deschodt

It just occured to me why, in my "new" 996 (03), I'm sometimes less smooth than normal on gear changes. The clutch only grabs on the last inch of pedal travel (when almost fully released). Does that point ot a worn clutch or is it adjustable ? I'd like for engagement to happen lower (closer to the floor, more mid travel)... The clutch seems fine other than that, really... no slippage, smooth shifts, it's just the final release at the very top of the travel sometimes throws off 20 years of "technique", and I think it's easier to fix the car than me at this point ;-) PS: just in case, I'm OK with all other cars, it's not me, allright ? ;-) Thanks !

Thanks guys, that confirms my thoughts. I was reluctant to experiment with new tires ($1000) to find out the problem was not the pirellis, but it really seems that way ! I'll wear them out and swap to Michelins or bridgestones, two brands I've had much success with in the past !

Guys, I am wondering if anybody switched from Pirellis to - say - Michelins or another brand and found the ride to be better... I find the 18" P-zeros to be incredibly harsher than the Michelin PS2 I had on a previous porsche (also on 18"). They transmit a lot of road noise, go "doingggg" on each expansion joint, feel a little squirelly in general until fully warm, and just ride rough... Curious if it could be tires, because my old PS2s felt so much nicer....

I don't know the official #s for a 996, but up to the 993, the factory said up to 1L/ 1000 km was acceptable. Say 1qt per 600 miles or so. That was high but that was for air cooled motors... Mine eats a little oil too, not enough that I bothered measuring yet, but zero smell or drips, so I guess it cannot be that bad.

Interesting... I will look at the before photos to see if it's really changed much. Maybe I'm remebering wrong, but either way it's not quite enough ;-)

For those who remember my 030 fiasco from last month (install of just the springs instead of full ROW kit), Reeves in Tampa came through in the end. They installed the suncoast-provided full kit (not just the springs this time) because they flat out told me they could not get it as cheap as suncoast !! Anyway, they charged me 1/2 the labor but refunded me the parts from last time so, including a new alignment, I paid only $230 to have this done this time around - pretty much the price of the alignment + tax ! Now, do I like the car better on ROW030 ? You bet... It's not night and day, it's subtle under daily driving, but the best word I can think of is "sharper". The turn in is sharper, the overall suspension is sharper, the transitions are more controlled, and the car corners a little flatter - well, either that or it feels more stable and controlled. I have to say the factory row030 is nicely balanced overall, which is what I was looking for, as opposed to aftermarket guesses (not a critic, to each his own). I'll have to wait for track season for a full eval, but I am happy with it. It's not noticeably less comfortable, I found that the 996 was more sensitive to rear tire pressures in terms of rough riding that it is to the 030 vs stock suspension. I mean stock 36/44 pressures on stock shocks is A LOT rougher than 34/38 on row030, and I might even go lower... What it is? It's the way the car should ride from the factory. It's not too rough, and it feels nicely sprung now, more like (dare I say it) a boxster in the response to the turn in. What it's not ?a lowering kit. For looks, it's barely noticeable (10mm +/-), I hope for more but I'll live ! It's also not adjustable like other offerings... But the price is not bad !

Funny how it goes.. I get the opposite feeling when I drive other brands... You barely touch the brake pedal and BAM, your face is in the windshield. My wife's bimmer was like that... I appreciate the 911 brakes because they are easy to modulate. I think the other brands have an artificially boosted feel that makes you *think* the brakes are better because they slam you on the windshield if you just brush them. I see this as lack of sensitivity... In reality, the porsche brakes have proven over and over they are among the best in the business and fade very little. Don't be afraid to hit them hard, that's what they teach you on the track. Hit'em hard and relieve pressure progressively to modulate your braking you approach your turning point ! Also a good place to point out that "good" brakes (turbo vs. regular) contribute nothing to shorter stopping distances. What does is the tire compound mostly, good brakes' main advantage is mostly fade resistance (or savings in unsprung weight). Anyhow, no, coming from other P-cars, the 996 brakes feel fairly typical, if you think they feel wrong, try a 356 or an early 911, rock hard ! ;-) I recall a few rides at Sebring in stock 996s (before I got mine) with stock brakes but R-compound tires, the violence of the braking made it feel like somebody had thrown an anchor ;-) I could not believe stock brakes were that good - but it was mostly the tires !

Let me be the first to say: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Stay the hell away from motormeister, run forest, run !

As a side note, more than a direct response, the 44 rear Porsche recommends on 18" wheels seems very very high. My ex-987 on 18" had a lot lower recommended PSI from the factory. At 44 - probably due to the engine weight over the rear axle - my 996 feels like a cheap motel vibrating bed... Also, 44 cold turns into 49 freeway and 51 "attack mode"... Those are extreme pressures... Too extreme, I think...

