Stock size for Turbo Look II: 285/30-18

Thank you! I love this color, especially now that the clear coat isn’t inundated with swirl marks and scratches and one can really see the metallic flakes.

To be honest, I don’t know if they Roadforce balanced. I didn’t specifically request it, so I assume they did not. That could very well be the issue; or at least part of it. For example, when I got the bent wheel straightened, the shake/vibration got better. The balance also helped. Sometimes there’s no vibration at all and it feels perfect.

My theory is that the spacers aren’t perfectly flat and that causes runout in the axis about which each wheel rotates. Sometimes, the vibrations caused by the runout on each side are behaving in such a way that they cancel each other out. Going around a long curve on the interstate, I can feel the vibration coming and going at a rate that seems to correspond to the severity of the curve, which makes me think the difference in rotational speed of each of the front wheels is causing the vibration of each side to go in and out of harmony.

Thank you for the installation advice. I’ve installed spacers, as well as a multitude of other parts, on various vehicles, be they land-going, aerial, etc. I am very thorough and meticulous about my work. I am certain I installed them properly, but I will definitely be removing them, cleaning all surfaces, reinstalling wheels without spacers, test driving, removing wheels and cleaning mounting surfaces again, reinstalling spacers to make absolutely certain the spacers are the cause, which I am all but convinced they are. I would be thrilled if this was a case of me missing something on the install. Also, the spacers are indeed hubcentric.

Thank you and congratulations on your recent acquisition! I was recently screwed over on what was supposed to be a year contract - the silver lining is that I have some extra time on my hands, which I have spent hanging out with my brother and working on the 911...but I’m super broke and my credit is stretched kinda thin at the moment. I’ll be okay though. I’ll be taking the spacers back off tomorrow, so I’ll update the thread once I do that.

Thank you! I agree. I am extremely happy with this car.

Started with Pirelli P zeros which came with the car, Didn’t notice the vibration on the test drive. Did not like how those tires performed in any way. Replaced with Hankook RS3 and vibration was gone.

Joey, I’m enjoying your story. Picked up my ‘00 cab in September and am really enjoying it. I’m at 28k miles now; am familiar with low mileage horror stories. Definitely not a daily driver though. Like you, and many others, I was fearful of the IMS. And like you, I’m monitoring it - magnetic drain bolt, cutting oil filter pleats open every 2000 miles. I intend to change the bearing soon, but not really afraid of it as much as when I first bought the car. Im also a subscriber to the “92% chance that it won’t fail” camp. I’m maybe a 2-banana mechanic, so I wrench a little on it (coolant flush, oil changes, coolant tank) so I would never attempt a bearing change. Next on my agenda will be the water pump and hoses (due to the age of the car).
I’m super-impressed with the paint repair. My car is in very good condition, but I believe some novice attempted to use a buffer on it and in bright sunlight, the swirls are bad. It’s dark green and I’m in Ohio so there’s not much bright sun so it’s nit usually a big deal.
Anyway - thanks for the post and welcome. Press on.

-Jim

Interesting. How many miles did you drive on the Pirellis before you replaced them? I’ve gotten mixed reviews about Pirelli tires, but I’ve never had them on a car I owned. I assume, with RS3s on there, you don’t drive the car often. I want the PS4Ss, but they don’t have the sizes I need. I loved my PSSs.

Thank you Jim and congratulations on the cabriolet! I’ve read enough conflicting information about the catastrophic failures of these cars to conclude that nobody really knows what’s going on, but some know enough to make some money off of the hysteria. Good for them - if I had money to burn, they’d have some of it. But I’m just gonna enjoy this car and take care of it and, if it breaks, I’ll fix it. Unless I win the lottery, or meet an investor that likes crazy ideas; in that case, I will take this car apart completely and restore it to absolutely perfect, better-than-factory-new condition and build a nasty 4 liter mated to a brand new 997 GT3 transmission with all 7.2 GT3 running gear, center lock and all, with hand made carbon fiber wheels styled like the Turbo II with 6.2 GT3 sizes and offsets. Then I would drive it across the country to different race tracks and automotive events. It’d get a lot if real-world testing on the carbon fiber wheels accomplished, for the possibility of commercial opportunities, while having a lot of fun and meeting car people. But I dream and digress. As far as the paint correction goes, I think the credit has to go mostly to the tools and chemicals I used. It still isn’t perfect, but it was fun learning.

Anyway, I took the spacers off this morning and test drove it without them. Then reinstalled and test drove again. I wire brushed the surfaces each time. I can confidently say that the spacers are definitely the cause of the vibration. But the vibration seems to have been significantly reduced somehow. Maybe the test drive wasn’t long enough. Regardless, it seems livable now, so I’ll just roll with it until I can get some GT2 front wheels which don’t need spacers to achieve the same effective offset as I have now with spacers and are a half inch wider.

Here’s a before and after the holiday Florida trip (the wheels are filthy and the car hasn’t had a proper wash, just quick detailer, since I got back) in almost the same place and time of morning. The parking lights are on in the second picture.

Congrats. Has to be one of the freshest 996’s in the country.

Thanks man! I’m very lucky to have it.

