
One of our most popular stories this January was our list of five ways to improve your Porsche 911’s performance. However, not all modifications can be considered an upgrade. In fact, the Total 911 team believe that some tweaks to your Porsche 911 should be avoided at all costs. Here they are:
Fake Fuchs wheels
The five-leaf Fuchs wheel design is an intrinsic part of the Porsche 911’s heritage. With original alloys both rare and expensive, there have been numerous copies produced over the years but none come close to the genuine article.
Unofficial facelifts
Third-party body kits
We all like a widebody Porsche 911 now and again. However, there are also some truly terrible third-party bodykits available (especially popular on Eighties flatnoses). Don’t believe us, just Google ‘Rinspeed 969’ or ‘Gemballa 930 Mirage’.
Singer-style recreations
Singer’s restored Porsche 964s are simply stunning. They’ve taken the Porsche 911 world by storm and led a resurgence in backdating. Some people have taken it too far though, attempting to recreate the Singer look with much less expertise and budget. Try and put your own backdate stamp on your build instead…
Steering wheel retrims
This is a simple one but can easily ruin the interior of a car. We’ve seen our fair share of terrible homemade steering wheel covers in our time. Another pet peeve of ours are Alcantara trimmed steering wheels in an otherwise entirely leather-clad interior (and vice versa).
the von schmidt # 3 is a well built Singer Copy
Fake Fuchs are not 30 years old and full of cracks.
Real 30 year old Fuchs don’t have cracks either, unless you’ve been hitting shit
30 year old real Fuchs will almost certainly have micro fractures at this point in their lifecycle.
I’ll add to that list:
Adding more horsepower without brake and suspension upgrades. You’ll only upset the balance of the car that already has decades of racing experience and engineering in it.
Piling on to the no- bodykit – nothing is sillier than big tires, valances and other “racer” parts on a stock car… can you say “poseur” ?
I take it a LS3 or 13b rotary conversion isn’t a good option either?
Not all “fake” Fuchs are bad. i.e. Lindsey Racing Wheels are amazing and enhance the Fuch’s wheels.
I personally like the newer 997.2 tail lights on the 997.