geoff

Loren, Here's a close up. It doesn't seem to just pull out

I'm in WA state until the end of the week, then gone for the weekend (Santa Cruz), then in DC the next week. I'll see if I can snap a picture while passing by my house Definitely looks like a different mounting setup than on my '01 Boxster - no visible torx on the outboard side

Loren - not at all like my Boxster. On the outer side, it looks like the visor post comes down from a round fitting, without any little flip-up cover. On the side closer to the rear view mirror, it comes out and swivels to the side windows like a regular car, not fixed like on my Boxster. I don't know anything about 996s, so can't compare to one of those

I hear one vote for definitely chrome, and one vote for unpolished stainless :o Anybody have any other suggestions?

How do I remove the visors on a Carrera (997)? Same as a 996, or is it a different mechanism? I couldn't find any way to pop off the cover to get at torx screws underneath. I want to get them off to easily remove the airbag stickers. Thanks

Are the 997 Carrera tailpipes stainless steel or chrome - the stock squared off ones? They look gunky pretty quickly, and I'd like to polish them up. If they're chrome, I don't want to use steel wool. Anyone know for sure?

I upgraded to the Litronic HID lights a few weeks ago (self installed). They seem to light up everything!! Trees, houses, etc. Do they usually need to be aligned, or do they come from the factory pretty close? I've never aligned headlights before. Is it pretty easy to do following the instructions in the owners manual, or worth avoiding potential road rage from some disgruntled oncoming driver and taking it to the dealer to get dead on? Are we talking precision adjustments here, or is anywhere close good enough?

Unlike the highly civilized cell service practices in Europe, here in the US the recipient of the phone call pays the cost. :angry: Prepaid GSM here is considerably more expensive than contract rates, and SIMs typically need to be topped up every 90 to 120 days or they expire. When I travel to Europe, I buy prepaid SIMs to stay in touch with work, and talking for 12 hours in a week when they call me costs exactly $0 (actually €0). I haven't found any prepaid GSM provider here in the US that offers free incoming calls. I'm not sure if the US will ever catch up to Europe with respect to cell service

Thanks for the info. The car has the little SIM drawer, and lots of buttons, including SOS. I'll check with my dealer's service manager when he gets back from Hawaii. Glad to hear the Nav is good. So many of the cars we looked at (e.g., BMW) has really bad systems. Is there any way to use her current phone (Cingular GSM) with the Telephone PCM2 module, or will I need to get another SIM with a different phone number? Would I be better of with a Bluetooth phone and figure out how to make that talk to the PCM2 system, so 1 phone does it all? I haven't seen the PCM2 in action with the phone setup, and my salesman wasn't up on all the details.

My wife wants the Nav for her new 997. The sticker lists "PCM Color Display, Radio with In-Dash CD" as a standard Comfort/Convenience item. She spends LOTS of time in her car on the phone, also, and thinks she wants the in-car phone setup also. The dealer said the in-car phone kit isn't available yet. Is there any advantage to getting both Nav and phone installed at once, other than possibly cheaper to pull the dash apart once instead of twice? Are there any benefits of having the two together, instead of just the Nav and using her regular cell phone? I've only driven the car a little, but it drives very nice. It sure feels a lot bigger than my Boxster. Once the break-in period is over, we can have more fun

If you do the wiring and plug in the control unit, when you turn on the high beams, the (HID) low beams rotate up a few degrees to fill in the light below the (halogen) high beam. The same thing happens if you momentarily flash your high beams. If you're a spaz, mechanically, like me, the wiring is a pain. The good thing is you can use the lights without the wiring, then decide later that since you spent so much $$ on the lights to take full advantage of them and hook up the control unit :) My wife just got a new 997 last weekend, and I started reading the owners manual. The autoleveling feature sounds like it only makes adjustments when the car is first started, based on weight loading, and is not dynamic when driving. Yes high beam. As far as I know, you cannot retrofit auto leveling feature anyway. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. So Jeff or geoff, what happens if I turn on high beam with no wires installed? No highbeam at all??? <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, I think so. I installed the Litronics a few weeks ago myself. It's a pain, but worth it. It took probably 4 hours to pull the inside trunk apart, do the wiring, and put it back together. In the process, I learned a lot about how my car is put together. I figured why bother getting the Litronic headlights, then losing the full high beam functionality. I still need to align the lights (they're aimed way too high as received), but quite a bit brighter

I'm sure it's somewhere, but I couldn't find it by searching old posts, and I'm too brain dead and frustrated from installing the Litronic upgrade on my Boxster. So I'll just ask... What interior parts on a 997 Carrera are leather by default, and what extras come with the various leather packages? The picture in the order guide isn't real obvious as to what's standard and what's optional. After looking for a new car for my wife for the past several months (7 series BMW, Audi A8, LS400, Jag, S class, etc.) I finally convinced her to sit in a new 997. After that, it wasn't too hard to convince her to take a test drive. No more cars to order this year, or so the dealer says. But they found one that's close to what we want, but no nav or full leather. My service manager at the dealer says nav can be added, but no-go on leather (without spending big bucks). And my wife really wants the full leather package (or so she thinks) Thanks

Air compressor and tire sealant?

