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grover

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Everything posted by grover

  1. grover
    I kinda feel like a Martian getting defeated by germs here... but I just fought this same battle for the last 20 minutes only to discover I had mistakenly changed out the wrong bulb. I can only hope your (or others') problems are so easy to solve! Tomorrow, I'm changing out the differential pinion seal on my camaro. I harbor no preconceptions that it will be anywhere near as easy.
  2. grover
    Oh, I know about using 4 jackstands... I was wondering how to drive onto 4 ramps ;)
  3. grover
    How, exactly, would 4 ramps work? Really short ramps? Or are you just talking about using the ramps as jackstands? Once, I was able to get both right wheels of my lawn tractor up on ramps to get to the blades easier, but that also involved lifting up the lawnmower to put the ramp under the rear wheel. I don't think I can lift my Porsche...
  4. grover
    Yes, it's possible... isn't removing the ball joint what you were trying to do in the first place? The procedure is just like Highlander posted on page 1, using the tool everyone was pointing you towards. You'll have to grind off the bent part of your old ball joint, too, I think. You need a ball joint removal tool, and when you apply enough pressure (and WD40) it pops out. Then, another special tool + more pressure inserts the new ball joint. It was $10 for a new ball join the last time I had to change it on a domestic, so probably about $200 for this one ;)
  5. grover
    20-21mpg on 93 octane here in my 04 Boxster S (Virginia, US). Every time I think about just taking it easy, I have to remind myself that I'm not only driving a Porsche, but that I paid extra for the bigfer engine and wouldn't want to feel like I'm wasting my hard-earned money ;) Anyone who's getting more than 25mpg (US gallon) is either making an error on their math, or driving it wrong!
  6. grover
    How about: 3. Replace the front cats with turbos :jump:
  7. grover
    Oh my god, don't drive it with tires like that, you'll ruin the transmission!!! oh what the heck were they thinking??? Sorry, couldn't resist ;) Porsche went to exquisite pains to give the Boxster perfect 50/50 weight distribution for incredible performance and handling... and then proceeded to spec out stock wheels and camber to make it plow like a front wheel drive sedan. Makes it safer that way; less likely to fly tail-first over a cliff. Without getting too deep into the physics of it, wider tires grip better when cornering than narrow tires. So, if you're driving your Boxster really fast around a corner, Porsche designed it so the front wheels (205mm wide/0 camber) will start slipping before the rear (255mm wide/-1.5 degrees camber). This way, if you skid, you skid straight ahead. It's nice and predictable and the anti-lock brakes will help you steer. Whereas if the rear tires lose grip first, the car will want to spin. Which is good for racing, and fun for drifting, but bad for lawyers, I suppose. Have you bought the Bentley manual yet? If so, turn to page 44-1 :) If not, WHY NOT?? Narrow tires also resist hydroplaning better, so they're safer in the rain as well. Oh, and be mindful of the offsets; you need to use different spacers if you change wheel sizes (for instance, if you use the spare tire) to keep the tire from rubbing in the wheel well during suspension travel. It's all in your owners manual and the Bentley manual.
  8. grover
    Sumitomo HTR Z III seem to be pretty popular right now- comparable to Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 in performance, and much much cheaper. I race autocross and wanted the fastest tires I could buy. So, I just put Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Specs on my 04 Boxster S... and the grip is absolutely incredible! They're noticeably louder than my old tires, though. Which, honestly, is just music to my ears, especially when they're singing in the hard corners ;)
  9. grover
    They fail in different ways, a shorted cell isn't the only failure mode- if you're only getting 62 amps out of it after charging, it's dead, get a new one. Other possible thing to check: 1) If this is a flooded wet cell (oppose to AGM), what's the electrolyte level of the battery? Did you overcharge it and drive off too much water? If so, you might be able to bring it back by adding more distilled water to bring the specific gravity back to spec.
