Hi Guys

I bought the carbon fiber diffuser from Rottec and when it arrived I immediately noticed that the piece was going to need some work

See the following pics
The groove that slides into the bumper is very warped and wavy so I knew this was going to require a professional to sand it down and smooth it out for a proper fit.





Given the price I expected a little more quality but thankfully one of the best auto body shops in my area is only 20 minutes away. So I drop off the bumper and the new diffuser earlier in the week and I get a call last night asking me to stop by because there's another issue

When the shop took the stock diffuser off the bumper they counted 18 mounting tabs, however the Rottec piece only has 12 mounting slots

has anyone successfully installed one of these?

My shop is telling me we have 2 choices, either cut 6 tabs off the bumper and use urethane to hold it firm or cut 6 additional slots in the CF. I prefer to not modify the bumper but not sure why the piece would be advertised as a direct replacement for oem but be missing 6 mounting slots.

So before we cut the extra slots in the diffuser I was hoping someone who has installed one of these can let me know what they did. Hindsight is 20/20 but given the extra labor cost involved in getting this to fit properly, not to mention the added headache, I probably should have just bought the techart piece which I believe is a true OEM fit

- Art

 

Did you try and contact Ray?

 

yup, he's in Asia on business and slow to respond, maybe he's meeting with his suppliers in China, I'm not sure

unfortunately I've got the bumper and diffuser at the shop in limbo waiting for best path forward so I thought I would ask the members here. Hopefully someone has first hand experience with this diffuser

- Art

 

Im pretty sure there was an 18 slot option on the website.

Seriously id get out the dermel and CAREFULLY knotch out the other slots...

 

Sorry to see your troubles but I'm not too surprised. As usual, modifications require modifications themselves. Aftermarket carbon fiber is generally poor quality and not straight bolt on. If you are committed to the install your best option is to modify the diffuser and sacrifice the part rather than anything on the car. At this point I'd be concerned what the next issue will be. Expecting the alignment to be poor.....

I have the authentic TA piece and it has its minor issues. Not truly OEM quality but the better option I think.

On the plus side for this piece, the plastic center insert isn't as nice as the exposed carbon.

Out of curiosity and aside from the above issues what's the construction of this piece like in terms of thickness and rigidity? Is it all CF or just a single ply over fiberglass?

 

LOL, I must have clicked on the wrong SKU when ordering

the shop is recommending the same thing, and Ray emailed me from his business trip in Asia and said some trimming is required. Not completely clear on what that means so if I don't get further guidance from Ray or others here by tomorrow morning I'll have the shop use a dremel to notch out the other slots (I assume this is what Ray means by "trimming").

Brooks is one of the best shops in the area and if they can't make it work, it simply ain't working


This is my concern as well. I would expect that for the price the fit would be nearly perfect, and I know the body shop will do the best they can with what the piece will allow

My primary issue is the diffuser is advertised on rottec's website as "There is no drilling or modifying required as it is mounted on to OEM mounting point making it a direct replacement."



Obviously modifications are required to get 18 tabs and 12 slots to work together, and therefore the diffuser is not really as advertised. Based on this claim I had not anticipated the added labor cost to make this work.

It bears repeating but this is not a straight forward installation, the shop has to be very skilled at modifying carbon fiber, cutting, smoothing etc to get proper fit and finish. If this was fully understood upfront I would not have purchased the piece because there are too many "ifs".

I am sure Ray will work with me to make sure I'm happy when all is said and done


The carbon fiber itself feels rigid but I can't really comment on whether it is 100% CF or wrapped around fiber glass without cutting it in half to confirm.

- Art

 

i was just about to buy this piece from them. Very interested to hear how it turns out and see pics. I may hold off... Please post pics when you're done!

 

Will do. I'm hoping they'll get it on today, I will try to stop by the shop and take some pics of the fit before they remove it for painting

 

I bought the dry CF piece from Ray for my old 997 turbo... and did the install myself.

