rob545

Hi there I’m thinking maybe your condenser fan is not working properly or is clogged with debris I’d start there.  If the system is cooling when you are moving down the road I would say that is a likely culprit.

Hi John,

Your indy shop's advice is correct.  We work with aftermarket fitments on these cars up to 20",  and they have proven to be quite tolearant of slight variations on OD.  Typically, we try to respect the factory stagger (typical cars have none, but hen again Porsche are not typical cars!).  In the case of your C4S the factory 235/35-18 (25.48 OD) and 305/30-19 (26.20 OD) has a factory stagger of 2.8%.  The 235/40-18 (25.4) and 285/35-18 (25.86) yields a 1.8% stagger.  I would suggest you consider a 295/35-18 (26.13) which combined with the 235/40 will give you the exact factory stagger of 2.8%.

That being said so long as you keep the OD difference to less than 1% or so, the cars run just fine.  As a matter of fact we had one by running  245/30-20 (25.79 OD) and 315/25-20 (26.20 OD) a 1.6% difference, and client reported no trouble or lights.

Good luck and enjoy!

Robert

Although not ideal situation, the front wheel should be suitable as a temporary spare.  Front offset is lower than rear, and rear brake is smaller than front so you should be OK.

Can you confirm exactly what size rear tires you are trying to fit?  I checked 295/30-19 and Tire Rack shows those available in the Michelin PSS.

Great write-up! Thanks for the tip. My 997 certainly does not give one that "warm and fuzzy" feeling when turning over after being warm. Especially down here in So Fla in July!

Great! Thanks for the advice, I will let you know how it turns out.

Mijostyn, I tried locating that site as I have a worn section I would like to repair. Would you be able to post a link to the sit? leatherworldonline is not an active site.

Thanks!

Jeff,

I understand the appeal of the coilover. But for a daily/street, you may want to consider running lowering springs. I have pretty much same car as you are considering and have been very pleased with Eibach sport lowering springs. I cannot imagine wanting the car much lower. It has been a few years but I believe parts and labor ran about $600 including alignment. Just a thought..

I agree with White987S, the OE Porsche kit is about as good as it gets. Includes a spacer that will bolt onto the mounting pad of vehicle (you will barely know it is there), along with the requisite longer factory style bolts. BTW, the car has quite a bit of room of room, if you want flush to fender you may consider going out 10mm. I don't know if Porsche makes a 10mm kit but companies such as H&R do. The only caveat is that their supplied bolts may not match your OE front bolts so I would ask that question before ordering.

Seems to me you likely have one or both of the hydraulic actuators bad on the vehicle. The 997/996 system is hydraulic and is generally far more reliable han the older 993 style mechanical system. If one of your actuators has gone bad, you have likely lost enough fluid so that system is not able to raise or lower the top. If you look directly behind the doors where rear wheel well plastic is, you may find signs of oily mess on one or both sides. Essentially, when the actuators go bad, they drip right onto the plastic drains and this leads the fluid right out the same location that water would flow. If you do find you need to replace actuator, you should seriously consider changing both. I replaced 1 and within 60 days had to replace the other. I had been warned by the parts department that they suggest replacing them in "pairs"....

Harry,

I have a 993 with same issue. I have not been able to solve the problem as my car is a 1995 which has different steering wheel horn/airbag bracket than later cars. I learned this the hard way after ordering the repacement part from the dealership, disassembling the steering, and discovering the hange. Unforunately, the small rubber grommets are not available as a separate item, and the solutios I hve read online about fixing them by "reinforcing" with superglue did not work for me. If you come up with a solution please let me know as I am driving car with the horn fuse removed to avoid drawing a lot of unwanted attenton!!

Sullivas,

You can be almost certian the cuplrit is the mirror. I had the very same problem when I first purchased my 997.1. It drove me nuts, although it would only be audible with windows down or when the convertible top was in the open position. I was still under the warranty period, so the dealership took care of it, but they described the process as one of essentially splitting open the mirtror case siliconing the seam and putting it back together. Again, I do not have hands on experience, but it DID solve the problem.

Good luck!

You will more than likely be just fine, but without knowing the width of the wheels, simply knowing offset change will not be enough. If you can confirm wheels size and offset, I can let you know if you will enounter any trouble.

Thanks JFP. The test strips are new so are hopefully reasonably accurate.

