Cayman GTS (2015)…that was

Yes, I traded my almost ten month old (but nearly 10,000 miles) GTS in. Whaaat, you say? On what, you say? A friggin’ Cayman GT4, that’s what! More about that here, but if you want to spend a few minutes looking at what was a really great car, and my first (but not only) PDK car, scroll down.

Ordered in late August 2014, my new 2015 Cayman GTS in Jet Black Metallic over black leather and Alcantara arrived December 12.

My car appeared on the cover, and in the cover article of November 2015 issue of Excellence magazine.

The last thing I did before trading my GTS for the GT4 was an alignment.
Up on the rack after getting a wheel alignment. Did I need an alignment? No. But it’s nice to check the factory settings and put a little more negative camber into those front wheels.
Alignment for X73 sports suspension from the factory was:
Front. camber L -1.0, R -1.1, toe -.07
Rear. camber L -2.0, R -1.8, toe +1.08
After alignment, the new settings are:
Front. camber L -1.9, R -1.9, toe +0.03
Rear. camber L -2.3, R -2.2, toe +0.63

Photo above from a recent trip to AZ Hwy 191. This is at Hannegan’s Meadow. That’s road grime and bug splatter!
Below are some photos just after having the car wrapped in Xpel Ultimate, and the windows tinted in 20%:

There’s an interesting (for me) parallel here, as some of the first photos I made of my 2006 Cayman S were made on this same level of the UNM parking structure!

I must share my insanity about wrapping with 3M’s 1080 CF vinyl product. I really like this product (and it’s not *real* carbon fiber–of course! It’s an alternative finish, that’s all.)
Anyway, here’s the first element I wrapped. The wing…

The front splitter was very difficult to wrap, having to do it in three pieces. I also made my own grilles to protect all three radiators.

Here are some closeups of the grilles:

…and the splitter/spoiler wrapped in CF vinyl.

The rear diffuser wasn’t too bad, other than the challenges of wrapping a product that works well at temperatures of 70F or above in actual winter temperatures below 40F!