Holy crap... that's all I can say. I had similar issues... I had to trim some tabs, etc. Things really took some "working" to get them to line up correctly. I'm no body shop but I did eventually get it to work. I was fairly proud of myself since I did it all outside in the driveway. (although the bumper was brought inside to be "massaged" into position)

I won't be getting that piece for my current turbo.





Hard to see, but it's installed including the tips he sells as well. (those were another challenge in their own). I also had the GT2 side skirts in dry CF from Ray and the body shop (I didn't do those) couldn't get them perfect.... again, good enough that no one could tell but me, but not perfect.

 

Do tell! I was looking at those tips, they are quite reasonable! Also notice you have a carbon wing. I was also looking at that item from him. Did you get it from Rottec? I thought it would be a sweet replacement on my black car.

 

"Holy crap" is about right. Sounds like you trimmed the tabs on the bumper instead of cutting new slots into the diffuser, is that right?

from your pics it looks like it worked, and the color of the car is insane, love it!

I'm hoping to stop by the shop later today to see the fit before they start to paint. If I can make it there, I will take some pics and post them here

I think Rottec needs to let potential customers simply know that the part is not a direct fit for OEM and requires modifications including trimming tabs on your bumper and/or cutting slots in to the diffuser, as well as sanding and smoothing out the grooves to get proper fit. Depending on your shop this adds 25%-30%+ to the cost of the part.

An informed customer is a happy customer

The way the product description reads now is misleading

 

Art sorry to hear about this mess. I have the same diffusser on my car however it was installed by the cars previous owner. He had similar issues which Rottec had helped remedy by means of reimbursement for additional work required by the body shop doing the install.

Read the disclaimer on the product, it is clear that no modifications are required, obviously not the case.

This looks like a Hon Hai product, I'd like to see the FAI results. I'm intersted in hearing about the MFG process of this product. Can Rottec provide that for us? Lips & diffusers affect aerodynamics , aesthetics aside I'm conerned about functionality. What's going to happened if I'm doing 145 down a straight on the track?

I guess you get what you pay for, or maybe not.

Bring back manufacturing to the states!

Hope this gets remedied.

 

Well, I don't know where to begin with the tips... it seems like they're not made for stock exhausts... since the diameter is almost the exact same size as the pipe they're supposed to fit onto. So imagine trying to get two tubes that are the same diameter to slide into one another. There was a lot of "metal work" involved, along with a lot of swearing. I can tell you this... once on, they are NOT going anywhere... and they looked pretty amazing. Just didn't expect to spend hours (like 3 or more) getting them on since it takes about 15mins to get the old ones off. Again, if I had a shop with a heat source.. like a blow torch.... I coulda saved some time.

As for the bumper.. yes, I did trim the tabs off the actual bumper. It was one of those "is this really worth it" moments.... as well as, "there's no going back" now.

The rear wing was also from Ray... that was an excellent piece that lined right up and there were no issues with at all. Make sure you have the spoiler wrench to get the wing off... suncoast probably sells it. I also however, ordered the TA style for my new car and the shop had major issues with it, and even now I'm having next to zero luck selling it. (ended up going with the more aggressive agency power wing on the new car)

I've bought a LOT of stuff from Rottec. Most of it I've been pleased with... but the dry CF parts I've ordered seem to have more "issues" and I'm probably done dealing with those. They seem to need a bit more attention and don't just bolt right on. I would say a good body shop is required.

Hope that helps.. that rear diffuser WILL fit.. and it is great looking once you get it on the car... best of luck!

As for the color of the old car, yeah, it was insane... my "new" turbo is boring meteor grey. I joke that I lost my convertible, heated seats and orange paint in the divorce.

You can see the GT2 sides (dry CF) as well as the GT3 smile (dry CF) and part of the wing. All were from Ray...

 

Thanks Tom, great point on the aerodynamic stability of these parts. Hopefully the only issue is getting proper fit and finish but now you have me thinking about safety

 

Car looks bad a$$$$$

the black wheels complete the look

what are the specs on those wheels? offsets are perfect, do you recall what they were front and back?