Posted this on the UK Porsche Club forum earlier in the year. Thought I'd share it here too:

This was promted by requiring 3 new radiators at the cost of £1800 due to leaks from projective debris. Whilst my OPC had my front bumper off I bought a mesh kit from a local Porsche shop and fitted it myself....

This is the kit that arrived from Design911 here in the UK:



http://www.design911.com/Porsche/997...-cma81-cmo117/

NO instructions provided so I had to wing the installation.

 

NOTE: this DIY thread shows my MISTAKES I made along the way, so please read to the end before trying to follow anything.

I brought the PU back in my Audi from the OPC (as they didn't want it done onsite).



Initially I really did't understand though where I should be attaching it as it seems to me that the mesh covers the grove and clips that reconnects the PU to the car.



For my initial attempt, after putting on some STUDY GLOVES, I managed to manipulate the mesh to fit around the sections:









I didn't applied any screws or glue at this point as I want to be sure it's all covered before I fit it permanently.

I then fixed the mesh to the back of the bumper:







The glue was useless, and only 10 self tapping screws were provided. I used 3 extra screws and 6 cable ties along the top of the middle section.

 

At this point I then took the PU (front bumper) back to the OPC for re-fitting.

However we then found the OPC technican couldn't get the front PU back on. The mesh was obstructing what Porsche call the 'elephant ears' which channel air to the radiators.

The plastic 'elephant ear' that slot into the bumper are where the mesh is tucked into and attached:









So I took the PU back home again for more adjustments...

 

After much cutting and much creativity in the new fixings, I achieved the final result:







No wobbly bits, and I used cable ties at the very top of each section to secure those. Feels pretty solid.

The PU then went back again to the OPC...

 

Finally back home:









I am in two minds over whether I am happy with this mod.

Plus:
1) Radiators are definitely now much more protected (especially the central one)
2) I didn't have to pay £300 labour for an after-market company to fit them and glue the mesh permanently to the bumper.
3) Looks really good

Minus:
1) The install was really fiddly and time consuming, plus was provided zero instructions by the supplying company (Design911)
2) In the far-side/lower section corners there is still a gap for leaves to get through and clog up the corners. This is because I had to make cuts to the mesh around this area so that the rubber 'elephant ears' could fit back on the bumper.
3) Potential air-flow reduced to the radiators.

I would recommend that anyone doing this yourself use my pics as reference and leave some additional mesh over the far-side/lower sections (where I indicate below in yellow)

 

Since fitting this mesh at the beginning of the summer I have found NO increase in oil or water tempertaures and the mesh has certainly been catching a whole host of debris. So doing it's job nicely with no downsides that I have noticed thus far.

At some future point I may take the whole PU off and get some more mesh and redo it properly to my high OCD standards. It's certainly fine for now though.

Hope this is useful to some of you; quite a few guys in the Porsche Club GB have followed suit since my experiment - even those with brand new Turbos (who have pre-negotiated with their OPCs to not have it affect the warranty).

 

Fantastic post mate!

 

Hey Alex,

I had the same thing done to mine a while back but the shop had to create one from scratch since we couldn't find anyone that made them for the 997TT. I've had them on mine since then and a few things I've found. It's impossible to clean up the road debris that does manages to get through the mesh. Only way to clean that up is to take the bumper off again and vacuum everything up. I also haven't noticed any increase in temperatures either.

 

Great post.

I have these on my 997 RS, but have been told my OPC won't extend my warranty if they are fitted
Crazy, as on the Gen II GT3's they come as standard

 

Nice post. Always a good thing to protect the rads.