I looked at a lot of products and kits and decided to use brands I either know/have personal experience with and/or brands that are the undeniable standard in the professional detailing industry from my research. That search was, as most internet searches are, extremely convoluted and filled with conflicting information. It wasn’t easy to weed out all the noise, but I’m pretty happy with the results of the stuff I used.

As as far as chemicals go, I think it’s pretty subjective. I’ve had some very positive experiences with Meguiars; not just the products, but the company itself (long story). Sometimes I like a competing product better (ex. Mother’s Showtime is better, in my opinion, than the equivalent Meguiars spray wax/detailer) and I buy Meguiars instead because I like them as a brand and their products are, at the very least, as good as one needs. Their 105 (cutting compound), however, has no equal according to detailers whose opinions I value. I figured I’d use the 205 (polish) since it’s part of a system and it was my first time doing this. There are a lot of great polishes out there, apparently.

As for the polisher, I highly recommend the Rupes LHR15. It is second to none. The LHR21 has a larger backing plate and uses larger pads, which is great for doing larger panels quickly (the numbers “15” and “21” are indicative of the number of millimeters in the “throw” of the random orbital action, so the LHR21 gets more work done within a certain period of time and has a larger footprint). But for a driveway detailer that is only doing their own car and whose livelihood doesn’t depend upon how quickly they can get a detail done, the smaller (5”) pads are more versatile and can be used more easily on more challenging, curvy panels. Even if one were planning to get several different size polishers, I’d still say the LHR15 would be the first one to get. One can decide for themselves if they need the updated versions: I opted for the original as it was cheaper and I figured, correctly, that it was everything I needed.

I’ve watched a lot of the AMMO NYC videos, among many others, to get a very good idea of what to do with the polisher before I even bought one. But one really needs to learn this stuff by trial and error, I have found.

This is what I’d recommend: You’ll definitely need to clay bar before you polish. Meguiars foam pads: three red and three yellow (I used one of each and it was a mistake; there is a “three-pad system” that I have since learned about and will use in the future). Meguiars 105&205. A LOT of microfiber towels and a bottle of isopropyl alcohol (keeping the panels clean and free of any oils, waxes, etc. is very important). Painters tape. There is apparently a tool for removing the pads that I wish I’d had. I meet detailers that have been professionals for a decade or better that say they learn something new all the time, so watch a lot of videos and learn as much as you can from several different, even opposing, perspectives before you start. In my opinion, the kits all have too little of what you need and stuff you don’t need. I think they’re good for someone planning to correct paint on several different cars; that may be your intention, but it was not mine so I didn’t get a kit.

Bottom line: the Rupes LHR15 is, from my perspective, to a paint correction what the flat bench, squat, and dead lift are to a resistance training routine - absolutely essential and irreplaceable. I used Meguiars products and am very happy with the results.

I want to run the stock 285/30-18 on the back and 245/35-18 on the front. I’ve looked for several combinations of sizes close to those and haven’t found anything I know I like. Except for the Sport Cup 2, but I need tires that last at least 25k. I could do the PS4S in 265/35 in rear, I suppose. We’ll see.

A few more pictures from today

As for the tires, I see what you mean about the rear sizes!! What about the Pilot Sport PS2? I am not so familiar with that model.

I really like Michelin tires, but the PS2 has a couple problems for me: I’ve never had them before, so I don’t have any long term, first hand experience with them; they have a 220 tread wear rating, which isn’t gonna work for my only car; and the biggest problem is that they don’t come in 245/35-18, which is what I want to have on the front of my car. Otherwise, especially since they have the “N4 Porsche” PS2s, I’d get them in a heartbeat (but I’ve read they’re pretty stiff and, although adequate in the wet, they’re not the best and I’ll be living in Florida again soon so I have to take wet traction into account more so than the other states I’ve been living in the past few years).

The 17” wheels on the base Carrera were equipped with 255-width rear tires. Considering that the power output is the same whether one chooses the 18” wheel option(s), which stepped up the width of the rear tires by 30mm to 285, or sticks with the base wheel, I see no reason one couldn’t have 265-width rear tires on this car. So I’m thinking the 245/35&265/35 PS4S combo would work just fine. 285 is pretty wide for a 10” wide wheel anyway. But hopefully 285/30-18 becomes available in the PS4S by the time I need to buy tires.

The squeaking noise coming from the passenger rear of the car is getting louder. It only happens when the car is moving and is not engine speed dependent, so that makes me feel a little better. The squeaking doesn’t change frequency with speed; it reaches a certain frequency and gets to its loudest at about 40mph and just stays the same any speed above that. I’ve ruled out wind noise. I took the rear wheels off and looked around. It looks like a car with 25k miles - that is to say it’s not showroom new cleanliness, but parts don’t look worn, clips are all intact, lines and hoses all look good, etc. Tomorrow I’ll be taking the rear rotors off to see if it has anything to do with the parking brake spring as I found that a guy with a 964 had a similar issue and that spring was broken (on both rear brakes) and loose inside the rotor making squeaking noises.

I hope this car isn't one of those that there is always some annoying problem to chase down. I’d really just like to drive and enjoy it and spend my energy on maintaining and improving it, not fixing stupid nonsense.