grover

Why would this have anything to do with racing or tires? It's uneven wear from one half of a single pad to the other half, it's clearly an issue with the brake itself. Jim, it's normal to have -0.8 to -1.8° of negative camber on the rear wheels (tipped in at the top by up to about 3/4"). Race alignments can go several degrees more negative, which will give you more grip when cornering hard, but your tires will wear out faster than normal. If you're concerned, you can get it realigned.

2008 986S. 48k, standard 15/30k maintenance only. No problems.

The Porsche tip is very good, you lose a little in the torque converter, but it more than makes up for itself in convenience, and it's still VERY easy to shift from the wheel. Really is best of both worlds IMHO, though I'm looking forward to a PDK when the 09s come down in price :) Tips are far less likely to have IMS/RMS issues, too. Rule of thumb is buy the newest Porsche you can afford. Plus, that 99 has a lot of miles on it....

So if the key gets pushed more than 256 times, it loses sync, and more than 1024 times (as could easily happen in a pocket), it will never ever ever work again? Isn't there some way to reset them both back without having to pay $300 for a new key?

CDR-23 is MOST bus; I thought there was no aux input possible, and the only way to get external input was via an FM transmitter?

How is sharing an infrequently used tool unethical? It's no different than borrowing a nailgun or gear puller. Something like this would be valuable for a club to buy and share between members. It's moot, though; their website shows that the "cheap" one is limited to 3 cars, and that's all that most people are likely to have.

Is there a way to get it for cheaper than $287? That seems rather steep... Incentive to keep up with my PCA membership so I can bum one off someone else, I suppose! :help:

There ARE drawbacks, though. Like... umm... neck hurts from looking up? Though, I guess I could still lower it to 18" high and use a creeper if I wanted to.

I think the whole thing is way too difficult, considering none of my jacks fit! The one in the spare tire works well enough, though ;) I'm lucky enough to have access to the auto hobby shop at the local navy base where I can rent a lift for $2 an hour which is just awesome, so I just do that, it's way easier than messing with jackstands and I feel way more comfortable working under it, too. I highly recommend a lift to anyone working on these cars.

If that's true, the why did they put the redline at 7000? ...I exceed 5000rpm every day. Shoot, probably on average once a minute B)

Not sure if this is terribly helpful advice, but don't screw it up, those plastic underbody panels are about $100 apiece! I unfortunately didn't notice when I bought my car, but the PO had been the unfortunate victim of a *****-poor jack job that had destroyed two of them and bent a brake line. Fortunately, it's an easy DIY repair, but still... If you haven't bought the Bentley Service Manual yet, it pays for itself the first time you use it. FYI, your 03 is a 986. I think there's an active thread on this in the 986 DIY forum. Edit: http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?s...=0&p=108135 good luck!

We're talking 986s, though- they're not exclusive cars anymore, they're squarely in the price range of anyone with more than a fast food job. You can buy a 99 or 00 for less than it costs for a dealer engine replacement, and that's pretty damned devastating to most Boxster owners. It's equivalent to a $15k repair on a Toyota Yaris. I'd hope anyone buying a Porsche does so with the understanding that parts are 3x more expensive than for a mainstream car and a trip to the dealer's repair bay is going to set you back $1000 before they even turn the car off, but the engine failures that do occur go way above and beyond the basic Porsche tax.

My 04 is running great, no problems! I haven't started many threads lately about it, though ;) Even the worst, most pessimistic estimates are that 80% of Boxsters have no major engine problems, and the % is probably much higher. And even then, most of the issues were with early model years and failed within the warranty period. I think it's moreso the severity and cost that worries people so much as the (not to mention the randomness and unpredictability to gnaw on your nerves). I mean, nobody's posting here "oh my god, what if the AOS goes out??" Frankly, if you can drive this car for 2 months and then think about selling it for a miata... you don't deserve it! :P VWs don't usually cost $15k to repair if a seal lets go, though...

Doh! Well, it's just a simple matter of turning your car upside-down then :D

Thanks! The repair guide wasn't clear- do I need to loosen the center bolt, or just the 3 outlier bolts?

