renzop

#1 Expensive but reasonable #2 Why? #3 No way!!!! #4 Unless there is a specific reason like uneven tire wear or a pull to one side there is no reason to do this. Also a front end alignment is worthless. Only get a 4 wheel alignment ever. I am unimpressed with any service advisor who cannot give me reasons for his recommendations. 15K miles and 2 years old does not require all these items.

Here is a question that you need to answer before anyone can really recommend track tires - are you planning on driving on the street on your track tires? If you have a way to transport the wheels and tires to the track and then change them at the track there are some really grippy tires but they are dead awful on the street. But if not then you need to compromise on grip and tread so that you can safely ge to the track and back. If you need a dual purpose tire then I think you are right on with the Pilot Sport Cup. It's an expensive tire but its supposed to last pretty long on track and cna be driven in the rain to and from events yet is a very very good dry tire. For a single purpose track only tire I would look at a Hoosier R6. Still expensive but not quite as high a price. For wheels, you are right on about 18" instead of 19". The 19" is always going to be heavier and more expensive and so are the tires that go on them. The only performance reason for large diameter wheels is if you have large diameter brakes. Since you are not racing and don't have to stay to stock wheel sizes I recommend going to a wider than stock 18" wheel. Tire Rack has a great deal a a relatively light wheel Enkei Racing NT03-M. For the front the 18x8.5 costs $325 and weighs 19.2lbs which is almost 1lb lighter than the stock 18x8 lobster fork. The rear is an 18x10 for $440 and weighs 1lb lighter than the stock 18x9. If you go with those size wheels there is a large variety of tires that will work (I am not 100% sure about the larger sizes and clearance issues) Hoosier front - 245/35/18 or 255/40/18 (this might be a little tall) Hoosier rear - 275/35/18 or 285/30/18 or 295/30/18 Michelin front - 235/40/18 Michelin rear - 265/35/18 or 285/30/18 or 295/30/18 As far as lowering the car goes - given the right setup a lower car should handle better. But it will usually ride rougher on the street. With a true coil-over setup and good shocks you cna have your cake and eat it too but that's costly both in purchase price and finding someone who knows what they are doing to setup your suspension. You can't just slap a set of shorter springs on the car and expect to do a better job than those high-paid Porsche engineers did with the factory suspension. And camber adjustability is probably not as important in a DE environment than at an autox. Stock the car can get about 1 degree negative in the front and more than you want in the back. A good alignment is all you need. Get as much negative camber as possible in the front, as little neg camber in the back, 0 toe in the front and maybe a tiny bit of toe in in the back. Tires will be your biggest performance improvement. Good luck and be careful out there!

I always caution people who are on a tight budget and buying a used Porsche that these cars are not Toyotas or Hondas when it comes to maintenance costs. Everything is expensive in these cars. OEM type tires are $250+ each, the oil for an oil change is going to cost $50+. Lots of normal maintenance parts are pricey or very pricey. And these things do break a little more frequently than one would wish. If you can't afford to spend at least $1K per year on mantenance and repairs then think about buying something else. I don't mean to be negative and I love my Boxster but there is nothing worse than having a nice car that just sits in the garage because you can't afford the price of some simple repair parts. I speak from experience. When I was fresh out of school and not earning a lot of money I purchased a 914 which really stretched my budget. I owned the car for 5 years but I bet it was only driveable for 3 of those years.

Asking a car enthusiast about the car care products they use is like asking them their religion, political party and sexual preferences all at the same time. There are people who are really really passionate about their waxes, car washes, polishes, fillers, glazes and the tools to apply and remove them. I think the thing to decide is how much time you are willing to spend on waxing washing etc. And how often you plan to do it. If you have a lot of time on your hands and enjoy caressing your baby as if it were a sexual icon then you can listen to the polishing pundits that lerk on this and other boards. They will recommend a regimen of polishing gels, micro scratch removing cremes, lighteners, darkeners, mirror glazes, hypo-allergenic polishing mits, Porsche approved booties, free-range shammies, etc that will cost more than Madonna's medicine cabinet and will require a linguist to translate the instructions from the original Sanskrit. But if you want your car to look nice but are not obssessed then I would suggest Mothers products. They are reasonably priced, are easy to apply and remove and smell nice when you use them. There are two invisible bra products on the market.From what I can gather they are equally good: 3M http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_U...Find_Installer/ and XPel http://www.xpel.com/ They will cost $1000+ for full frontal coverage installed. I like mine, bugs just wash off stones do not chip the paint and the film is self healing. They are not perfect however. Debris can penetrate the film (infrequently). YMMV Alan

