New source of quality looking sill repair panels

Hallsy · Sep 20, 2015

Just a heads up, I noticed a new supplier of quality looking sill repair panels on ebay.
Got chatting to the seller and suggested that to go the extra mile, it would be worth adding the jacking point diamond. A couple of days later he has messaged me to say he has added the jacking point diamond, and updated the listing to suit.
I have no affiliation with the seller, but to me, these look like a viable alternative to oe panels - I have not seen these panels in the flesh, but when I come to re-do my sills I will be giving these a try.
http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/221887696569 for anyone interested

robdimond · Sep 20, 2015

That actually looks pretty decent (the diamond doesn't look quite right to me?), although it's only 80 quid cheaper than the genuine panel so if you're going to go to the trouble...
The rear quarter panel on the other hand (available separately) looks very worthwhile... quite tricky to make and buying a whole genuine rear quarter is certainly overkill. I would definitely have bought one of these if it was available when I did mine.

colin944 · Sep 20, 2015

I would still go for an original panel.The difference in price is only an hour or so of labour on a job that would take a few hours for a body shop to do. They unoriginal panel would have to be a perfect copy made from better quality steel or even galvanised steel for it to be worth that much money.

Monkeythree · Sep 20, 2015

They look OK in the photos but I'm not keen on the front edge of the sill. On the OE panel, this continues under the front wing. Fitting one of these non OE panels means cutting the original and leaving a bit of it still spot welded in place. Not as strong and prone to future rust IMO.

pauljmcnulty · Sep 20, 2015

Why on earth would you pay, perhaps, £50 less for a pattern part, when the labour is likely over a grand??

If you've not seen the Porsche sill part please have a look before comparing it to the one pictured here. Total waste of money IMO, buy the proper part and save a few hours fitting, plus know it's original, and treated to last.

white944 · Sep 20, 2015

I once had a 944 with sills fitted by 2 different Porsche 'specialists' who will remain nameless.
One was one of the usual pattern sills that don't have the stepped bottom or jacking diamond that these new ones replicate. This had rusted through within a few years The other side had a genuine sill, but they had cut the end off and the door step off to avoid taking the wing off and unpicking the welds around the door opening and fitted it like a pattern sill anyway, presumably to save on labour. Both were stitched on rather than spot welded like the originals. In both cases, the new pattern sills would have probably been a better bet for a perfectly serviceable and aesthetically acceptable repair. Obviously, if you need to replace the inner panels or are going for a proper restoration, you should insist on properly fitted original parts by a reputable workshop, monitor the work personally and pay the going rate.
BTW, the genuine sills do fit beautifully but have no anti corrosion treatment, that's down to the guy who fits them to sort out properly.

PSH · Sep 20, 2015

I agree that the diamond looks wrong, a little small possibly....I disagree that these may be a waste of money....I see these as panels one would buy when doing the bodywork for themselves rather than when getting a body shop to do it for you except for the lower arch part as that's not available from Porsche ( or it certainly wasn't when I had mine done about 12 years ago) without buying the whole rear quarter and thus a very handy thing to be able to get your hands on. In this respect they have a value and could save someone many hours of work trying to fabricate what is a rather complicated shape especially when talking of the compound curve on the already mentioned lower rear arch sill section.
I think it's good to have these available for the enthusiast and don't forget Porsche will stop making these parts soon enough, we have already had a period when the drivers outside sill was not available, it will only get worse as the cars get older.

Pete

pauljmcnulty · Sep 21, 2015

Good point, Pete, but my concern is that we get "cheap" alternatives, people buy them and not the "really cost-effective" genuine parts, so they stop making them.

Fair enough if it was really more economical, but £100 compared to £160 makes the Porsche original seem very cheap.

Hallsy · Sep 21, 2015

Some good points - as I say, no affiliation from me, just noticed them the other day and the seller seems to make quite a few different repair panels, and these look far better than the other repair panels out there - which many 944 owners have used over OE panels. I agree though, at first glance the diamond does look too small.

I must admit, I couldn't remember if the OPC price for full outer was inclusive or exclusive of VAT, but even then, the saving is not so much in the panel, but the labour cost will be less to fit a repair panel over a full panel. Drilling out spot welds is time consuming! Regardless of which route you take, the lower quarter repair panels look good, so glad someone is going to the bother of making some half decent versions. I'm looking at this from the DIY route, so actual labour costs don't come into it for me - just time really. I suppose deep down I can be picky, so would still go for the OE panel route, as stated the price differential is small, but I still think these repair panels would make for an acceptable repair. Horses for courses of course!

It surprises me that no-one makes a decent repair panel for the front wing bottoms yet.