  10. grover
    Same here, my key is working fine, but my wife's key still isn't working, even going through the steps above. The LED blinks, but it doesn't unlock.
  11. grover
    To update (04 Boxster S), I bought the Star Specs, 225/45-17 front and 255/40-17 rear. Autocrossed it over the weekend and WOW, what a difference! It drives like a completely different car now. The understeer is gone, replaced by just enough oversteer to help rotate through the corners, and I can really feel the difference in grip over the "old" BFGoodrich g-force sports she had on when I bought her. I went from 50th percentile every race last year to 6th fastest raw time (out of 76 ppl) in the club, and just 4.8 hundreths of a second from a top 10 PAX finish.. Of course, it was pouring down rain and the tires were brand spankin' new which helped (my class assumes r-comps), but still, I am VERY happy with the Dunlops AND the wider front tires :) I gave the PSM quite a workout, too, lol... Never had to worry much about oversteer before! Now all I have to do is figure out what pressures to use... and how to drive better! :drive: edit: somehow wrote 255/55-17 rear tires and didn't catch it... I went 20mm wider up front, but did stick with stock 255/40-17 rear dimensions.
  12. grover
    I heartily recommend Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Spec. They'll still wear out after 10-12k miles (any tire worthy of going on a porsche will), but you'll be much faster ;) Sumitomo HTR Z III are also supposed to be pretty good for the money. They have a higher tread wear rating, too. They're relatively new, so not too many reports yet of tire life.
  13. grover
    Consumer reports has poor reporting of specific model years; there simply isn't enough sample size to show any real trends. I mean, they tend to go GREAT GREAT OMGCRAP GREAT on certain components that didn't even change between those model years. So, I wouldn't put too much faith in consumer reports for Porsches; or any other reporting system for that matter; there simply aren't enough of them on the road and reporting that data back for the reports to be useful. Anecdotal evidence is even worse; one guy's engine exploding doesn't mean that model year is more prone to engines exploding than any other model year. Generally speaking, the newer the car, the better it is. Porsche found and fixed more and more problems and steadily improved the design as time went on. Excellence does an excellent article on this every year; I'd highly recommend tracking the most recent one down.
  14. grover
    I hear there's a guy in your area who has one wheel to sell that matches your other 3!! maybe you can find him and buy it from him?
  15. grover
    The PS2 will grip better than the A/S in most conditions, and will oversteer under the hardest cornering. The A/S will provide better grip in the snow and the car will tend to understeer when it gets slippery. Basically, the car will exhibit the worst characteristics of both tires. Which really isn't that bad in this case, but still. Why not just use PS2s? You can't drive in the snow with PS2s up front anyhow, so there's little drawback.
  16. grover
    I was under the impression that this snorkel was used to prevent water from entering the engine, and that by removing it, you run the risk of hydrolocking it, and that it's generally NOT recommended for a DD, just a fair weather racer.
  17. grover
    Speaking of which, where can I get one of those cigarette lighter things with a 9V that you can use while changing a battery so the DME and radio and all don't reset? I don't remember ever seeing them, is it something a typical chain auto parts store will have?
  18. grover
    Oh boy, are you going to enjoy yourself, the Boxster is one hell of a fun autox car! Protip: if you're not squealing tires in every turn and sliding all over the place, you can still go a LOT faster. It seems to be the most common mistake of Porsche owners. Push her to the limit, THEN back down a notch :D If you really get into autocross, be aware that any mods you make will knock you out of stock class, and into the same class as the race-prepped corvettes and 911s. If you're driving for fun, it's not an issue. But if you get good, you'll find you won't be as competitive as you would have been stock. FYI: cone rash buffs out pretty easily. I've started putting painter's tape along my front bumper so that I don't have to worry about it, though.
  19. grover
    What, exactly, is the physics of that? Why would fuel not intrude and not intrude and then all of the sudden start intruding into the oil, then magically stop again with the next oil change?
