996 Turbo - steel mesh on the radiator vents

[Andrew Coates]

Had the car a couple of weeks and have read a few reports about fitting mesh behind the front vents to prevent stones and debris hitting the radiators; anybody on here done this and what have you used?
How easy is it to remove the front bumper and fit the stuff?

Cheers

[Homer J]

I think there's a fair few on here who've had it done now. It's a no brainer really.

I had them done when I had all the rads and condensers replaced, that was about 3 years ago now. No problems since. My specialist fitted them, didn't even charge me it was that quick to do wit hthem already having the bumper off.

Just do a search, there used to be a few good threads showing the installation with photo's etc. Possibly by Evoslayer.

[LeighB]

linky to EvoSlayers thread

Pictures have gone though but there is a video link on the last page which may be of help.

[Andrew Coates]

Thanks for that, I'll have a look through the various threads and get it sorted,

[Rockster]

There's a caution in the owners manual about fitting any screens to the radiator ducts. (There's a web site that gives the reduction in area based on the mesh number per inch and wire size. There can be a fair reduction in the area with a mesh screen fitted.)

I do not know why these are necessary. I've put 278K miles on my Boxster and 119K miles on my Turbo and haven't holed an AC condenser yet, let alone a radiator.

I think the AC condensers/radiators are probably corroding and rocks are being blamed... or the driver pulls in too far into a parking space and runs front of the car over a parking stone and damages the radiators.

[RAWENG]

The new GT3 has them fitted as standard. I have fitted mesh to my 997tt with no cooling issues. My view is that the reduction in airflow will be less than that of two of the side rads being half blocked with leaves. I was very upset that both my side rads failed at less than 11k miles on a car that is not used in the winter salted roads.

[Johnthepotter]

I would certainly fit grills. I went through FIVE radiators and 2 air con condensers running a 996 Turbo for six years and it never went out in the rain !! The issue is not so much stone damage as debris getting in and lodging between rads and ac condensors.

[B19TOY]

Strasse in Leeds fitted mesh on my GT2, no cooling issues.

[neil_a_]

I fitted mesh to my old car after replacing the radiators, never noticed any change to cooling