Here is something that people do not seem to know about regarding warrantees and after market parts. In the US no car manufacturer can void a warranty because of after market parts. Its against the law. They can refuse specific warranty service for a problem if they can prove that the aftermarket parts contributed to the problem. Examples: 1) Porsche could refuse to do engine work on a car with an aftermarket chip. 2) Porsche can not refuse to do engine work on a car with aftermarket shocks. 3) Porsche can not refuse to repair the AC if you had installed an aftermarket exhaust. A car manufacturer cannot totally void a warranty unless you have done something that their warranty states will specifically void it - like racing.

I recommend that you not worry about noises. These cars do make some noises. Remember, the serpentine belt is spinning about 12" from your ear, the injectors and valve train are about 2 feet from your ear. When the car stops running then its ok to worry. Its probably nothing but if you want to put your mind at ease then I suggest that you bring it back to the CPO dealer and ask them to listen to it. They will probably say its normal (which it probably is).

My personal take is to get the base radio and then not listen to it. Nothing form the factory is good enough to beat the beautiful music that the car itself makes especially with the top down. You will need to spend beaucoup bucks to replace the factory stuff with good after market.

Basically, at full steering lock one front tire is pointed in a different direction then the other. So when the car moves each tire is dragged sideways a little. That's the judder you feel and maybe hear. As pointed out this is kinda normal. But the "problem" can be exagerated by the tires being not in the exact alignment that Porsche designed. And that can happen for several reasons: 1) Significant deviation from recommended toe setting. 2) Other alignment issues like large thrust angle cause by an incomplete accident repair or bent suspension parts 3) Wider than factory tires 4) Wheel offset and or large spacers - do you have aftermarket wheels? 5) Changes in ride height - a significantly lowered car will move the steering rack out of alignment with the hubs and can cause the ackerman to change leading to less than designed wheel deflection of the inside wheel at full lock. Also the boxster has a pretty sharp turning radius - the wheels are angled further than a lot of other cars at full steering lock. This can make the judder more noticeable in the Box. If you feel that the judder is significant or you are noticing uneven tire wear on the front tires, then you should go to an alignment shop and see what's going on.

Well, it depends on whether you want to run 19s or 18s. Personally I would go with 18s. Cheaper tires, cheaper wheels and lower unsprung mass. For 19" - 235/35/19 front and 265/35/19 match stock front to rear width and height exactly. Price from TireRack is $333 F and $423R for a total not shipped or mounted of $1512 For 18" there is no exact matching set for fronts and rears but you could go with 235/40/18 Front and 285/30/28 Rear. This would give you more rear tire which should make the car a little more stable in the back - good for track days, bad for autocross. A set of 4 will cost you $1248 For wheels I like the Enkei NT03-M 18x8.5 front and 18x10 rear $1582 for all 4 Or for cheap the Moda MD1 in 18 or 19" sizes for less than $800 for all 4 Also for cheap are Sport Edition Cup 4 in 18 or 19 also under $800 per set Pricier but not outrageous are the Volk TE37 in 18 or 19 $780 to $860 each You might also want to give Complete Custom Wheels a shout. They have lots of Porsche track wheel fitment experience and seem really sharp. Speak to John http://www.ccwheel.com 1-888-577-0144 Hope that gets you started. Regards, Alan

They come with the RS 60 package.

Try searching for radio removal at caymanclub.net Here's a good link: http://www.caymanclub.net/reviews/showproduct.php?product=92

That sudden change in feel is pretty normal for some clutches. Sounds like you are on the right track. The other thing that can make a pedal "stick" is a floor mat. Its happened to me in other cars plenty of times. No matter how I secure them they tend to move forward and curl over time.

