Flat6 Innovations

Lots of people do this.. It was about 15 years ago that someone said "The day will come when it'll be really hard to sell one of these cars without one of the bearings you designed fitted to it"
That person is no longer with us, but he was an icon in the Porsche world, to those who had been around it for decades. Today, he isn't exactly right, but we see cars with this work done selling faster, and bringing more money from the purchasers that know the problem exists.

We get lots of calls saying "I am buying an xx 996 and want to know the cost of having the IMS work done, so I can negotiate with the owner for a better price for the car". When a car has the work done already, (preferably by a Certified Installer) this type of buyer doesn't exist. The opposite buyer comes around, and he generally has a thicker wallet, and has educated himself on the problem, and the true IMS Solution. This is why cars that have the work done will sell faster, and for more money than others that have not. Sometimes people come to us looking for the right car that has the work done already, and they don't even care what color it is, or what options it has- they just want a car that we've done the work to. Since we seldom do IMS Solution installs here anymore (no time for it) these calls get in the way of business.

At any rate, I just wanted to weigh in from the opposite side of the table on this one, with direct experiences.

I think the IMS work is to the 996, like a fresh, inviting bathroom or kitchen can be to a house that's trying to be sold. You might spend 8-10K freshening up that room, but done right it can make or break the sale of the home, and determine how long it will be on the market, and the price it sells for. Once upon a time I had a home that was on the market for 6 months, and had a ton of people view it, but no reasonable offers were made. I spent 3 weeks redoing the bathroom, and put in some new cabinets, spending 8K total, and some of my time. The house sold within a week for 25K more than I had it listed for previously, and the 2nd family that viewed it signed the contract. The fact was, people wanted it move in ready, and they didn't;t want to deal with some dated rooms, and having to pay to have that work done. The exact same thing applies to a 996~

docmirror

When I finally decided to sell, I had about 9 serious contacts. Of those 9, all but one contacted me because my car had a IMSB replaced. The one guy who didn't ask wanted to trade a 2009 Mustang, and had no idea about the 996. Some folks on here expressed a bit of interest, but frankly - there was a disconnect between the price they expected and what I was willing to offer. My un-scientific findings are that a IMS Retro adds around $2000 to the price of the car. So, for someone going to a certified installer, and having the clutch, PP, RMS, AOS done at the same time, it's gonna be a loss of maybe $1500-2000 on the deal. Which is to be expected, as labor on a sale car is a sunk cost.

Now on the more important note, the intrinsic value of having the new bearing in there was worth 10x the cost of the parts and labor. Before I did the work, every time I drove it more than about 20 miles from home, I was always thinking: "is it coming apart now? Is it coming apart - now? Is it coming apart -- now? Has it come apart yet?". After, I could drive all the way to Houston, or up to Tulsa without much of a care. Very valuable, notwithstanding the value add of having been in there, and seen that.

Flat6 Innovations

Yep.. Exactly what I'd expect, and have seen first hand.

The lower mileage, and nicer the car, the more the price is impacted by the IMS. The owners looking for these low mileage, impeccable cars don't want to deal with having the IMS work done. They want to stroke a check, and drive into the sunset in their dream car. (Damn, I hear that all the time).
They get it home, give it a name, and call it baby. They don't want to deal with the hassles of putting it under the knife right away.

Back in our payday of IMS procedures, we'd get a lot of cars here that had just been bought, to perform the IMSR procedure right away. We'd see the car before the owner, as they'd ship it to us on the way to them. At times people would look for cars local to us to make this easier, or cars that could be shipped here on the way to their new home.

808Bill

Or you can buy one (cheap) with a blown engine and not worry about it

dak911

A friend of mine had a small block Chev in a 914 years ago....Hmmmmm...I did a Chev/Jaguar some time ago...a beast...

996AE

Min cost of IMSS installed in CA is 5k

Add clutch, case bolts, AOS 7-8k preventive (no performance upgrade) to a 996?

No way this adds 5-8k in value ie increased sales cost.

Gamble but no way this adds value to the seller.

Rat70fj

Had one done in Sacramento last winter. Bought the bearing myself at LN's 20% off sale. Came with free tool rental.New OEM clutch, etc. $3,500 total cost at an non certified Indy.

mrfeh

The price I've been quoted at a local indy for clutch/RMS/IMS (LN retrofit) is $2890.

Flat6 Innovations

Too cheap. No way they are taking the time to qualify the engine, and perform the procedure correctly for that kind of money.
They probably have a tech that can jam the job out in 6 hours, and is paid on commission for how quickly he can get work done.

mrfeh

I will ask if they are qualifying the engine.

And I need to correct my post - they would use the RND roller bearing, not the LN Retrofit. I'm currently reading old threads on the RND roller, but if anybody here would like to compare it to the LN Retrofit, I'm listening.

Flat6 Innovations

Yes, you must inquire to get an itemized account of what their labor charges include, precisely.
Despite the product used, the procedure is the same.

I developed the RND Roller bearing also, working with LN on the project in 2007. SSF auto parts requested a roller bearing kit, so the project was re-born and LN delivered.

mrfeh

Is the RND roller sealed, or does it use splashed oil for lubrication?

Pros/cons vs the LN Retrofit?

Flat6 Innovations

Open, no products I developed are sealed.

It's apples to grapefruits, no comparisons.

Of course, the IMS Solution trumps everything.

mrfeh

They both have the same warranty.

If you were going to put one of them in your car (2003, single row), which would you use?

Flat6 Innovations

Never buy anything because of warranty. When I was involved with all that I mandated NO WARRANTY, because I didn't want anyone to make a selection based on a damn piece of paper.

The only product I would install is the IMS Solution. Having developed them all, I take the most pride in it, and appreciate the removal of wear components.