ericinboca

I am an expert if expertise is obtained by screwing it up a dozen times! That tire wear looks like a rub to me, not something that would happen from being out of alignment - or could be, but the camber would be ridiculous and hard to miss. Not sure what coilovers you have or where the ride height was set. But check clearance on the spring perches, springs, coilovers under there. Maybe he had a problem and fixed it but left the tires, but it deserves a look when you get it back on the ground. Bad bushings are usually dried out and cracked. You can tell by looking at them. Sometimes they are even split. Try to lift the assembly straight up and down to see if the coilover moves in the upper strut mount. While I wouldn't take this to the bank, a bad strut mount - which likely means the bushing in the mount is shot or it is no longer mounted tightly - would make noise and could provide slight alignment issues. It is frustrating because there is a lot back there that can make noise.

Hoping some others have some thoughts on this...but I am willing to pontificate! ;) Two Qs... Does the other rear tire show the same sort of wear? Does the car track straight? Does the car track straight all the time or just before or after the clunk sound? Without seeing the tire, it is hard to know what is causing the wear, but assuming the car tracks straight, I would guess excessive negative camber. If the car crabs, then I would think toe out. Unfortunately, I don't think it narrows down the problem for us, because a problem with any of the arms or even the strut mount could give you funky camber or toe, giving you ugly wear. Most alignment shops will to set rear camber the same on both sides unless the customer wants different, so take a look at the other tire and see if it has the same wear. If so, and the car tracks straight, then you porbably have too much neg camber. But it doesn't explain the noise. I don't want you to forget the possibility of the e-brake in the rotor hat or the possibility of a wheel bearing. Here's one way to attack it... 1. Lift the suspect corner with a floor jack. Get a buddy and try to move the tire and assembly around. See what moves, if anything. See if the strut moves in the upper mount up and down or side to side - it shouldn't. See if there is any play in the three arms. The control arm should allow up and down movement around the spherical bearing at the base, but there shouldn't be any other movement. Remember that about 25 percent of the car rests on each corner, so these suspension pieces and their bushings take a lot of load before they move. 2. Thinking of the possibility of toe out causing the weird wear, look closely at the toe adjusting arm. If there is something amiss in the arm, maybe it is right sometimes, then clunks and gets out of whack and causes the strange wear or vice versa. 3. Take the tire off, and the caliper off, and grab the brake rotor at the 3 and 9 o'clock positions - try to rock it - do same at 12 and 6 o'clock positions. If it rocks, then you have a bearing problem. 4. Spin the rotor listening for noise in the hat - and in the wheel bearing. 5. I still like the sway bar possibility - be sure the bushings are still surrounding the bar in that U shaped bracket.

As you know now, the one on the right is the old style AOS that mounts with bolts through the side. The new one mounts at the base. You might need to clean out the air distributors, the J tube and the throttle body of oil. Just a clean rag to sop it up. While you are there, since this is an e-gas car, it is pretty easy to remove the throttle body and clean he flapper with carb cleaner.

