I've been looking to upgrade the look with a bumper and possibly a wing and side skirts. I've talked to a couple of body shops in the area and they all consistently recommend polyurethane material. However, seems like most of the aftermarket parts are fiberglass or similar. What's the real deal here? Do the benefits of polyurethane justify the additional costs? What has been the experience here with fiberglass in terms of fitment, care, looks and longevity?

Thanks for any insights.

 

Polyurethane is the same material that stock bumpers and side skirts were made of. They ARE worth the money, because fiberglass cracks, dents, dings, chips, etc VERY easy. The first time you hit the bottom of that fiberglass bumper, you will need to get out the fiberglass supplies to repair the crack that just happened, or the chuck of glass that is missing from hitting the bumper.

Moral of the story, DO NOT use fiberglass skirts or bumpers.

 

Polyurethane is a lot more flexible compared to fiberglass and people say that polyurethane can be repaired whereas fiberglass "can't" be repaired. I've not been in a situation where I had to repair polyurethane so I can't comment on the repairability but as Tj said, polyurethane is the way to go as far as the "reliability" is concerned. If I were you, I'd go for polyurethane.

 

So who do you go with for Poly parts?

 

Yeah, I'll never use aftermarket fiberglass bumpers again especially after cracking them. Any places to get a poly GT2 bumper?

 

Guess I will have to go against the grain here and say that it simply does not matter that much. The fit of the part, and the amount of surface prep means alot more to me then the material type. I have had great glass parts, and horrible flexible part and vice-versa.

The nicest Porsche part I have ever installed was a glass and carbon-kevlar 993 TechArt II front bumper.

I would not be hung up on the material, as much as the finished result.

 

The reason most aftermarket parts are made out of fiberglass is cost. To reproduce or create a part in polyurethane will cost 10 times the amount of fiberglass. Fiberglass can very easily be repaired.

 

The variable cost of a polyurethane part is probably lower than fiberglass, but the start-up cost of creating a poly mold and buying the equipment are significantly higher than fiberglass. (People can, and do, create fiberglass parts in their home garages. I've never heard of a homemade molded poly part.) If you're making parts for a Honda Civic, you can literally sell more than 100K pieces of your mod, and can add a dollar or so to the cost of each piece without anyone batting an eye. The expected volume for aftermarket bumpers on a 996 Turbo is maybe 500 if you sell A LOT, so you'd have to spread that same upfront cost over a tremendously smaller number of units, at a much higher cost per unit. It would probably cost less for a tuner to make 50 hand-laid carbon fiber parts than it would for 50 pieces made of polyurethane. (The carbon and the skilled worker's hours cost a whole lot more than a gallon of polyurethane but, unless you're doing it for charity, you have to amortize the cost of that poly setup into each piece you sell.)

 

You can get PU GT2 bumper from NR Auto and the website as the following: http://www.nrauto.com/sub_index.asp?...&spage=Bodykit

 

any feedback on the fitment of the NR Auto GT2 bumper?

 

Just an FYI, a poly bumper mold is made of two large pieces of stainless steel the size of large couches or refrigerators at a minimum. They take months to make and polish. Even at Taiwan labor rates (which is where almost all of them are made) its still a tremendous amount of money and they take months to make. The molds weigh tons per half.

The best bumper materials are Polyurethane, then ABS with lots of flex agents, then maybe fiberglass reinforced plastic and somewhere past the end of the runway, fiberglass.

Jim

 

PU is the way to go it just cost a small fortune. To give you an example. A RUF replica fiberglass front lip is $300. The same part in PU from RUF is $2,000. This is on the wild side of cost differences but it gives you an idea. Also try Carnewal. Most of there stuff is stock Porsche. There's also Tech Art.

 

The cost of PU bumpers is very low. For instance, an E46 M3 bumper costs less than $35 to buy in quantity and sells for $115 including fog lights at retail. P-car parts like this cost a fortune because of the number of possible sales is minuscule in comparison and the profit grab by some vendors. You see similar dynamics from BMW vendors like Dinan.

Jim

 

I plan to get my GT2 front bumper from NR Auto (PU) and my GT2 rear decklid from mashaw.