Daves996

If you are a perfectionist/obsessive type Porsche owner who has replaced your cracked, peeling or laminated wood or carbon inserts in your 996's defroster vents in an upgraded 996 interior, I feel your pain! There are not many other places a few minor issues needing repair can cause so much attention, It's an eyesore and constant reminder to you "I'm broken, fix me" as it can, as you drive and peer out the windscreen. Trying to fix them yourself can be tricky, trying to mend them in place, from my own personal experience, is ineffective, a good way to damage more real estate on the dash. Also what you choose as a binder/adhesive you use may only, appear to work in the cool of the garage, but wont stand the heat of the summer sun. Let me share my journey in hope it may allow you to chose how to address a repair or replacement and some things to consider: 1. You need to remove the vents if you are going to work on them. 2. 2 part resin epoxy glue will do the job to re attach pealing, curling inserts. Contact Cement is a poor choice and highly discourage trying to use it, or gorilla glue because of its expansion and foam is not predictable and cause a permanent blemish.. I recommend investing in 3 or 4 number of small wood worker's clamps with rubber contacts , the type with squeeze triggers not screw clamps, to ensure a tight bond and leave them be for a day once you glue, set and clamp them....reinstall and you buy more time. 3. Consider Vinyl Wrap as a substitute in the strip's channel, There are excellent wood grain and faux CF candidates for the job.. Especially If the leather is in good shape but the strips are too far gone, broken, cracked or too dammaged. consider stripping them out completely, removing the adhesive in the channel and making a smooth surface, with a plastic upholster tool pry up just a few millimeters of leather away from the channel to give yourself room to seat in the vinyl under, then use some tiny drops of super glue to re attach the leather over the vinyl. 4. Look and wait to find a pair of replacements in eBay or with a specialized auto salvage for Porsches like LA Dismantlers...most available today is going to be black or beige rare is leather covered, and rarer is leather with inserts/ 5. Consider having a specialist like Classic 9 Leather Shop in Detroit who will strip and recover your vents with Porsche leather..no strip incerts but the pictures on their website look really really good and Bob can put authentic stitches in his restoration which is cool. 6. Porsche parts dealers can offer you still some limited options but they seem to be offering only old inventory or maybe some new items if Black Plastic is what you want you want, you are in luck. Suncoastparts.com quoted me $185 per piece, and a R/L pair is only available in black, no leather finish...brand new mind you but black...you can buy used black ones on eBay for about 50-75 dollars each. 8. There is a Carbon Fiber interior specialist where you can purchase ready to install black leather vents with CF inserst for about $410 each side. MACarbon.com offers one...check them out. . What did choose to do? I opted to insert vinyl wrap in the channels with some help... Attached are the finished products...while finish is not exact, i can tell you im happy with the result. This is automotive/outdoor UV grade vinyl. not glossy so no reflective glare in the glass. I ordered the vinyl on Amazon from Rvinyl tint and auto accessories store front. I recommend you look at the model Rwraps Wood Grain Vinyl Film Sheet Wrap Roll Decal - Burlwood (Honey) and order a roll of 12" x 36" for less than $20.00 I belong to a facebook fanpage, 996 Rennlisters...a common salutation for new members is, "Welcome to the Asylum"... Good Luck and dont settle for black plastic replacements for your upgraded leather/wood/CF appointed 996 interiors if you dont want to compromise. Dave