I am not sure I am qualified to agree with Loren, but I agree.... 36/44 is a little bouncy and extreme. That said I have bent rear 18" rims probably because the PO went too low on pressure - or whacked a huge bump/pothole, so it's a compromise between protecting your 18" rims and comfort/handling. I run 34-38 now, not that it means anything... I might go a bit lower when the pain from buying new rims subsides...

Answering my own query for the sake of the search. Nope, the wiring is too short to reach the window switches area, you have to relocate the switches to the A/C radio console area.... OR splice (no fun, tiny wires)

Nice - tell me, what size are your wheels ?

Well, I ordered a new set of rears. I will get the current wheels fixed but then they will be my "spare" or street set. I'll try to find fronts on ebay to have the full deck of wheels ;-) All the pros I talked to (3 places including wheel enhancement) agreed that they would not recommend a repair nor trust a repaired wheel of that style (the 02 996 5 spoke lightweight) for track duties. I emphasize "of that style" and "for track duties". The heating + hydraulic press repair -does- work but it weakens the affected spot. Apparently that is not so much a problem with Fuchs or modular wheels, but those modern alloys are more fragile - they also said the rear is a pretty deep wheel (10) and the inner lip is not as supported by the spokes as the outer, so this is where it's going to happen more often than not... That also might explain how you bend the rears and not the fronts ! Anyway, a problem at 140 mph on the track is not something I am willing to expose myself to. They all said I was better off driving with an imbalance (unrepaired) or getting new ones from a safety standpoint. And yeah, the repair is cheaper if I supply them with a rim only, $65 was including dismounting tire, remounting and balancing.... It's $50 with just the rim. That, incidentally, makes me wonder about all the rims for sale on ebay and how many people are truthful about their condition....

There a pretty good how-to with the B&M shifter update document.... It's very easy, a bunch of screws.... I did mine last week in under 2 hours, including rewiring some switches!

I have a set of 18x10 rear 5 spoke 996 wheels that are - indeed - bent a little. Nothing crazy, it's not even visible unless you spin them on a balancing machine with a guide next to the inner lip, but not totally fixeable just with good balancing either. Most people could live with it but I HATE the smallest of vibrations. There is a local wheel place that fixes wheels for famous brands, dealers etc, that tells me they can fix them for $65 each, they heat them and use a hydraulic press to restore true roundness... They do it all the time, and according to the guy, on those exact wheels as well...The cheap side of my brain likes this idea... On the flip side, wheel enhancement (and the rational side of my brain) tells me those are BBS made wheels and are heat treated, so they do not condone repairing them because reheating them destroys the original heat treatment and affect the metallurgy. The wheels can be fixed but they are inherently more fragile afterwards. That said, new ones are $700 a pop, so they're not totally impartial either since they'd like to sell me a set.. I'm curious as to what you guys think - if I have to pay up I will, I just want to be sure I'm not being taken for a ride. I hear people get them repaired all the time, and it's not a huge bend to begin with.... but, I am going to use them on track at speed ! I'm thinking of doing both, buy a new set (ouch) and repair the old one as a spare of sorts. Err on the side of safety and all that...Just wondering if those BBS made wheels are indeed all that much more fragile after a repair....

I am considering downgrading from my 18" wheels to 17" for daily driving, because of, in no particular order, crappy roads, pot holes, ridiculously high pressures on 18s, and the cost of repairing/replacing them each time they get dinged. I'd keep the 18s for track duty. I happen to like the 10 spokes 17" 02 wheels... But they are 7 and 9s, versus 8 and 10s for my 18s. That will mean I have to go down a size in tire width ? I like the 225F/285R, it seems like the 17" wheels are limited to 205s (like my 83!!!) and 255s. Is that true ? That seems pitiful in terms of size, my 69 912 has wider front tires ;-) In other words, aren't there 17 wheels that take the same tire width as my current 18s? Just with a slightly taller profile....

I removed the center console tonight and installed the "delete kit" I asked last week about rerouting the seat warmer switches, that was THE most annoying part of the install... I ended up having to pull the A/C unit and fish for the wires from each end, that took 20 minutes of contorsions, but I finally got them through and in the place of dummy switches ! Put it all back together and - wonders never cease - it all still works !!! Here's the junk I pulled out ! Pretty happy overall.. cheap project, and I removed the Valentine remote install that was DOA anyway...

