n 2012 I noticed some small cracks in the upper corners of the air foil. Every time I’d wash the car and then clay it, yellow bits of clay would get stuck in the cracks. The cracks got a little worse the next year so in 2014 I decided to replace it. I purchased a used air foil from a Porsche salvage yard in Toronto. It was the wrong color and had a gash in the lower left corner. I had it patched, repainted and installed for much less than the cost of a new one. I’ve spoken with my mechanic and the people at the body shop who specialize in Porsches about the cause of the cracks. Neither knew of a cause or had seen this before. Hopefully I won’t see it again.
The plastic air foil wall was the original so after 20 years it was starting to have pieces split off. So right after I replaced air foil, I ordered a new air foil wall. It took about 15 minutes to remove the old one and replace it.
I’ve kept the old air foil and air foil wall, as with all the parts I’ve replaced, to give to the next owner.
This is the air foil before I began. There is a crack in the plastic in both the left and right upper corners.
Closer view of the crack the left corner.
Closer view of the crack the right corner.
This is the silver air foil replacement I got from a Porsche salvage yard in Toronto. Not only was the color wrong for my car but it had a scratch in the lower left corner. After the scratch was repaired, the metal had to be masked off from the plastic for painting. I could find no references on how to separate the two.
The air foil is being replaced on the lift mechanism after the repair and paint. There are four Allan head bolts that it on.
Fabulous color match and installation.
This is the original air foil wall. You can see the piece hanging down and the wall is no longer attached to the upper air foil.
This shows the air foil mechanism after the air foil wall was removed.
The air foil wall will clip onto this lower bar after it is connected to the pin. The pin is in this picture is just above the solid horizontal bar.
This shows the side of the air foil mechanism after the new air foil wall has been pressed onto the bar and under the pins mounted on the air foil mechanism.
After the wall is attached, the lip facing down is attached to a ridge in the air foil.
The new air foil has been patched, painted and installed. The old air foil wall has been removed and the new one installed. The white specks are from polishing compound from the body shop. When the air foil was first installed it had a number of small air bubbles in the paint. I took back to the shop where they rubbed the bubbles out using a drill and polishing pad. When they were using polishing pad, the compound sprayed all over the body and the convertible top. These will dissolve when I wash it the next time.
