geoff

Loren - with or without the topic hover preview, RennTech 3.0 is a terrific upgrade. Being able to preview part of the post to decide whether to click on it or not is like a third layer of icing on the cake :renntech:

See Mike Focke's excellent reference at http://sites.google....yeardifferences I always thought it had something to do with the wheel carrier assembly

The Porsche recommended air pressure gives a fair amount of understeer, which Porsche's lawyers probably figure is good from a liability standpoint. I run 30-31 PSI in front and 36 PSI in the rear and it seems to work fine for me. At least, that's what my tire pressure gauge says and I've never calibrated it I don't get excessive tire wear, but also keep my tires properly inflated and balanced, and get an alignment every two years or so.

Look in the "Additional Maintenance" link. Transmission oil is listed as a 90K mile / 160K KM service, which seems high to me. But then so does the Porsche motor oil change interval.

After no response here and some suggestions / online diagnoses from a few other Porsche boards, I'm a lot smarter. My third trip to the dealer today might have solved my problem, though. On my second dealer visit, the head mechanic squirted some magic Wurth lubricant on the front lower control arms and sway bar bushings, then tightened the drop links and sway bars. Our plan was to lube/tighten one thing at a time. Unfortunately, the squeak remained and continued to get worse over time. I talked to Steve Alarcon at Johnson's Alignment, and he suggested retorquing everything to factory spec, as he's seen some fasteners loosen over time causing a squeak. I went back to the dealer this afternoon for the third time planning to just have them retighten everything, but the mechanic wanted to take another test drive first. As we started driving through the canyons at 30 MPH, he finally heard the sound (chatter/squeak/rattle). A few more miles through the canyons after doing lots of circles at various intersections, we were finally able to reliably reproduce the squeak (he was calling it a rattle at this point). After driving back and forth numerous times at the intersection of Mulholland and Decker Canyon (me driving, him standing outside), we got the car positioned at the right angle such that he could bounce the front up and down to cause the squeak. After poking around in the wheel wells and under the hood, he closed the hood and claimed success. Driving back to the dealership, the squeak was just about gone. When we got back, he popped the hood, adjusted the hood latch, squirted some WD-40 in the latch, and said the squeak was gone. Sure enough, I haven't heard it since. The good, bad and moral of this experience: I've got a great working relationship with the service department at my dealer. Two test drives, probably 3 hours of the head mechanic's time and a couple squirts of various lubes cost me exactly $0 dollars. I asked them to charge me for their time, but they didn't feel they did anything worth charging me. Is this a great way to build loyalty and repeat business or what? I was almost convinced the problem was worn lower control arms based on numerous posts here and on other forums. I really want some of the GT-3 lower control arms now, but can't justify the cost now. The mechanic saw my notes on our test drive today and said he'd be happy to put them in, but I can't see spending a grand, give or take, when I didn't really have any suspension problem. Several morals to the story - building a good relationship with a dealer (or independent) is invaluable, and trying to diagnose squeaks and rattles over the internet is potentially wrong and expensive. If anyone is interested, my posts on other boards, including some good information on GT-3 lower control arms, can be found at: Boxster Spec.com: GT3 control arm bushings vs. stock, Same or different? Boxster Racing Board: GT3 control arms Pelican Parts Boxster & Cayman Forum: Boxster front squeak

My wife's 997 Carrera just got her second set of rear tires installed a few weeks ago. I check the air pressure every 3 or 4 weeks, have the balance checked every 5-6K miles, and every couple of years get it aligned. She got about 28K miles on each rear set of PS2s, with a combination of canyon, freeway and stop-and-go driving. I don't think she ever hits 100 MPH, but comes close on the freeway at times, and she definitely doesn't drive like a little old lady. No track driving though. Somewhere I read the 997s don't go through rear tires as fast as 996s, but since I get good tire wear on all our P-cars by keeping them properly inflated and balanced, I think that has a lot to do with how well they wear. I've got 29+K miles on the original Contis on our '08 Cayenne S and they aren't quite down to the wear bars yet, even with lots of canyon driving. I can't understand how tires would have to be changed more frequently than motor oil

They worked fine in my '01 Boxster. There's a TSB that describes the process. Also see http://www.skylersra...s_Starting.html I followed these instructions and bumbled my way through the installation. Depending on your electromechanical ability, it's somewhere between trivial and brain surgery. If I had to do it all over again, I would have also gotten how-to Tool Pants' DVD - see http://www.renntech....s&do=_9x6_Werks The Litronics are very nice, although the stock headlights aren't bad

Another option is to just use the blank speaker covers and mount your new speakers directly onto the plastic plate, so you don't mess up your originals. I'm not sure if you can put a deeper speaker in that way or not. See http://www.renntech....__1entry76749 for details on how I did this

Ramps? Like Rhino Ramps

If you are using the VW wires to make the wiring harness, the VW wires are all yellow. See http://www.whiteson....xster/mods/obc/ for the basics, and follow Peter's link at the end for the wire colors. The VW wires needed and the connections changed as of the 2001 model year, so make sure you follow the right set of wiring instructions.