Any tour of the Porsche factory is special, whether you are an owner or not :D I did the factory tour in Stuttgart (actually Zuffenhausen) last year. I believe Porsche also does factory tours in Leipzig. The only way to arrange a tour for mere mortals is through your Porsche dealer. Talk to your local sales guy and ask him about it. At my local dealer, there is one salesman who knows what to do as far as dealing with the factory and PCNA to arrange the tour. Plan at least two or more weeks in advance. I strongly recommend taking the effort to see the tour, definitely worth it :thumbup:

My local dealer had their intro, free food and test drives yesterday (Saturday). Showing up was a big mistake. It became clear on the test drive just how much the new base 987 is improved over a 2001 986. More power, better exhaust sound. I'm not planning to trade anytime soon, but now it's clear there was room for improvement on my car.

I bought a set at Xmas time from Brandywine for $1095. Another $100 for shipping and the clear corners. Sunset couldn't get close to that price - dealer cost just for the lights is now up to around $1200. Sunset said anyone selling them now for $1095 bought them a year earlier and stockpiled them until now, instead of blowing them out at the old, cheaper price

I use very fine steel wool (000 followed by 0000) and metal polish. Makes them look like new

I went into a Leslie's pool supplies yesterday to get some chlorine tablets. They had some "Pool and Spa Lube" (sounds kind of kinky), and when I glanced at the label, it said "Formulated with DuPont Krytox" and costs about $5 for a little tube. Here's a product link. Has anyone tried this stuff for getting rid of rubber squeaking? It also listed silicon as an ingredient, so I'm not sure how well it will work. I was in a hurry, so didn't get to talk to the guy behind the counter about it. Any feedback appreciated...

FYI - I just spoke with SIR Tools. They are discontinuing their 9701 medium wire terminal extractor tool. I tried Sears last night, and they didn't have anything like it. SIR Tools was very nice on the phone, and since I was an individual and didn't have a tool distributor I normally use, they sold direct to me. (800) 845-4542. Supplies are limited and the woman at SIR Tools I spoke with didn't expect anyone in the LA area to have any in stock. Only a few more available for sale if anyone is interested

Personal taste. I drove in a friend's '99 996 with Litronics and they were noticeably brighter on dark roads, which is the only reason I went with them. I like the way Boxsters look with amber. When I was growing up, we had a 1966 Mercedes Benz 200 - heavy, 4 cylinder automatic, grossly underpowered and mechanically unreliable. No amber. I remember when amber lights started coming out on the "newer" cars from Europe and thought the look was much better. As with everything, if some is good, more is better, and too much is just right, as evidenced by some excessive use of amber in certain European and Japanese cars. Now the taste pendulum has swung the other direction, and amber is considered "bad". I'm sure people will get tired of the "clean" look at some point in the future and amber will be "in" again. I figure I'm just ahead of my time. If all I wanted was the amber-less look, the regular Halogen headlights without amber are a lot cheaper and less work to swap out.

Not sure which Conti's / sizes you've got. My '01 Boxster came with 18" OEM ContiSport N1 rated tires. Rears (original) wore out at about 27.5K miles. Still on the original fronts at 33+K miles. Lots of canyon driving. Not much time over 100 MPH. No track / autocross I've heard Conti's are harder, rubber-wise, and typically last longer than most other brands. Tradeoff is performance, comfort, noise, etc. Rears wear out faster than fronts typically because all engine power is transferred directly to rear wheels, while fronts just steer and brake (somewhat oversimplified, but you get the idea). Alignment and correct pressure seem to affect how long tires last. Like they say, your mileage may vary...

Loren & Jeff, Thanks for the fast and insightful replies -- as always. Jeff - question still to you on whether the SIR 9701 is the right tool?

I got the Porsche Litronic retrofit from my wife as a combined b-day and Xmas present. No instructions from Brandywine, but they had the cheapest price ($1099), and I found the old (1999) and new (2002) TSBs online for guidance. I read both and have some questions before I start tackling the installation: 1. The Porsche TSBs refer to left and right sides. Is left the driver side (for US cars), or left side looking at the trunk from the front when installing? 2. The old TSB doesn't say to solder wires, but to remove pins and crimp, the new instructions say to solder wires. Is one way better? Using the provided pins and crimping sounds like a cleaner installation than cutting and soldering wires 3. Which is the harness side and which is the receiver side of connector X1/2? Or will it be obvious when I pull everything apart? 4. Is the medium SIR pin removal tool, p/n 9701, the one I need to remove the pin 2 from connector X1/2? I searched past messages and that sounds like the Porsche 87050 equivalent. Can I get it at some place like Fry's? 5. Is there anything else I need to have or do besides what's in the TSB? There's another guys' site on the internet with pictures, but his instructions sound a little like he couldn't be bothered with removing pins - he just clipped wires together. 6. How long should I expect this to take? 7. Is there any way to make the Litronic headlight housings amber like my current headlights (2001 Boxster)? Thanks in advance for any/all info