Boxster S 3.4L is certainly a good idea :D Is it possible to put in a 3.6L or other more powerful engine in a 986? Is that just a drop-in, or does it cause any transmission issues? If this should happen to me... I've got a tiptronic 04 Boxster S, can it be reprogrammed for (and handle the power of) a more powerful engine?

How so? It's a Macpherson strut, and it's nearly vertical (castor is fixed at 7.7°). It may add a small amount of toe-out when camber is moved negative as the strut tilts slightly towards the back of the car, but gaining toe-out for a race is desirable, too. What else would be impacted? I've never attempted to change my alignment, and never watched anyone do it. I know a lot of things look easy, but are anything but in practice. Hypothetical: I get a street alignment, and mark the position with a sharpie. Before a race, I loosen the 3 bolts... and just push the top of the shock mount in along the adjustment slots? How does that work, are there any special tools or do I just put pressure on the socket/tire to slide it? Afterwards, do I have a reasonable chance of returning the bolts to the marked street alignment position? Even a half-assed attempt at returning the camber to 0° should be better for my tires than driving around all year with the alignment 1° off whack.

I'd like aggressive negative camber for racing my 2004 Boxster S, but this car is also my DD and I worry about premature tire wear. I have the repair manual and it looks pretty straightforward to adjust camber by moving the position of the upper shock mount, but how easy is it in practice? Is this something I could reasonably adjust myself to max negative camber before a race, and then back into a more neutral position (with reasonable tolerance) afterward?

Cracks have a way of growing if they're not repaired. Repair techniques can effectively stop the crack, preventing it from growing, and can largely hide it through use of dielectric-matching gel. For future reference, if it's a repairable crack or starburst, your insurance company may fix it for free! I know mine does :) They'll send a glass repair tech right to your house and fix it in about 15 minutes at no cost to you. For the insurance company, it's worth it to avoid having to pay out the cost to replace the windshield.

I picked up a $35 FM modulator/mp3 player with a 1.5" color LCD display. It's a miserable mp3 player, but it actually looks rather good in the car, like it belongs there! And unlike the CD player on my CDR23, plays music. All-in-all, not a bad stop-gap until I can get the radio repaired and buy a better mp3 player, I suppose.

Semiconductor fab lab- actually making microchips myself in the cleanroom- was probably the best course I took in college. Better even than the optics lab where we played with lasers and made holograms :D I just find this stuff fascinating!

Great to know, thanks! Would a 245/45-17 fit? It's 7mm talled, and a half inch too big for the rim, but oh so tempting for the extra width...

How do you all feel about the "loudness" button, then, that intentionally clips the signal?

As noted, be careful! There are enough reasonably priced Porsches out there that the question is not so much "Can you afford to buy a Porsche?" as "Can you afford to own a Porsche?" If you're a DIY and you have access to a lift, the maintenance is really not all that bad. Be aware that parts cost typically about 3x what they would for a Honda or a Ford, dealers charge about $150/hr, and any engine repairs take extra long because it can be difficult to access it. Tires are expensive, and wear out quickly (sure, you COULD put 60,000 mile tires on, but that would completely defeat the purpose!). And, you'll be unable to drive anywhere without people complimenting your car and asking you questions :lol: Check out the maint checklists on this site for an idea of whether or not you're up to it- otherwise, it'll set you back somewhere around $600 every 15k miles for routine maintenance. And please do bear in mind that while a 2002 is 7 years old now, it'll be 12 years old before the loan is paid off, and a 12 year old car will require repairs. You thus cannot upgrade the radio in any Porsche 2003 or newer due to the proprietary fiber-optic system ("MOST"), so you're stuck with the basic CD player with no way to integrate an mp3 player besides an FM transmitter. That said, I like the 03/04 WAY better than earlier cars, but that's just my personal preference. FYI, "986" refers to the early Boxster/Boxster Ss, up to and including 2004. Starting in 2005, they changed to the "987" designation. So you'd probably be more interested in the 986 forums here on RennTech, although I must admit I drive an 04 Boxster S but frequently cross-read, too :)

Replacement clips are only $2 each. Cheapest thing on the car! Fix those rattles!