Guys, I've ordered a central console deletion kit (GT3 style) - that area currently holds the heated seats switches. Will I find enough wiring to relocate those switches up around the radio or back where the window switches are ? If not, is it just a standard splice ? I'd rather have/order all the parts before I start this... Thx !

PS: I figured out why the car felt so much worse when I got it back with stock shocks and ROW springs. The tech had bumped the tire pressures back to factory settings and then some, for the balancing, despite me asking them not to... After some freeway time, I was running 41F/49R !!! That is like running on balloons ! I went down to 34-38 which is actually not bad now. I still will get the whole RoW030 done, but the car feels better already. I know the factory says 44 rear, I know it's recommended to protect your fragile wheels, but personally I find the car drives like crap on such high pressures, and warming up to 48/49 is pretty high. I don't quite get it, my 987 with 18"was running 36R and was much more comfortable on bumps. I suppose the rear weight bias on the 996 requires more pressure, but 44 ??? it feels like the tires are made of teak ! It could be the suspension mismatch too... We'll see when I get the 030 struts ! They are P-zeros by the way, if there are tires that feel a little more compliant, let me know ;-)

The clutch pedal switch is irritating me, it clicks everytime you depress the pedal, and unlike on my first boxster where you could zip-tie it and shut it up, the one on my 03 996 is "reversed", in that it needs to be "extended" to let the car start, not compressed. So the zip tie is not an option. The dealer kinda ignored me when I asked if I could bypass it, so I'm asking you guys ;-) Can I remove that switch and reconnect the wires so that the computer thinks the pedal is depressed and lets the car start ? Does this switch have any other purpose ? Is there another way to make this "click" go away ? (it's not broken, but I can hear it all the time). I've searched, I can't believe I am the only one anal enough to be annoyed by this noise. Maybe I need louder exhausts !!

Oh, I will... The only reason I went there was that I wanted to pull up the service history (they won't), when my warranty would expire (next may), if they had extensions for warranty (they do but I won't buy it now), I wanted to know when the next service was, and wanted the radio codes (apparently there aren't any for that year). The suspension was an afterthought. Next time I have one of those, I'll slap myself out of it !

Ok, here's how this ends ( I hope). Not ideal but a compromise... They cannot match the $1100 price on the whole kit. So they told me to go ahead and buy it at that price, and bring it to them. They will install it for 1/2 the labor, and refund me the springs they installed, which should work out to almost a blank operation - I might owe them $20.... Sure, that means I'll have paid $1300 for installing that in the end, but that beats the current donkey cart I am riding !

Well, that brings up a good point. I was considering extending my warranty to cover possible RMS or engine issues in the future, but right now, I'd rather use a donkey to carry a new crate motor to me from the factory that give them any more business... Hell if I'm going to use them for the GT3 skirts, either... The only thing they agreed to redo so far was the alignment - and mark my words, it'll end up being my car's fault for some reason !

That is what I tried. They are going oit get back to me but "doubt they can eat the 8h of labor".... I am Ok with buying the rest of the parts, but not repaying the labor... The trick is that that portion was a phone quote, $1800 - which I rightly or wrongly assumed was for the entire kit mounted (1100 + labor, sounds reasonnable), I did not expect at that point I should ask " That is the entire kit, correct?" since springs only are so much cheaper ! Shared blame, for sure, but I am the one with the bill and the car that drives like crap. Besides, since the alignment it pull right, so no matetr what they are redoing that !! So public service announcement: Guys, make sure you order the whole KIT and caboodle when you get the ROW 030 !

Here's the deal, let me know what the risks are now... I took the car (03 C2) to the dealer for a baseline service. While there I asked for a quote for the ROW M030 suspension (I did not strictly define this, I guess, but I meant the 030 ROW kit). The advisor calls the next day and says $1800 mounted. I figured, since it's $1100 in parts for the kit, it sounds fair for the work... I tell him to go ahead, on the phone. I picked up my car, and upon reading the invoice carefully at home, I realize all I got was the springs, that is IT ! Now I have stock shocks with ROW springs (bad mix, right?), no M030 struts, no sway bars or whatever else. Kicker: All the alignment work + tire balance, and labor to undo the original springs is now for nothing if I want this fixed, and I am not sure I like the current results either - it's a bit crashy and vibrates more, and it's only 10mm lower, barely noticeable... I'd be Ok with the 10mm if I got thew whole M030 experience, but all I got was a bill for $2100 (incl $500 service) and 10mm less ! Crap !!! now it's gonna be their word against mine because we "phoned" that part of the conversation. Not sure what to do... Not sure the car is safe as is, either ! That'll teach me to use a dealer, dammit...