Well, there's your problem right there. Everyone knows that Joe the Plumber should not be driving an elitist furrin' car like a Porsche. :-) Seriously, though. Have you checked the battery voltage? You need to see at least 12.7 volts on a good voltmeter to start the car.

Christa, In the US we measure octane differently and the numbers are lower. Premium fuel is 91-93 octane (porsche recommends 91 or above). A mid grade is 89 and regular grade is 87. Those numbers are different than what you are used to seeing, just like 60K miles is about 100K KM.

Anyone have alignment recomendations for an autocross 987? I am not worried about excessive street tire wear or high-speed instability. Thanks, Alan

I like the silver trim better than the black. I believe PCM 3 will be available in the 987.5 but it might be available in the 2009 987 if there is one.

I personally like the seatbelts from number 2 but everything else from #3. I owuld get the sport wheel however as I prefer the round center section to the Y of the base wheel. However, I wonder if this is a good time to order a Boxster. If you order now, you probably will not get one until the winter. Why not wait until the winter and order then? You can get the 987 ver.2 with more HP and better fuel economy.

Congratulations on the purchase. How much did you pay, if you don't mind me asking? I bought a new '08 Boxster and got the windstop. After living with it for the summer I decided that the windstop was really unnecessary and detracted from the looks of the car. Its removed and i no longer carry it or the rollbar hoop meshes in the car. Other people have said the windstop makes a big difference, but I honestly don't notice it. Perhaps you can ride in a friend's 987 with windstop and see if it makes a diff before buying it. But IMHO save your money. Regards, Alan Save your

Second on the change oil once per year regardless of mileage. Low mileage is actually harder on our cars than reasonable mileage. Personally, I would never buy a several year old Porsche with really low miles (like a 2005 with 5K). There are lots of seals that dry out when not regularly exercised.

I think the answer is - no one knows yet and Porsche NA ain't talking. The most believable thing I have heard is that new 987s will start to appear in early spring as a 2010 model. I have heard that only the S will get the DFI motor. But this seems a little unlikely as they would have to have two motor production lines running simultaneously. The only way I see the old motor in the 2010 base model is if they have left-over old stock they want to get rid of. But with CAFE regulations, I see them moving to DFI across the board ASAP. Regards, Alan

Is this for real??? :o Sucker :D

A long-time multi-Boxster owner I know personally who has an S now says that his base Box was just as much fun and that the differences are minor enough that the money difference new is not worth it. That said, so many people have asked me if mine is an S that I can't help but think that its a bigger status thing than anything else. As far as resale value goes it looks like the S might bring in an extra 5K or so. I got the base Box because it is classed more competitively in SCCA autocrossing than the S. I also liked saving $9K. I am not a big HP guy and felt that an extra 50 HP would be largely wasted on me. If money is no object than get the S

I'd take #2. #1 has lots of miles for a 2 year old Boxster which is not nesessarily a bad thing but that combined with the scratch and missing parts makes me feel that something is a bit hinky with the white car. If the white car had Sport Chrono and PASM then it would make a difference to me but with only Sport Chrono and no PCM it really is not that big of a deal. I never use my stop watch but i don't track my car. Good luck and post what you finally decided to do. Regards, Alan

The taillight is easy 1) Open the trunk 2) behind the taillight in the trunk you will find 2 plastic wheels that hold on the carpet trim piece. Remove them by unscrewing by hand 3) Fold the now free carpet trim piece back, inwards toward the center of the trunk. 4) You will now find 3 long bolts that each has a flange nut on it. Remove the flange nuts with a small ratchet and socket (3/8 I think) 5) near the center top is a multiplug. Squeeze two tabs on it toward the center and pull toward the front of the car 6) slide the light unit out as a piece from the outside of the car towards the rear. Note that if you only need to change bulbs you can do that with the light unit in the car. Just follow the instruction in the owners manual. It starts by doing steps 1-3 above.

Thanks, Loren