Slipstream - May 2017

Screen Test: Protecting Your Porsche Radiators With Grille Inserts
By Mark Doerner
Photos courtesy of the Author
f you’ve had a water-cooled Porsche for any
I
length of time, you’ve had to deal with a
very odd design feature of your masterpiece
of German engineering: the radiators and
A/C condensers are practically flapping in the breeze,
protected by a few thin louvers in the front. Sure,
those louvers would probably stop a two-by-four from
reaching your delicate radiators and condensers, but
anything smaller than that, not so much. This is what
us Porsche fanatics would call a “special” design feature
that gives our cars “character.”
While GT track-oriented versions of the 911 and
Cayman have some nifty screens in the front grille,
the rest of us are stuck with the problem of excessive
road debris mucking up and possibly damaging our radiators
and condensers. And in the Dallas/Fort Worth
area there are plenty of stones flying around on the
roadways with our endless parade of road construction.
Of course you can just accept that lots of crud will
get through the front bumper louvers, necessitating
periodic bumper removal and extensive cleaning
around the radiators and condensers (as outlined in
an excellent article in the January 2017 Slipstream). Or,
you could get some aftermarket screens for the front
bumper to prevent much of that debris from getting
through in the first place.
I opted for the latter. And after a little online research,
and lots of discussion with other Porsche owners,
I narrowed it down to two aftermarket options for
front grille screens: Zunsport and Rennline.
Zunsport (Zunsport.
com) is a British company
that makes a very
nice-looking set of
screens for the front
bumper. The sets are
cut and formed for most
Porsche models, ready
Zunsport grill set
for installation. One of
the nice things about
the Zunsport screens is
that they can be installed without removing the front
bumper. For the do-it-yourselfer who does not have the
time and/or expertise to remove his or her bumper,
these are a great option. The screens pop in from the
front with various clips and screws, all provided with
the kit.
The other option is a set of screens made by Rennline
(Rennline.com), a company out of Vermont in the
good ol’ U.S. of A. These screens require the removal
of the front bumper for installation. While that may be
a negative if you want to install the screens yourself,
it does allow for a somewhat more secure attachment.
Once the bumper is removed, the screens are installed
from behind using a set of screws and clips provided
with the kit. The kit comes with installation instructions,
and the Rennline website has a video showing
how it’s done. Of note: the video on their website does
not show how to remove the bumper, but such videos
are readily available on YouTube. For the less mechanically
inclined, you could take your car to a good
Porsche mechanic and they should be able to handle
the installation with ease (although not without cost).
There is one other option I’ve heard of – buy some
sturdy grille screen and create them from scratch.
Without a pattern this could be a real challenge, and
well beyond my skill set. But I know there are many
talented Porsche owners in our Maverick Region for
whom this would be a fun and challenging weekend
project.
I opted for the Rennline screens, just because they
seem a little more secure in their attachment to the
bumper. But I have seen the Zunsport screens on a
couple of Porsches and they look super nice, and they
are probably plenty sturdy for most people. I had my
Rennline screens installed at RAC Performance, and
I was happy with the outcome. They seem as sturdy as
factory-installed grille screens, without any kind of rattle
or looseness, and the installation hardware is fully
hidden from view. As you can see from the photos, the
layout of the screens is
a little different from
the factory screens on
a GT3 or GT4 in that
they are recessed behind
the original horizontal
louvers (the GT
cars have no louvers
to contend with). But
this is still a very clean
look, worthy of your
Porsche.
Both the Zunsport
and Rennline screens
come in black or silver.
I opted for the black,
given all the black trim
on my Porsche. But if
you want to get wild
Rennline grill installation on the
author’s 991 GTS
and crazy, I can see how the silver could look great with
the right color combo.
20 May