monkeydust

I had the building super help me take my hard top off yesterday. He apparently didn't have a good grip on my hood and dropped the thing on the carbrio lid (I think that is what it is called. It is the metal panel that raises up on hinges and lowers back down after the soft top is stowed). So, that pointy piece of the hard top made a 1/2" scratch and a minor dent that is in a very visible area of the car.

So, my question is should I try to take this panel off and hammer it out myself? If so, how hard is that in terms of removing it and hammering it out? I've never done anything like that before so I'm not sure how much it would cost. Otherwise, I suppose I'd have to take it to a body shop to have them take care of it.

Thanks!

What a coincidence. Mine just went out on me yesterday and I'm taking it in to get it replaced on Monday. Got the battery disconnected on my car right now since I wasn't able to remove the key in the proper spot so the car electrical system was still engaged. Gonna cost me $600. :(

LOL, I did the same thing accidentally like 20 minutes after I got my car. I had to take it back to the dealership to have them fix it. Took them about 15 minutes to figure out how to do it. :P

Thanks for the advice, everyone! :)

Yeah, my socks no longer get stuck to my car! :o

Well, the reason that I don't think the scratches were really there is because like I said, it was repainted back in January.

So, I wasn't sure if just a normal turtle wax would get rid of the scratches or if I need to buy an orbital buffer. I live in a condo so I really don't have a convenient power source to plug one into.

Ok, so I had a little accident yesterday. I washed my car and then used a couple of microfibre towels to dry it. Well, after I was done (it was dusk so I couldn't see that clearly), I noticed some white swirls on my windshield. I look at my towels and I notice one of them has a Bounce drier sheet stuck to it. Yeah, I dried my car with a scratchy fragrant fabric softener stuck to my towel.

So, looking at my car in the light, I see all these tiny scratches all over it. This is only a couple of months after I had the majority of my car painted.

What's my best bet to get these micro-scratches out of my car?

I guess on the bright side, my car smells good! B)

Ok, so the numbers on the LCD are basically blank areas where the light shines though and then the rest is black? That would explain the problem I had. All the LCD substance had been rubbed off somehow in a splotch in the middle of my odometer display as you can see here.

Anyways, I looked at that site some more. Apparently the instrument panel is the easy one. To change the lights on the AC, radio, and all buttons/knobs, there is a lot more work with soldering involved.

I was told that summer tires like my P-Zero's become too hard in cold weather and could easily skid on cold roads.

Well, I'm surprised that you can change the color of the LCD screens like that. I must not understand how those things work because I thought the color was actually part of the LCD itself.

I have never done this, but thought you could fix it with something like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Porsche-996...sspagenameZWDVW

Interesting. It sounds like if he can see the numbers but they are dim, then something like this might work (wouldn't have worked in my case though).

I couldn't find the online instructions they mention on the site though.

Well, I was trying to find some photos I took of my dash when I took it apart but couldn't find them. Anyways, when I bought my car earlier in the year, I had a big splotch over my odometer LCD. I took my dash out and took it apart to see if it could be fixed. Upon closer inspection, the odometer LCD was attached to the circuit board via a ribbon cable that was soldered on which meant I couldn't just part it out and replace the LCD. Because of this, I don't think you'll be able to fix yours. But, I'm no expert on the matter. I can only relay my own experience with it. I ended up having the Porsche dealership replace my dash which cost me about $1800.

I hooked up my iPod to my Becker a few weeks ago and had the same problem. I went to Fry's and bought one of those noise suppression units from the car stereo department (they had several to choose from that were about $20 each). It's typically a black box with a red, black, and possibly one other wire coming out of it. I connected the red and black wires from my iPod cable power to the noise suppression box and then connected the red and black wires on the box to the power and ground wires going into my radio. Completely solved my problem.

They are also known as a "Ground Loop Isolator". A lot of them have RCA plugs on them which was not what I needed. But, Fry's had one with just the ground and power wires that did the trick for me.

This one looks somewhat similar to the one I bought.

Ya know, I'm pretty surprised that there hasn't been people telling me to touch it up instead of painting it. My father who has been in the automobile business for 30 years plus told me that I'd decrease the value by 3k if I had it painted. He said that some dealers use a device to measure paint thickness and would lessen the value if it was proven not to be the original paint job.

