Lyn

What a shame, as it doesn't cost the Dealership squat to do warranty work and happy service customers are potential future buyers. As Mike said, we need to share both good and bad Dealer experiences with the membership and I think we should clearly identify the Dealerships by name. I am only 2 weeks away from the end of my warranty and Porsche of North Scotsdale AZ treated me like I had just bought the Box from them. Too bad that you got saddled with one of the bad actors and you ought to publish their name and address for future reference. Lyn

I recently noticed a couple of suspicious drips on the garage floor and having just about 2 weeks of warranty time left on my 03 Boxster S, I took it to my local Dealer (50 miles away) for a check. Porsche of North Scotsdale confirmed the leak, changed the main and intermediate seals, changed the oil filter, put in 9 qts of Mobil 1, loaned me a car for $8.00 (gas charges only) and had it all finished overnight. They measured the crankshaft endplay and it was within limits and they volunteered, without my asking, that if the measurement was at all questionable, they would change the engine. It certainly turned out to be one of my better car dealer related experiences I've had in life, as they did all of the above at no charge and with no hassle. Lyn :clapping:

It seems like it has taken forever (2 months with all the interuptions), but I finshed one of the more economical upgrades of Boxster stereo speakers in my 2003 S today. I elected to continue to use the factory CDR23 HU and Becker BE660 Amp because I wanted to retain the stock appearance and as they are linked by fiberoptics, if you change one, you must change both. Andy Morris' DIY on stereo upgrades is a great guideline to start with and along with that and some personal e-mail advice from Andy I completed the task for less than $450. I used Harvey Peck's PNP rear speaker kit to start with and then installed 4" MB Quart DKD 110s with vfbox's foam baffles in the dash and 5 1/4" MB Quart DKE 113s in the doors using the stock baffles modified slightly ala Dremel. The transformation is phenomonal and the results far outweigh the money spent. Those of you thinking about upgrading your system, should do so. I would like to have a little more amplifier power, but then again I don't want to deal with the fiberoptic compatibility issue. I initially tried to use some of vfbox's adapter plates to fit the dash speakers, but ended up cutting up the original speakers to do the adaptation because of some clearance problems. These adapter plates are really a nice item and I would guess that they work well in 95% of the Boxster applications. I have them available at a much reduced price, should any of you be interested in them. Many thanks to Andy Morris for taking the time to put his detailed DIY on the Forum and now I'm on to the next project: the exhaust system. Lyn

Great input & many thanks to all those that replied. I never cease to be amazed by the amount of tribal knowledge available on this Forum for those of us new to the world of Boxsters. Lyn

I bought one of the little red clips that fits somwhere in the area of the sun visor when you want to activate the infared part of the alarm system when the top is down, but i don't have a clue as to exactly how it is used. I've done a Forum search without being able to find anything, so any input from the mebership would be appreciated. Lyn

Generally speaking there will be enough meat on Zimmrman rotors to do a skim cut, at the least, and that might true them up. I've seen cross drilled rotors cut before and don't believe it requires much more than a skilled lathe operator with a sharp tool. The basic problem, however, is that you are dealing with one-piece rotors that do not disapate the heat well without warping. The solution is a two-piece rotor that has some level of float between the outer rotor and center section. Two-piece rotors are a lot more expensive, but they rarely warp. I installed Boxster claipers on the front of my VW GTi a couple of yeasrs ago and eventually had to go to 13" two-piece AWE rotors to stop the warping because the Zimmerman rotors turned to potato chips in very few miles. Lyn

We finished up the installation of Harvey's rear speaker kit on my 2003 S yesterday AM. It took about 5 hours ( about normal) and went well. We elected to drill a 1/4" hole through the large rubber gromet that holds the main harness in the firewall to pull the wires through. A little silican sealant around the hole and it was sealed up tight again. That step made it much easier to get the wires from under the dash into the battery compartment. The improvement in sound is well worth the money and effort and I would agree that this as the best first step towards improvement of your Boxster stereo system. I have the CDR23 HU and a Becker 6600 Amp. Lyn

For those of you that have installed the PNP kit: Is there any reason that you have to remove the radio if you have the BE660 external amp? I'm reading the instructions and it would seem that you can bypass the radio removal part and plug directly into the amp?? If the answer to this seems painfully obvious and I'm the only one not getting the picture, please enlighten me gently. Thx, Lyn

Interesting post. I thought that I was the only one that couldn't get totally comforable in my Boxster. I'm 6'2" and have the heated seats in my 2003 S. I would like to be able to raise the front of the seat cushion to give more support to the bottom of my legs and wondered if any of you have figured out how to do that? Do the non-heated seats have a softer bottom cusion or are they all the same. Thx in advance. Lyn

I used red VHT high temp engine paint to overspray gray calipers. After I was satisfied with the coverage, I put new decals on and then oversprayed with VHT clear. It looked like a factory job, resisited chipping, cleaned up well and still looked great 2 years later when I sold the car. I prepped the calipers by cleaning them with methyl ethyl keytone (MEK), that you can get at Home Depot, and had to spray about 10 or 15 even coats on to get it right. It's a 2 day project to do it right, but VHT works wherever you want to paint things that get hot and was originally developed for headers. You can get it over the internet from Loper's Speedshop in Phoenix. Lyn

Lots of good input and all is appreciated. It's likely the tire issue, as many of you indicated and I guess I'll have to live with it for a while as they were fresh when I bought the car and I hate to contemplate putting out the bucks for a new set of tires already. Lyn

I'm pretty new to Boxsters and have had my 2003 S for less that 2 months. About 99% of that time has been spent with the top down enjoying as much of the spring time in Phoenix as possible. However, I've had the top up the last few days, because the outside temp has finally gotten to the high 90's and am surprised that the interior noise level with the top up is not a lot less than with the top down. It's a different kind of noise, driveline related instead of wind related, but noise nonetheless. The noise is best described as a constant "thrumming, or resonance" that is the same under partial power, or with the clutch disengaged and coasting. I've got the stock exhaust and Perelli P Zero tires and it is definately not engine noise. I'm wondering if this kind of noise is a normal expectation with a Boxster and I should just be patient until the high summer passes, or am I hearing more than I should. I've got 6 months of warranty left and want to capitalize on it if possible, but don't want to be chasing ghosts either. Thx for your input. Lyn

Thx to both "Cassiebox" and "Charlestonboxster" for your quick and detailed input. I'm stereo stupid, so any and all information and guidance is of great value. Cassiebox indicated that we both had the same model HUs installed , so the next question is what speakers did you end up installing in your doors and dash mounts? I'm not into re-discovering the world, so if what you installed worked please pass on what specific speaker models you decised to use. Thx again to both of you, Lyn

My 2003 Boxster S came with door and dash mounted speakers and the CDR23 head unit. The sound leaves a lot to be desired, so I was well on my way toward product improvement and have ordered the PNP rear speaker system. I have also been in contact with Andy Morris and was planning to use his "how-to" instructions for updating the door and dash speakers until we got th the amp question. I had expected that my CDR23 would be paired with a 6X40W amp in line with the M490 option, but instead I have a Becker BE660 DSP amp and have no idea what size amp or how many channels it has and whether I can use it paired with the speakers recommended in Andy's tutorial. Any guidance that any of you might have would be highly appreciated. Lyn