Zunsport visit - ended up with full set!

[DJMC]

Untitled by David Chapman, on Flickr


I'd contacted Zunsport a few weeks back after wanting a pair of rear grilles to hide my 981 2.7 exhaust boxes but having seen another post which said they didn't fit correctly, here: http://www.planet-9.com/981-cayman-and-boxster-mod...

Zunsport's MD, Peter Langston, took me up on my offer to bring my car in so they could check if more clips needed to be fitted to the rear grilles. I went in on Thursday and Peter showed me around the factory. First of all... what a nice chap! Anyone with Peter's friendly customer approach and determination to get things spot on deserves to succeed.

The black grilles I was interested in are protected with a nylon polymer coating, not powder coated or anodised, and they are still 316 stainless underneath as are the bright finished grilles. Peter explained some other manufacturers, including OEM, make black grilles which are either mild steel or aluminium with powder or anodised coatings but the issue with these, which Peter didn't want to repeat after careful research, is that the coating will be chipped away by stone impacts and the underlying steel will rust or the aluminium will corrode, causing further damage to the coating and appearance. Zunsport's nylon coating is elastic and stones bounce more easily so that the nylon coating may suffer a small dent, but not a chip.

After Peter's introduction and a welcome coffee, my car was ushered into the unit and the rear lifted up on a hydraulic ramp, so as to make it easier on the worker's backs. Peter's kindness showing through again!

The rears were fitted in about 10 minutes, having had their apertures protected with masking tape. Peter, his son, and another technician inspected the fitted grilles and tried to pull or push them out with just the two original upper cups holding them firmly in place. I then had a go and couldn't move them at all. They were in to stay!

Watching them being fitted, I wondered if the planet-9 poster's problem may have been caused by not following this part of the instructions?: "Using a thin screwdriver through the mesh lever the 2 brackets so that they have clipped behind the aperture and the grille is secured tightly into position."



Untitled by David Chapman, on Flickr


Peter asked if I'd considered the front and side grilles. I said, as tactfully as possible, that I wasn't keen on them sitting right at the front of the apertures as I liked the "gaping" air intake look. He persuaded me to let him fit them and if I didn't like them he'd take them off again. Fair enough.

With the car lifted at the front, Peter pointed out the damage to my radiator fins after 19k miles, adding that a customer had recently ordered a full front set after forking out £1000 for a new rad after a stone split it. At ground level, I'd never noticed the amount of stone strikes to my rads. I had read on the forums about such things, but thought a stone strike would be a "one off" and rare occurrence, so had put front grilles out of my mind. I was quite shocked at how many stones had hit home on the rads...






With the fronts fitted, I was immediately impressed. I hadn't realised they sit inside each of the three individual apertures, between the body coloured vanes, and so are set back from where I had imagined them to be, right at the front. "OK Peter, I'll have 'em! They look great and I can now see why I need them!"



Untitled by David Chapman, on Flickr

Untitled by David Chapman, on Flickr


Side intake grilles next. I'd had an issue within a week of buying the car when a leaf entered the r/h intake and was being brushed by the cooling fan, making a very loud and annoying ticking sound. These grilles will stop that...

Untitled by David Chapman, on Flickr


So, having gone to Zunsport to check the rears would fit OK (they're just up the A5 from me), I ended up so impressed by the fit, finish, look, and practical application of their grilles I ended up with a full set!

Moreover, I was really impressed by the interest they had shown in my concern over fitting of the rear grilles, and the slickness of the firm's operation. I wish Peter's family run firm (most of the staff are related!) the very best success for the future and thank him for his hospitality.

Zunsport web site: https://www.zunsport.com/en/

Loads more photos with the Zunsport grilles fitted, here: https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0C59UlCqGCGxs...

Untitled by David Chapman, on Flickr

Edited by DJMC on Friday 15th April 18:22

[griffter]

I ordered a set of zunsport grilles for my aerokitted 996 before Christmas, on the advice of someone not from zunsport that standard 996 grilles would fit. I only got around to trying to fit them a few weeks ago, only to discover they didn't fit. The aerokit apertures must be slightly different. I called zunsport, well past their 30 day return period to explain that I took full responsibility, and would sell them myself - unless they would consider a refund. No quibble, they offered full refund if I sent them back. I was very impressed. They didn't need to do that.