front bumper rubber "S" trim

[HughH]

Thanks to a careless person, (not me) the deco "S" trim on my front bumper is a little the worse for wear. The rubber has an impact mark on it and the trim (and steel bumper) has been pushed back by about a quarter of an inch. see picture

I spoke to Porsche today and they say the trim and rubber have been NLA for about 7 years. After trying a couple of other "usual suspects" here in Australia it seems that there are only 2 options:

1 replace the whole thing with a repro set from Stoddards; or

2 have someone repair and straighten the aluminum part (I believe that that might be possible) and then find a NOS rubber insert (maybe with the great resources of this board) or buy a repro one from stoddards and try to make it fit, if it does not.

The repair is fully covered by insurance and the damage is not great so time to fix it and cost is not a major impediment.

I am a bit surprised that this sort of part is NLA given how the rubber shrinks and eventually cracks and the propensity for damage. (maybe I shouldn't be and I hope the new VW ownership won't exacerbate this problem but i suspect it might )

So my main questions to the board are:

Who has experience with the stoddards S bumper decos?

Are they a faithful replica and do they fit without too much "adjusting" and therefore is it even worth trying to use anything else?
or
is the quality and fit such that
would it be best to try repair the original trim and
(A) look for a NOS rubber insert or
(B) go with a stoddard rubber insert (given most of the Porsche ones in the decade or two before they stopped supplying them were probably non original supplier anyway)

The car is a driver - not a show queen but it did (does) have original Porsche trim and while I am resigned to needing to use some repro parts in the future I would like to use OEM as much as possible

[a911s]

The currently available replicas don't fit or look right to me. It might be best to have an expert body man work with your existing trim and rubber. This is the one piece on the early 911s that really needs a great repro made!

[Alan.uk]

Hi,

We restore the ally trim and then fit new rubber trim on our cars. But another option is buy the repro S trim set, junk the rubber trim which does not fit at all and buy the rubber from Porsche. It is still available. I had 3 last week.

HTH

Alan

[HughH]

Alan

thanks

I did try Porsche BUT maybe I need to go to them with the part number and make sure they understand I mean only the rubber.

I will do that on Monday.

regards

hugh

[Carrerax]

Hi,

We restore the ally trim and then fit new rubber trim on our cars. But another option is buy the repro S trim set, junk the rubber trim which does not fit at all and buy the rubber from Porsche. It is still available. I had 3 last week.

HTH

Alan

Alan, do you also buy the rubber that is under the alum (between trim and body) from Porsche? Do you have part numbers for all the rubber? I have original S trim but the rubber is all junk....not actually junk but just not up to the standard of the rest of the car. What about in the rear? Is the aftermarket stuff any good? Thanks and sorry for the hijack.