Porsche has pictures and preliminary specs on the new model Cayenne on their web site at http://www.porsche.c...ne/default.aspx - hybrid model included, but no diesel. Interestingly, on a recent flight home from the east coast, I started talking to a car enthusiast from Australia sitting next to me. According to him, and the Oz car mags he was reading, diesel Cayennes have been sold in Australia for several years, but still no mention of them in the US. I didn't realize until talking to him a Cayenne diesel even existed! Proof at http://www.porsche.c...indetail/drive/

I was always a fan of the GT-1 inspired "fried egg" shape for the headlights

I'm trying to track down a suspension squeak, and have asked on several boards. I still haven't isolated the squeak, but if you look at http://www.boxstersp...indpost&p=32552 the replacement part numbers for the lower control arm are listed. elephantracing.com also has replacement bushings for the stock lower control arm. If I can ever figure out what part is making the squeak, I'll know what part(s) to replace

I think Amazon has the best price on these. Try the RennTech Amazon store - link at the top of each page under the Special Offers menu

The nitrogen used to fill tires should have a lot less moisture in it than the air that comes out of a regular air compressor for tires. When you need to fill your tire(s) up and a nitrogen top-up isn't convenient, your choices are to wait until you can get more nitrogen (not necessarily good for your tires), or just add compressed air (somewhat negates the supposed nitrogen benefits). I have an air compressor and check my tires every few weeks, so don't consider nitrogen a practical option for my tires. I did ask the dealer to put nitrogen into my spare tire, since I don't check it very often and want it to work when/if I need it, so no moisture and less gas loss is a plus for the spare.

It's only maintenance free because the original battery comes with a sticker over the acid/water fill openings. When talking to the head tech at my local dealer about my 4½ year old original "maintenance free" battery, he laughed, pulled off the sticker, took off the fill caps, and proceeded to add about 5 bottles of drinking water to bring the water level back up to where it should be (I know you're supposed to use distilled water, but after 4½ years, I figure I'm doing OK and adding water was probably better than not adding it). It's only "maintenance free" because they make it look like you can't top it up with water!

I live in Southern California near the coast, so cold to me is under 45 degrees. We went to dinner in the canyons one night in December a few years ago, driving my Boxster with Michelin PS tires. When we came out, the temperature was 32 degrees. The handling and traction was noticeably worse than when we drove to dinner, but improved considerably as we went down the canyon and the temperature warmed up (within a distance of about 10 miles). I never believed temperature made that much difference with tires and handling until I experienced it first hand

You can also order a certificate from Porsche that shows all the factory options and sticker price matching your VIN, but it costs a few bucks. See http://www.porsche.com/usa/accessoriesands...ofauthenticity/

It sounds like your car has the GT3 console delete. Find someone who has done the GT3 console delete and see if they still have their old parts, or find someone who wants to swap parts with you. If you search for console delete, the instructions should go through all the steps of what to take out and what to install. See the pictures in this topic to find out if that's what you have

Are your Litronics factory installed or the Tequipment retrofit set? I did the Porsche retrofit, and there are no sensors on the suspension arms, only the factory version. Mine go through some up and down process when I start the car, but it's not the true leveling like the factory install, just making sure the motor works to support the high beam tilt-up function. If your lights don't move up when you turn on the high beams, check the second set of wiring that supports the high beam. Otherwise, your lights will be stuck in the most dipped position. Options for connecting the second wiring harness include clamp on connectors, pulling pins or soldering on to existing wiring, any of which could cause a problem. If you don't have the washers for the lights, your lights were added after the factory build

You might want to ask Gert at Carnewal about Porsche 997 Euro lowering springs. Sunset can get ROW parts; I got my ROW M030 from them. I read somewhere H&R makes the OEM springs. Look on their site at http://hrsprings.com/scripts/appguide.php?...1/997%20Carrera They show sport springs that lower front and rear 1.2", not sure if you need to change out the shocks to match. If yes, look at the Bilstein Sport shocks, which are supposed to be better than the stock ones and suitable for lowered suspensions. Tirerack's web site lists both springs and shocks Before you do anything, you should definitely talk to Steve Alarcon at Johnson's Alignment in Torrance for advice on options and tradeoffs. He did an outstanding job installing the ROW M030 shocks, springs and sway bars

Try Doing some defensive maintenance, Here's what's being done and 60K mi gotchas that are not often found(?) for starters. Plus things like pulling the front bumper and cleaning out the radiators, checking for torn CV boots, etc. Search for the phrase "60K service" to find more. I had the transmission oil changed at my 60K mile service besides everything Porsche recommends. Clean the throttle body if you haven't already done so.

Tim - thanks for the recommendation. I purchased the tires back in mid-November (and already received the $100 rebate). Still no tires. I've got the original Continental tires still on the Cayenne, with 26+K miles on them, and still not at the wear bars. The tires wear well, but were nothing special. I'll look into the Extend Contact DWS tires, but based on my Continental tire experience with both my Cayenne and Boxster, and compared to the Michelin Pilot Sports on my cars, I'm less than impressed with the way Porsches perform with Continental tires. The Extend Contact DWS tires aren't listed on the N-rated Cayenne tires at http://www.porsche.com/usa/accessoriesands...tsanddownloads/ - I also drank too much punch, and am inclined to go with N-rated tires, at least as long as the car is still under warranty, based on my discussions with the head mechanic at my dealer (I also still put Mobil 1 0w40 in my cars, so what does that say about me?). I'll do some research on the tires and report back. I'm leaning away from the Michelin Latitude Sports, since they don't do great under about 40°F on the off chance the Cayenne sees cold weather any time in the next year or two

I had seen http://www.designpaulchampagne.com/928Dash.html referenced on some Porsche forum a long time ago and bookmarked the site. Don't know much about the guy, but he says he now does Boxsters, which have the same dash as a 996. Since your profile says you are somewhere in Ventura county, there are a number of decent and not expensive auto upholstery places in Oxnard if you're not going after 100% authentic. I had the bench seat on my Toyota pickup reupholstered for $120, and the quality was as good as the factory original. If you're anywhere near Oxnard, you might want to get some trusted recommendations and stop by some of the shops to check out the quality of their work

I always thought it was British slang for Porsche, like they refer to Mercedes as Mercs. They have such a colorful way with words on the other side of the pond, which is obvious if you ever watch Top Gear Urban Dictionary has the definition "Any Porsche vehicle or Porsche driver"