  20. grover
    The Bose sound system is very good; it sounds excellent, even with the top down and at high speeds. As much as I like the sound of the engine, it does get rather tedious after a few years of hearing the same song over and over ;) I added an FM transmitting mp3 player to mine, but would love to do that satnav/DVD install, too... One very easy mod is to increase the camber of the front wheels as negative as it will go. Between this and good tires, it will make a lot of difference in cornering performance. Lowering the car will decrease CG and allow increased negative camber, too. You're not going to be able to lower it all that much, though; it's already a very low car. For any significant engine performance mods, I think it's going to be far cheaper just to sell the Boxster and buy a Boxster S or C2S.
  21. grover
    Pardon, but isn't "normal driving conditions" for a Porsche flogging it within an inch of its life every day? I don't see why Porsche would deliberately misstate fluid change intervals, as it would result in high failure rates and a direct loss of sales. In fact, they went as far as to eliminate long stated "or 1 year" interval for later model 986s because they felt it was unnecessary. After all, the Porsche factory experts (which direct access to the full factory engineering and testing resources) are the most expert of all the experts. While I don't doubt that more frequent oil changes are prudent for some, doesn't that more apply to those who are actually racing their cars?
  22. grover
    2mm total, but I think I messed up my math so that's probably N/A. I just got back from a corner weighting session with the local autocross club, which was far more theory than DIY, extremely interesting, and got into a lot of the alignment stuff. Turns out a lot of the other guys in the club do their own alignments like this, too, and tweak it constantly as they drive & adjust. Anyhow, I gave checking it a shot today :) I have 0 front toe (less than 1/32" at least), which matches the alignment done 8k miles ago (0.01°LF and 0.02°RF, both toe-in). My DIY camber measurements different, though; I measured -0.8°LF and -0.3°RF which differ considerably from the alignment record (-.2° and 0.0° respectively). I did just top off my gas tank today, though, so this is likely reflecting slightly higher loading than normal for a static alignment on raceday when I try very hard to consistently start with 1/4 tank. Or they may have shifted since alignment, hard to say. If I have 0 toe on the street with 1/16-1/8" (?? what's the sweet spot?) for racing, I'll be thrilled. But from what you and others are saying, I might as well just set my car with camber to the max (-1° or thereabouts), neutral toe, and just leave it alone after that as camber in this range isn't terribly abusive to tires. I'm shifting to slightly larger tires in the front (225 vs 205) so that may impact the most desirable alignment, too.
  23. grover
    Thanks, had me worried! What difference would 2mm or so of toe-out make in handling and tire wear? Would I notice a change in either?
  24. grover
    ...and just leave it laying on your seat? OR would you also take apart the dash, run some wire to the controller, hide the controller in a place that is easy to get to so you can replace the battery, and hopefully your garage door controller won't get stolen...kinda makes for easy entry into your house. It's a little harder to steal the car. You can also retread your tires to save money, but you wouldn't, or would YOU? You can always clear the memory on your garage door opener if your car or remote gets stolen. Really no different than leaving the remote in the glovebox or wherever.
  25. grover
    I saw that how-to online already, actually :) I'm a bit confused as to why you say adding negative camber would cause toe-in; with the strut canted several degrees towards the rear of the car, it seems it would cause a very slight toe-out when negative camber is added. (Roughly 2.4mm net toe-out if my guestimates on the angles are close.) Toe is right about dead even at 0.01° right now, so I'll have to watch that. My plan right now is to wait until my new tires come in, and DIY the alignment (slide the front camber to the stops). The local big chain tire store has been offering a free alignment check, which will conveniently tell me exactly how I did and what the toe and all looks like, so I can choose then whether I want to pay them to realign it, leave it alone, do it myself with string and chewing gum, or take it down to the local race shop. Of course, the local chain tire store used the wrong wheel weights when they patched my flat last month, and did a lousy job of balancing it, too.
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