{"id":18296,"date":"2021-08-08T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-08T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/?p=18296"},"modified":"2023-04-10T22:40:38","modified_gmt":"2023-04-11T02:40:38","slug":"diy-boxster-bumperette-replacement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rainydaymagazine.com\/wp\/2021\/08\/08\/diy-boxster-bumperette-replacement\/","title":{"rendered":"Boxster Project: Bumperette Replacement"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

At first, we thought it had somehow came loose, but closer inspection revealed it to be something more.<\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

Removal<\/h3>\n

Finding the rubber bumperette on the ground<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

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Shouldn’t this knee bone be connected to that thigh bone?<\/p><\/div>\n

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

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This is what a flaky pie crust should look like \u2014 NOT a Boxster bumperette.<\/p><\/div>\n

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.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Oh thank gawd<\/p><\/div>\n

With the corroded anchor removed, it was clear from the pieces (bumperette, rubber piece, anchor<\/a>) 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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“Bumperette, we hardly knew ye…”<\/p><\/div>\n

Replacement<\/h3>\n

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

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Gettin’ down to business<\/p><\/div>\n

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

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All kinds of wrong, replaced with exactly right.<\/p><\/div>\n

Installation<\/h3>\n

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<\/a> on the bumperette’s anchor for positioning.<\/p>\n

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We got this<\/p><\/div>\n

We found it easier to first put the bolt<\/a> in the hole on the mount<\/a>, then slot in metal piece of the bumperette into place by feel.<\/a><\/p>\n

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This piece is going nowhere<\/p><\/div>\n

Once in place and positioned<\/a>, tightening the bolt from the bottom<\/a> anchored the bumperette securely in place.<\/p>\n

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Badda-bing, badda-boom…bumperette!<\/p><\/div>\n

Links to items mentioned:<\/strong><\/p>\n