The front arches showed some blistering to the areas above the factory stonechip coating, generally around the shocks up to the top mount area plus a couple of localised bits where perhaps the arch liners had rubbed on the metal over the years.

With the car on stands I also took the opportunity to check the underside and found some areas where the factory underseal had failed and needed attention. Plus the jacking points, although solid, were looking a little sorry for themselves.

The rear arches showed some minor splitting of the sealer to the inner wing/outer wing seam that runs right around the arch. There is also some more developed corrosion at the point where the arch meets the sill. This seems to be a common issue, particularly on aerokitted cars, where all the crud collects behind the side skirt and acts as a moisture trap if not cleaned out regularly. The metal all seems solid so I'm hoping I've caught it in time. Will get the bodyshop to attend to it as I plan to have a couple of other bits done in the not too distant future. Once rectified I'll certainly be adding this area to my regular cleaning regime.

With the arch liners removed I popped the cavity bungs and had a good look at the inner sills. No photos but happy to report all looking very clean and in good order.

On to the remedial operations and I opted for the following process and products cleaning up between stages with panel wipe as required:

1. Rust removal using assorted wire wheels in a cordless drill
2. Bilt Hamber Hydrate 80 to any areas where I couldn't get back to bare clean metal
3. Bilt Hamber Electrox Zinc Primer
4. Bilt Hamber Dynax Seam Sealer (where existing seam sealer disturbed) then prime again
5. UPOL Gravitex Plus (3 coats)
6. Bilt Hamber Dynax UC anti corrosion wax to arches, suspension components, etc
7. Bilt Hamber Dynax S50 anti corrosion wax to all cavities I could get into

I was conscious of retaining as much of the car's originality as possible but at the same time wanted to ensure that I did a thorough enough job of removing corrosion to give me the peace of mind that it's protected for a good few more years. In time, perhaps in conjunction with a suspension upgrade so there's more room in the arches, I may revisit the top coat of paint to give a more uniform look but for now I'm happy.

Last job was to reinstall the arch liners but not before they were cleaned, de-tarred and dressed with some autoglym trim dressing I had knocking around. The OSF liner had a bit of damage to the front so I sourced a good 2nd hand part from a breakers. I was also missing one of the rubber lips and the two air ducts which fix to the underside of the front liners so I bought replacements online from Rosepassion (no option to go to the OPC for obvious reasons!). Plus new speed nuts and stainless screws to replace the rusty existing ones and it was job jobbed!

 

[jakerade]

Hi

Slightly ironically, I own Jays previous car (which i have had just over a year) and have been doing the same job over the last month!

Rear arches were completely clear of any rust which was nice. A little bit of surface rust at the top of the fronts which i have sorted out and coated with Bilthamber UC (same kit as well!)

I have also replaced all the lower arms and droplinks on all four corners, front top mounts, bump stops and bearings, rear bracing struts, had the bumpers off, changed the rear boxes, preventative (rightly or wrongly) IMS, RMS and clutch and various other bits and bobs!

Debating changing the colour of the middle of the wheels (which are a graphite colour) back to silver.

Cheers

Jake