Boxster Project: Bumperette Replacement

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Own a car long enough, and pieces of it will start to fall off when you least expect them to. This happened to one of the bumperettes on the 20-year-old Boxster.

At first, we thought it had somehow came loose, but closer inspection revealed it to be something more.

The aluminum piece that normally attaches to the rubber pad had disintegrated, and finally failed. It didn’t look like something we could fix, but it looked like we could replace. EBay…don’t let us down!

Removal

Finding the rubber bumperette on the ground after removing the car cover surprised us, and it took us a little while to realize that we couldn’t just pop it back on.

Looking closer at the protruding metal pieces on the bumper, it was obvious that something was “not right” with one of the pieces. It looked like it was separating into layers, flaking, and crumbling. We decided to take it off for a closer look.

Once the bolt holding the piece in place was loosened, it was easy to remove the corroded anchor from the mount. We were happy to see that the damage was limited to the bumperette’s anchor and not to the mount on the Boxster.

With the corroded anchor removed, it was clear from the pieces (bumperette, rubber piece, anchor) why it was not reparable: the rubber piece holding the anchor in place had broken away from the bumperette. The only option we had was to replace the entire assembly.

Replacement

The Porsche Boxster has been around since 1997, so replacement parts are fairly easy to obtain. We got these on EBay for $40 including shipping, which we’re pretty sure is a lot less expensive than the OEM from Porsche.

Here are a few more close-up look a the failed mount: back, side. The replacements also came with their own mounting bolts. We didn’t need them as we still had the ones removed from the car.

Installation

There wasn’t much to the installation of the bumperettes: one bolt from  the bottom tightens the piece against the mount on the car. Note that there is a little bit of a slot on the bumperette’s anchor for positioning.

We found it easier to first put the bolt in the hole on the mount, then slot in metal piece of the bumperette into place by feel.

Once in place and positioned, tightening the bolt from the bottom anchored the bumperette securely in place.

Links to items mentioned:

• Hex Key Allen Wrench Set with Ball End – Set of 26
• Powerbuilt 8 Pc Metric T-Handle Hex Allen Key Wrench Set
• Olsa Tools T-Handle Hex Key Set – Professional Grade