Searching on Google for more information on this, I can only find a post that I made a while back over on another forum. So, is my father correct or not on this? If I have before and after pictures as another poster in here suggested, will this nullify any price decrease? Would the only reason for this be that it could mean the car had been wrecked and that was the reason for the paint job?

I just want to make sure before I do this. After spending $3700 getting dents fixed and half the car painted, I don't want to be out $6700 because of repainting it.

Ok, after reading this thread, I'm somewhat concerned if repainting the hood and two front quarter panels is the right way to go. Although, I will be getting a door and rear quarter panel painted regardless because of the dents.

Well, on the flip side, a brand new 997 convertible would set you back $100k, right, so if that helps, $3700 to get your Carrera in 'Perfect' shape now sounds like a bargain! :)

True, but I imagine its only adding about half of my cost onto the resale value (whenever I decide to resale it - prob not for years).

I guess my biggest concerns would be color matching and differences due to fading over time.

Well, after the repaint my two front quarter panels, hood, driver rear quarter panel, passenger door, there's not much left of the original to match with!

But, these guys are professionals with many years of experience behind them. I'm sure they'll do a great job. Plus, black isn't too hard to match up well.

Ok, got the quote on getting the front two quarter panels and the hood painted. They said it would be $900.

So, I'm gonna get that done. The car will pretty much be in perfect condition after I get all this work done. But, it will be costing me about $3700. :(

Thanks for the reply. They told me that they would be taking a bunch of pics of before and after for me. I'll call them back and ask how much to repaint the hood.

I had heard that repainting may hurt resale value of high-end cars such as this (as you hinted at in reference to collision damage).

monkeydust,

Can you let us know how much they are charging you for the job - I am in the same situation.

Yeah, I haven't called them yet as I was waiting to see if I got anymore replies (in case somebody says not to do it).

Currently I am getting a few things done that is going to cost me just under 3k:

Replace/paint front bumper - looks like somebody tried to tear off a license plate from it (part plus labor for this is about $1500)

1' dent/scratch below driver door - That's when a curb taught me what low clearance this car has

Quarter size dent on top curve of passenger door - Yeah, I did that hauling a tree in my car - don't ask :)

Thanks for the reply. They told me that they would be taking a bunch of pics of before and after for me. I'll call them back and ask how much to repaint the hood.

I had heard that repainting may hurt resale value of high-end cars such as this (as you hinted at in reference to collision damage).

yeah, stupid switch.... At least on the boxster is was reversed (active when depressed) and you could tie wrap it in "active" position and never hear it again. On the 996 it's active when not depressed, so you really cannot do anything ! Click, click... ;-)

Well, the good news is that it is supposed to make that sound. The last thing I want is another thing that I have to fix on this car. It's been a money pit for me so far!

I've got a bunch of nicks on my hood from gravel. Is it better to just touch them up or have the whole hood repainted. Would repainting the hood help or hurt resale value?

I have my car in the body shop for the next 1.5 weeks to fix a few dents and replace the bumper and could go either way on the hood.

There is a 14 page TSB with fixes for a number of hardtop noises. I can email you this if you want or you could make your dealer fix it (since you are under warranty).

Hi Loren. Any chance of sending this through? Thanks and Merry Xmas.

Just go here and search for hardtop and I believe you'll find what you are looking for.

The click all the way down and coming back up is the switch that lets you turn the engine on. Should have always been there, I think

That could be. I just never heard it before.

Ya know, I bet I know why. I recently hooked up my iPod to the Aux connection on my Becker. Often I'll start the car up with the radio in Aux and then start my iPod. Before that, I'd the radio would always be playing as I push the clutch down and start the car. :)

I've been noticing a clicking sound when I push the clutch about all the way down recently (and clicks again when I release it). I can remember it doing it before about a week ago or so.

Anybody know what this is and if it is normal?

Thanks for the update with the patch you chose to take. I love having my iPod hooked up to my stereo. I just wish it was integrated more and my stock CDR220 did more than just control the volume.

Thanks for the info, mthomasdo. Wish I would have known that a day earlier. ;)

Yeah, if I was going to spend all the extra money, then I probably would just get a double-din touchscreen nav system as a replacement.

Ok, bought a Nano 8gb and got it hooked up today. Was getting some noise so I bought a noise filter and it took care of the hiss I was getting.

Not very happy about how this thing operates. Can't control playback from my Becker. When I leave my car after listening to the iPod, it just keeps on playing unless I remember to pause it.

So, this thing is probably only good for long trips which I rarely take. :(