Premodified oem steel fenders can run as high as $3k for only the fenders. I can post pics of oem steel fender modification when I get back from vacation.

 

Alpine, like I was saying that steel modified kit from wicked motor works is like 10k for the kit. I wasn't about to spend that kind of money on a kit. The fiberglass kit I got was 4,8xx.xx shipped. Even that was hard to justify but I wanted the kit that bad.

 

The wicked kit is 8k on their site and think it includes the lights.
To me the difference in cost for not having to do fiberglass work with filler etc might be worth it. Especially if it's more plug and play with near perfect fit.

 

It is 8k and that's if you send your headlights in. If not then you need to buy the headlights and headlight trays from them. I personally would not give up my absolute mint 4s headlights. So that would be a 10 grand kit for me. I got everything I needed in this kit for less than half the cost. I can do body work so the cost difference to me is large. The fiberglass kit is just as strong if not stronger than the steel fenders. You can sit on these parts and they literally won't break (unless you're heavily over weight lol).

So for someone like myself the fiberglass kit is the better option. For someone who doesn't want to mess with filler and alignment I absolutely agree with you alpine that the steel kit is the way to go. That extra money you pay is subtracting out man hours. I don't think the quality of one kit is better than the other. I think it's more about what you're personally willing to do. I also wouldn't be surprised if the steel kit also needs a little filler action on it. I can't say that for sure because I've never dealt with them.

 

Everything I've done on my car is 100% reversible. I purposely this for resale value and precaution to anything ever happening to the kit. If you give up your headlights and need/want to change your front end back you're now in the market for another pair of at least 1,000 dollar 996 headlights.

 

For me that wouldn't be a problem as I have a spare set of headlights. The biggest problem I see is Wicked's reliability! I have read far more bad things about them than good. I would love to bolt on a steel kit, but I would be afraid to send them money before I received the parts due to all the bad things I have been reading.

 

Really? I don't know much about wicked. I only dealt with them once. They make the 997.2 GT3 RS spoiler for the 996 turbo. I assumed that would fit my C4S and called to order it for 4k. They told me it wouldn't fit but could make me one for 8k. No way am I going to pay that much for that decklid. If it fit my car (I still wonder if it would) I would buy it for the 4k.

 

All the parts are off the car and getting primed. Once I'm finished priming I will sand out once more and then hit it with one last coat of some good high build primer. While I am waiting for the primer to dry I decided to wrap the gas door in carbon fiber. This is the same stuff I will be using on the hood and soon after this build my roof as well. Hard to tell in the pictures but the carbon is a matte finish.

Next week I will put the tires back on the car and roll it out for a bath and a good cleaning of my garage. Then I have to wrap the hood and wire the headlights and bumper lights. I hope to have the parts back by next Friday and to have them on by Sunday.

 

 

you planning on 997 type mirrors too?
as just my opinion but with having real carbon on the mirrors (current)and then matt carbon on your fuel filler cover wont tie in (if that makes sense?)

 

996lee, I do plan to eventually change the mirrors. The mirrors on the car now have a carbon shell on them that I plan to take off and wrap in the matte carbon wrap. I agree that the two would clash and have all intentions of changing that.

 

All the body work is completed and ready to be sent off to the painter. I put the wheels back on this morning, pulled her out and gave her a bath. I also painted the bottom of the hood flat black and cleaned my garage.

 

I check this thread daily, as what you are doing is impressive. Looking forward to seeing it complete. Keep up the good work. Are you planning on repainting the rest of the car?

 

Thanks Atrox! I'm trying to document this process the best I can. I've seen a lot of threads in regards to these kits but non that has been completed out of someone's garage. All the ones I've seen are people who've taken their car's in to their local body shop. I want create a thread for people like myself who want to take this task on personally. It's not easy and very time consuming but, with some patience and time it all starts to come together.

I do not plan on having the whole car repainted. The reason is because the paint on my car is immaculate. I always keep the car with a fresh coat of wax and do a full detail twice a driving season. People always think I have just purchased the car brand new from the show room. Last year I had my front bumper repainted but the same painter and you would have never known the bumper had newer paint than the rest of the car. My painter even told me it is a waste of money to spray the whole car that it won't look any better than it already does. The car never sits in the sun for a prolonged time, is garaged year round and has never seen rain or snow.

I sent the parts to my painter yesterday and he said I would have them back by Sunday morning. The lady who is doing the hood will have it finished by next friday. I have to drop the hood off sometime this week. As soon as I get the parts back I will post more pictures and any other details I may have.

 

After looking at it without the fenders, I'm thinking someone needs to design a slant nose mod for the 996.