I purchased the PH test strips but am unsure as to what the proper PH level is for the coolant. Does anyone have an idea as to what the correct PH "range" would be for the 997?

Islands62 has it right. The S versus non S does not make a difference in 997 Body. I think those are remains from the older air cooled days where a Carrera S did in fact get a wider body. In current 997 all the AWD cars get a widebody as do the GT2 and GT3RS.

Thinking about this some more, I believe it is correct that if you really corner hard consistently and frequently, as on a track, your tire wear will be more even than for normal street driving. The whole point of the negative camber, if I understand correctly, is to get more rubber flat onto the pavement during hard cornering. The camber compensates for the roll of the car.

On the street dominated by straight ahead driving the negative camber puts more force on the insides, wearing them faster. If used for continuous cornering on a track, the tires may wear quicker but the wear will be more even.

Correct me if I have this wrong.

I think you have it right on the money. So to take it to its next logical conclusion, we all need to concetrate on having more track days, and increasing the intensity of our "spirited" driving, in order to make the most complete use of our automotive resources. :jump:

You should be just fine with the 295 width tire on the 18". Tire manufacturers offer and "approved rim width range" for the tires they offer. This can be found in Tire rack's Specs tab. You will find that all Porsche approved tires in that width are listing a range of 10-11.5" rims. THis means it is safe to fit on all those rim widths. On on end of the spectrum (10") the tire will be slightly more "pinched" than on the opposite end where it will sit more stretched on the rim. Either way, it is perfectly safe to run, and you should have no clearane issues whatsoever. Hope this helps,

If you are running the factory 11" wheels with the 5mm spacer and the 305/30 tires, you should have no rubbing whatsover. Enjoy that track time!!

I seem to remember a TSB about the weld breaking on the exhaust tips causing a noise.

I also have the same startup rattle he describes on a 2006 C2 Cab. I am running aftermarket exhaust so I don't know if the factory exhaust tip TSB would be the culprit. Sounds almost like a rattling heatshield but it is very brief and goes away in less than 30 seconds so I have never bothered with it. Would love to know if there is an easy fix though!

Joe:

If the dealer has any hesitation about adding a reasonable clause along the lines that we discussed, that would raise a red flag for me.

I know that you guys pay more for Porsches up in Canada, but there are lots of Porsches for sale all the time. It pays for you to get one that gives you that peace of mind, as that's one less thing to worry about.

When you finally get it (or another one) home, post some pics. We love pics!

Regards, Maurice.

So this what the dealer said they would add to the Bill of Sale:

As far as the inspection, the BOS will read like this

"Sold as Certified Pre-owned, fully inspected, full carproof disclosed and accepted by buyer, No undisclosed structural damage "

If your independant inspector finds Structural damage that has not been disclosed, then we will discuss how to remedy the situation so that you are happy and we are happy too.

Is that fair enough ?

That sounds very ambiguous. Unfortunately, one must view a bill of sale as a contract, and contracts define how things get handled when things go wrong. The "we will discusss how to remedy" line is pretty much worthless make you feel good text. Need to explore having a third party inspect that car for you. 99% chance all is well, but you know, someone has to be the 1 in 100, protect yourself!

I had some issues with my top a while back with leaking cylinders which eventually produced symptoms as you describe. The "grinding" noise in the back is likely the hydraulic pump motor, and you very possibly have lost enough hydraulic fluid that the top is no longer functioning. Had it been giving you any trouble prior to this? Do you have any telltale signs of hydraulic fluid leaking out of the front side of rear wheel arches on either passenger or Driver's side?

18x10 et 54 will fit just fine on your targa. Enjoy!

2 more cents on the matter: I noticed a relatively "weak/slow" cranking from the moment I bought the car. While it was under warranty I had the problem diagnosed by the dealer and they decided to replace both the starter cable and battery. It definitely imporved (has been 6 months now) but I still feel the car is a relativly weak comapred to most other vehicles I own or drive.

Still tackling the project, need some advice from anyone who has had to remove rear panel before. Is there a particular trick to removing the seat belt upper anchor trim plate? I have pulled and pried with as much force as I deem reasonable and she won't budge. I need to get to the screw that secures the rear trim panel that is in behind the trim but am trying to avoid breaking any parts? Any suggestions?