996 to 997 bumperette conversion

[augr]

Has anyone done this? I like the bumper overriders the same color as the body on the 997 but my 996 has black bulky versions and I'm wondering how the fitment is between the two before I go spending time and money. Thanks!

[torontoworker]

It's a different mounting system between the two types. The 996 has a metal bar system that a large allen head type screw that threads into the bar from the bottom of the bumper pad and the 997 mount is done from the back side of the bumper. It's also a different shape to the point where the 997 bumper pad won't fit the 996 bumper or if you did jury rig a fit it would look silly. You would have to upgrade to a complete 997 bumper and I'm not sure that this is a bolt on for a 996 narrow body unless you have a 996C4 and even then I am not sure if it is a plug and play.

If you don't like the color (or lack) of your 996 bumper pad - that can be changed by either your own painter or online sites such as bumperplugs.com I think your looking at $300 bucks to send them away for painting. Just make sure if you have your own painter - that they put 'flex' in the paint and prep them really well as I've seen some bad jobs by what looked to be 'shade tree' painters that had lots of orange peel and a crappy finish. It 'looks' like something that should be simple to paint but they really are harder because the OEM finish is not smooth and this takes some work in prep to correct if you want a smooth finish to match your body finish. It's why bumperplugs charges so much I guess. I had a GT3 wing and engine cover being painted so my painter threw in the two pads for free - which after he was done - said he wouldn't do that again because of the extra time he spent!!!

Cheers.