The one circled in red is the lower control arm. It attaches on one end to the suspension subframe and then with the ball joint to the wheel carrier on the other end. In the rear, it adjusts camber via a bolt with a cam shaped face on both ends - as you rotate it, the control arm moves in and out. This adjusting bolt passes through a bushing pressed into the arm. The one circled in blue is called all sorts of things - track arm and thrust arm seem to be common names. It attaches on one end with a simple bolt through a bushing on the control arm, and the other end attached to the chassis up behind the forward plastic fender liner. You really have to remove the fender liner to see where it attaches and to inspect and determine if it is tightly attached up in there. The last one on the rear not in the picture is the toe adjusting arm. It attachs to the subframe and to the wheel carrier and uses a similar cam like bolt to adjust toe in and toe out in the rear. All of these suspension pieces have bushings or spherical bearings that need to be checked; all the nuts and bolts need to checked for tightness. You need to do your best to try and move the assembly up and down to see if you can repeat and isolate the noise. I would lean to the sway bar like you mention. Even if the bolts are rusty and tight, are the sway bar bushings still in good shape? You should be able to see the edges of them squeezing out of the U shaped pice that attaches to the frame. Are the drop links tight and not hitting the control arm when moving up and down? And don't forget to check the strut mounts at the top of the coil overs - they to can wear out and allow movement up top. Hope that helps. BTW - the image is of the front suspension. The subframe in the rear is quite different. That info does help. So I suppose the point of failure can be in several areas . I think im going to wait till I get three tires/wheels back on the vehicle and on the ground before I start tugging to hard on things. Is it possible to replace just the bushings in any of these pieces or does it require an entire new assembly? All of these seem fairly easy to get to and work on so I think ill try and attack this "clunk" myself. If it were the swaybar would it be pretty loud? The clunk is pretty audible. Im not sure I really understand why this noise is only present at low-mid speeds (5-30mph), can you shed some light on that? Specifically with the swaybar would cause this noise only at these speeds?? Thanks again! -Ben You can press out old bushings and press in new ones - sometimes they are hard to find, but it is quite a bit cheaper than buying a whole new control arm. It is easy with a 20-ton shop press - and if you network with your friends enough, you will find someone that has one. A swaybar noise would be a clunk, I think. I can see it hitting clunking against the U shaped brakcet for example. Why you only get it as slow speeds? No clue. Would theorize that under higher speeds the load is too great to allow movement or maybe wind noise is keeping you from hearing it. Finding noises in the suspension can be hard. Take your time, especially if you are not having any whacky tire wear or out of alignment problems. You are looking at suspension pieces, but don't forget the e-brake is house in the rear brake hat. SOmetimes the shoes get a little hung up and can make noise, or if your e brake tension was adjusted recently, it might have been adjusted too tight and is causing the shoes to knocked around a little. Other thing back there that can make noise is a wheel bearing. When I have lost wheel bearings on my 986S, it has never been a clunking sound, rather a roring sound under load - BUT, the guy next to me at a track event recently in his M3 had a bad rear wheel bearing, and it clunked intermittently.

The one circled in red is the lower control arm. It attaches on one end to the suspension subframe and then with the ball joint to the wheel carrier on the other end. In the rear, it adjusts camber via a bolt with a cam shaped face on both ends - as you rotate it, the control arm moves in and out. This adjusting bolt passes through a bushing pressed into the arm. The one circled in blue is called all sorts of things - track arm and thrust arm seem to be common names. It attaches on one end with a simple bolt through a bushing on the control arm, and the other end attached to the chassis up behind the forward plastic fender liner. You really have to remove the fender liner to see where it attaches and to inspect and determine if it is tightly attached up in there. The last one on the rear not in the picture is the toe adjusting arm. It attachs to the subframe and to the wheel carrier and uses a similar cam like bolt to adjust toe in and toe out in the rear. All of these suspension pieces have bushings or spherical bearings that need to be checked; all the nuts and bolts need to checked for tightness. You need to do your best to try and move the assembly up and down to see if you can repeat and isolate the noise. I would lean to the sway bar like you mention. Even if the bolts are rusty and tight, are the sway bar bushings still in good shape? You should be able to see the edges of them squeezing out of the U shaped pice that attaches to the frame. Are the drop links tight and not hitting the control arm when moving up and down? And don't forget to check the strut mounts at the top of the coil overs - they to can wear out and allow movement up top. Hope that helps. BTW - the image is of the front suspension. The subframe in the rear is quite different.

