996 Cab Questions

[danjen]

I'm looking for a little help with a few questions ...

I have a 1999 996 Cab Tiptronic with about 31k miles.

1) I changed the oil a month ago and all is good but the oil pressure is "high" when the engine is not fully warmed up. I have seen this question asked before but don't remember the answer. Until the car is warm, the oil pressure is pretty much pegged at 5 bar (or 5 bar+). When warm, it sit in the middle of the range (2-3 bar) at about 2,000 RPM. I know the manual say 3.5 bar @ 5,000 RPM. I'm almost positive that at that RPM i'm well above 3.5 bar no matter how warm the engine is. Can anyone give any advice one this?? For reference, I used Mobil 1 0W 40 for the oil change and the oil filter that came from Suncoast Porsche (i'm sure the correct one) I'm also curious how high the pressure can get before there is an issue. 5 bar is only 75psi ... What pressure will burst seals/gaskets or damage something? (Just curious, clearly don't want to actually find out myself)

2) My rear tires are wearing in the center. They are P01 Rosso's 265/35-18. I have included a pic. My tire pressures in the rear are about 38 psi warm. The fronts are about 34. The pressures were higher (per the porsche spec) but I reduced because I thought the higher pressures might be the problem. Should I go lower in the rear of could there be a different issue? Both rear tires look exactly the same and the fronts are wearing perfectly.

3) (final question) ... The covers for the locking mechanism on my Cab are loose and rattle quite a bit. The 2 covers that i'm referring to are the ones that you can pop off to manually operate the top (see picture). One person that I talked to said that they were warped and should just be replaced. I can do that be they seem fine to me and I was hoping that I could secure them somehow. I know that I can glue them but was hoping to find someting semi-permanent that would secure them and also keep them from rattling. Has anyone had any luck with this?

Thanks

[Hroussard]

On the subject of your tires. Porsche's handbook for my C2 1999 tells me the COLD measurements should be 36 in front and 44 in the back for 18 inch rims. You may want to try that...I have to assume they ( Porsche) do have some tire jockeys that do know what they are talking about and from my experience, tires that run bold(ish) in the middle have been driven with the wrong pressures. If your fronts wear out correctly it tells me that you have the correct toe-in and camber etc . Generally, Porsche guys try to monkey with that to reduce or increase over or understeer based on their preference(s). Personally I drive the recommended pressures and check them ( and adjust) every week. I have Conti's . I do also find that the front of the car feels quite light and I am contemplating lowering the front ( and maybe the back) 20 mm or so but I do not want to have the hassle of hitting every curb in the area. I have the 030 suspension. Maybe, I just go for and change the shocks alone as I have 30K miles on the odo to get adjustable(s) so I can stiffen the rebound a bit... Don't know yet for sure. I am in Foster City..

HarryR

C2 1999 - black metallic with Boxter red interior , sport seats and a bunch of other options.

[ADias]

On the subject of your tires. Porsche's handbook for my C2 1999 tells me the COLD measurements should be 36 in front and 44 in the back for 18 inch rims. You may want to try that...I have to assume they ( Porsche)  do have some tire jockeys that do know what they are talking about and from my experience, tires that run bold(ish) in the middle have been driven with the wrong pressures.

PAG tire recommendation has little to do w/ tread wear and much more to do w/ underpressure liability issues. 36/44 on 18" is way too high for regular driving. The original poster center wear on the rears clearly proves that, exactly against your argument. Tires wear more on the center if over inflated.

On a C4 w/ 18" I settled on 33/39 for regular spirited driving. Yes, pressures are set cold.