I took my 997tt to 3 local paint shops to get quotes for painting front lip, side skirts and rear piece. One of the body shops wants to leave the side skirts and the rear attached afraid they will break the clips if they take them off. Has anyone had these painted (side, and rear) without taking the pieces off the car? Would you recommend taking them off to paint or keeping them attached? Thanks!!

 

Someone shortly will give you the info on how to remove them. I wouldn't settle for leaving them on...

 

Run from that shop.

Rockers get removed, front lip comes off, rear bumper comes off. I did mine right after delivery (silver is tricky but my guys pulled it off in a few days taking time to get the tinting right).

The rear bumper lip is the toughest part - just remove rear bumper cover and mask, then paint. The rear lip can be taken off, just get someone who is not in a huge hurry to do this properly - that's how we did it. The rockers and front lip come off more easily. Clips for the rockers are cheap and readily available. I simply ordered extras since I knew one or two would break - easily fixed.

It is NOT that hard to get these pieces off, they just need to go slowly, take some care in doing so, and pull them off.

And while you're at it, get a spare front lip done at the same time - I have two in rotation, on my annual service I just swap since they'll scrape from time to time - assuming you paint the front.

 

^^ +1. I'd be running from that shop fore sure. And forget any idea about passing information on to this incompetent about how these parts are removed.
If he doesn't know then he definitely is the wrong guy. I shudder to imagine how he'd every get the prep and paint right for a car like this. Porsche dealers usually have a list of recommended beaters that are trained in removing and refitting and painting to the appropriate Porsche standard.