No throttle cable a MY2000 - MY2000 on has eGas. On my 2004 986S, there is a cable that comes out of the pedal and wraps around a cam under the dash that rotates some sort of servo. It is electronic from there. The pedal itself is completely mechanical, and sort of rudimentary. There is a plastic piece that inserts at the base of the pedal and which rotates on a plastic spindle. Up about 2/3rds of the way, a metal "dogbone" piece comes out of the pedal enclosure and connects with a ball in a base on the back of the pedal. When you press the pedal, it rotates another cam- shaped plastic deal in the case that moves the cable. The cam under the dash is spring loaded. I would take a close look at that, and the "cam"shaped thing in the pedal, as well as the spindle at the base. Thanks for your help. I pulled the rubber boot off the shaft connected the the pedal and was able to spray some WD40 (using the red tube provided) into the ball and socket type attachment. This made a big difference but still not as smooth as my 2004 Chevy. Be sure you check the tension on the cam under the dash - it should be pretty tight - if it is not loaded enough, it will not pull the cable and make the pedal come back up, and if it is not rotating back, it is keeping the throttle open some. Also, at the base of the pedal, it rotates up and down around a spindle. You can't really see it, but it is at the base. Be sure it is not getting hung up down there. There might be gunk keeping it from moving freely. You can take it off, disassemble and clean the hole pedal assembly. Little awkward getting under the dash and disconnecting from the cam, but it can be done and is fairly straight forward.

No throttle cable a MY2000 - MY2000 on has eGas. On my 2004 986S, there is a cable that comes out of the pedal and wraps around a cam under the dash that rotates some sort of servo. It is electronic from there. The pedal itself is completely mechanical, and sort of rudimentary. There is a plastic piece that inserts at the base of the pedal and which rotates on a plastic spindle. Up about 2/3rds of the way, a metal "dogbone" piece comes out of the pedal enclosure and connects with a ball in a base on the back of the pedal. When you press the pedal, it rotates another cam- shaped plastic deal in the case that moves the cable. The cam under the dash is spring loaded. I would take a close look at that, and the "cam"shaped thing in the pedal, as well as the spindle at the base.

Car is brand new, right? I wonder if they did not torque one of the control arms correctly at the factory.

The steering angle sensor sends data to PSM/ABS system to help it determine when to intervene. The car can be out of alighment enough that the steering angle sensor and the other PSM/ABS sensors are sending conflicting info - so the computer shuts down PSM, hence the PSM light, and it thinks you have a steering angle sensor problem, when, in fact, you are out of tolerance in alignment. An alignment with a steering angle sensor calibration should fix you right up.

Way too many codes. If you haven't already, clear them all out and see what comes back and focus on those.

Agree with two previous replies. Wood does help. THey should be "rounding" back out after they get warm.

Hi, Digging back up this old topic. Anyone have real-world experience with the RSS coilovers yet? Also interested to know what are the spring rates for normal H&R coilover set, versus the RSS version, if anybody knows them.. Thanks! H&R doesn't publish their spring rates. You can find some places on the web that includes springs rates for club sport and for the sport version, but I am unsure of their accuracy. I can tell you about some of my experience, though. My 986S started out with M030. I switched to a first generation set of H&R Sport coilovers - not just the springs, but their kit. Note it was first generation. It was stiffer than the M030 and dropped the car down about 1.5 inches - the lowering allowed me to get more negative camber without doing anything unnatural. After running with that set up for awhile, I switched to PSS9s. I was considering the H&R club sports but could not find anyone with experience with them, I wanted some adjustability because I was visting multiple tracks, and the boxster spec guys use PSS9s with various springs rates. I found the PSS9s with the stock springs that come with them to be softer - even at the stiffest setting - than the H&R sports. But note I had first generation H&R sports, and my speed shop claimed they were stiffer than today's sport version. They were really too soft for my track purposes, so after a few months, I changed the spring rates to what the boxster spec guys use - 450 and 500. This is pretty stiff. Stiffness is different for different people, but to me, 450/500 is too stiff for street, but pretty good rate for track use with a car that has been lightened. 450/500 is about the limit without revalving for the PSS9s, BTW. I think the PSS9s are good for a combined street/track car. Swift Springs make metric diameters that fit right in place without any adpaters, etc. You could use the stiff settings on a track and dial them back for street. Don't know if that helps, but there 'ya go whether it does or not ;)

Don't know if they would fit, but I have passenger airbag and controllers out of a 2004 986S. If you want part numbers, etc., PM me.

