i just got my Speedster and would like to have clear bra installed before I drive it much. Can anyone tell me how to remove the trim along the fender and badges from the font of the car? Are these held on with metal tabs, screws, or tape?
Thanks,
Mike
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Headlights: remove the screw at the bottom outside of the headlight and the whole assembly can then be removed. There is an "L" shaped tab at the top that the bezel sits on, so remove the screw, pull the bottom out slightly then lift out and up enough to remove the power plug on the back, then remove the assembly.
Horn grills/directionals: The horn grills are held on by four small (5/16") nuts on the back. Be careful removing the nuts - It's a little easy to strip the threaded studs.
Directionals: There are two small screws on the outside rim circumference. Loosen them a bit, then twist the bezel anti-clockwise a few degrees to remove the bezel and lens. Then, there are two screws holding the base to the car. Remove the screws (there are probably nuts on the inside of the body) and remove the wire terminal then remove the light base.
Remove the bumpers where they attach to the car chassis so the mounting brackets are no longer there.
The hood handle has a top and bottom threaded stud with nuts inside the hood holding it captive.
Leave the side spear trim on the car. The bra material won't go back that far.
Check under the body to see how the "Porsche" script is attached. It could be regular nuts, tinnerman (formed sheetmetal) press-on nuts or just somehow glued in place. Tell us what you see and maybe we can suggest something.
Thanks Gordon,
i don't see any nuts on the backside of the Porsche script but I can see 2 posts barely sticking through.
Mike
Ooooo.....Yuck.
That usually means that the script is glued on by putting a dab of super glue into the post holes and then sticking the posts into the holes. Look at the intersection of the emblem to the body, especially close to where the studs are located, to see if you can spot the odd dab of clear glue. If you do and you push into it with a pin and it seems hard, then it's super glue and you'll have to go around it with the clear film. If the glue seems soft (like bubble gum) then you might have it glued on with clear silicon caulk. It THAT is the case, try pushing gently on the back (inside the body) side of those little posts sticking through to see if it will gently move. Don't go nuts with it - you don't want to separate the gel coat from the underlayment, just see if the emblem begins to lift off of the body. If it does, there's a chance you can get it free. If it resists, then leave it there and work around it.
VS mentioned to me when I picked up my 2013 car the emblems had either be glued with super glue as Gordon Nichols mention or with epoxy on the pins.
One note of caution, the paint isn't very thick and if you ever try to remove the clear bra after install (for any reason) it might pull the paint. The only reason I mention this is that I remember a Spyder at Vintage Motorcars needing a complete paint job because the clear bra vinyl wrap pulled the paint off. It was a mess and the whole car had to be repainted (the person put the clear vinyl wrap on the entire spyder)...
I would suggest you trim around anything glued in becausewhen you pull the emblem, the superglue may lift the paint as said above. If you ever have to remove the clear bra, use a heat gun to lightly heat the film so it will pull away easier. Also when you pull it off, pull it back over itself and don't lift straight up. That will lessen the chance of the film pulling the paint away. I have never been able to figure out why VS glues the side moldings and emblems on instead of using barrel clips. The barrel clips make it easier to take the emblems off without damaging anything.
I heard at VS the fiberglass thickness varied to much to find security in the clips vs post lengths. Good point but there must be another way without adding major cost and labor.
More than likely they just use existing and available Porsche script emblems made for sheet metal attachment (with the clips on the shorter posts), which are expensive enough, already. Getting a low-volume run of the same emblem with longer posts on the back could, conceivably, double the cost and they would probably sell, I dunno..... two?