If you find you need to replace it, i have a CDR 23 single CD head unit from my 04 986S. PM me if needed.

Just as a point of interest, I hooked up the new release of durametric beta 6.0 for 9x6 cars last night and was giving it a cursory look. It appears to have steering angle calibration capability.

Are the grounds on radiator fan relay and engine compartment fan relay pin 87 or pin 85?

IMO Lots of shops will change the rotors when they change the pads. It is easy and they do it because it reduces the number of comebacks, but lots of times, they are replacing rotors that have plenty of life left in them. On rotors, look for cracks radiating out from the holes connecting to each other. If the hairline cracks are connecting from hole to hole, replace. If the hairline cracks make it to the outside edge, replace. If the rotor thickness is below or really close to the minimum thickness, replace.

Brad, I dont suppose bu chance you know anyone in the phoenix area that does these exhaust mods? - Ben Precision Chassis in Gilbert builds Spec Boxsters - he could do it or build a custom exhaust for you.

I have a Bose CDR-23 single CD player/receiver out of my '04 986S if interested. I have no idea if it would fit the connections in a 2002, but maybe some of the audiophiles could tell us??

Durametric now has the second release of Beta 6.0 available - it includes support for 9x6 cars. They did not list all the new features on the website, but there are some interesting ones listed. I look forward to checking it out to see what it does.

I don't know about in a 2001, but in my 2004, the filter and pump were all one unit. It was an easy replacement, BTW. No pressure in the tank. I did not have the proper tool to remove the ring, but was able to improvise easily. Also replaced the gasket around the ring at the same time. RFM has some instructions out here somewhere that were spot on.

Pressing out the front or rear wheel bearings is not bad if you remove the wheel carrier and have the right SIR tool. As reference, I have a 986S that is a dedicated track car/race car and gets lots of track time and abuse. I have to change the left front wheel bearing at least once a year, but the rears, I have only changed once in three years. Unless you have the proper tool and you have the wheel carrier off, leave them alone unless you can hear or feel that they are bad. MO

wvicary - would a bad CDI unit display these symptoms?

If you have an iPhone 3G(S) or a Palm device lying around, I recommend Harry's Laptimer. It's GPS based and once you program the start/finish as a way point it records laptimes automatically. It allows export to google maps with G-force data. Pretty cool. http://web.me.com/hschlangmann/LapTimer_Homepage/Home.html JP There was a fellow at Road Atlanta a couple of weekends ago that was using this - it was pretty cool - first time I had ever seen it.

If you have the cash and like data and technology, check out traqmate - it is what I use - very rich in data, can integrate with chase cam too to make cool videos with dashboard data to impress your friends! Pagid Orange - while I use the yellow and black as mentioned, I love the Orange - they just don't last very long compared to the yellows, but the bite with orange is better I think. Robic timers are popular because they are inexpensive (compared) and have bigger buttons - see lap timers at Robictimers.com I've seen these mounted on dash, on center of wheel, on center console - Some people go real cheap and use their digital watch - I've tried that - the buttons are too small. I don't like the beemer lap timers - you have to find the right spot on the car, and on the pit road - depending on what kind you get, sometimes other beemers can interfere, etc. On brake pads - if you haven't done a track day before, you can likely get away with your street pads. For the first time and maybe one or two events after, you may not be going fast enough to overheat your street pads. If you want to invest in race pads, I recommend Pagid Orange as a good race pad. Personally, I use Pagid Yellow up front and Pagid Black in the rear - I just know from experimenting with various pads that that is a good combo for my setup. But Orange all around is a really good starting point. (Sorry, I am assuming this is one of your first track events - not trying to be offensive) As for other prep - recommend a brake fluid change if you haven't done one in the last year. If you replace your fluid, lots of track guys recommend castrol SRF, which is expensive at about $70 a liter, but I have NEVER had issues with your basic Ate Super Blue and Amber Type 200 - it is much cheaper and if you bleed and change twice a year, should be no problems. Mostly though, I recommend listening to your instructor and have fun, 'cause it is a hoot.