jugger911

I read in a recent thread(can't find); wondering if the police were aware of our spoiler's being up, meant that we are or have been speeding. Is this a "red-flag"? My sister's husband is a helicopter pilot for the sheriff's department, his father is the man under the sheriff, and his uncle is a detective.
None of these men were aware of the "sign". All three have a combined career of around 70 yrs experience. So the bottom line is; if a cop is behind you and your wing is up, there is not much cause for concern. Unless of course they are a member of Rennlist or own a Pcar themselves. This was a great Thanksgiving-Table discussion.
All of us men were so enthralled in it, and the women could not have cared less. We all went out and checked out the Pcar afterwards, it was great "Male-bonding". They all said it really didn't matter to them, if they see you or radar you going fast you are speeding. They really didn't have time to worry about crap like that. I told them this was the rite attitude to have. Just turn their heads when we passed by them.
Hope this is useful information. Have an great weekend!

ElTorrente

The fact that you can raise it manually is enough for me to not worry about it.

cdodkin

Hell, most cops don't even know the engine is in the back!

I wouldn't sweat it.

Chris.

kevinrubin

The manual override is an important "fact." I have often thought of this myself (having a cop see the wing up and deduct that I am speeding), and thought I would simply demonstrate that I prefer to manually operate the wing. Do I really do that...of course not...but what the cops don't know, won't hurt me

BruceP

Around here, at least, it would be a bit paranoid to worry about it. On a clear, dry day, cops won't even look twice if you're doing 120kph in a 100 zone to begin with (120 being the speed the spoiler rises at). If they want citations bad enough, they'll just set up a radar trap. There's about zero chance a cop is going to risk having to spend an evening in traffic court defending his suspicion that the car he ticketed had recently done 120 kph and not less than 60 kph and on that basis had ticketed the driver. Not when traffic courts are already offering reductions to 15 kph over the limit and no points for people who show up to fight tickets, just so they'll go home. I obviously only know my own juristiction, but here, I wouldn't sweat it.

Big6Dad

I know that I was not aware of this until I bought my first Porsche just before I retired after 25 years of being a Cop. I am a car guy and before I bought the Porsche I was into BMW's. I would call a driver's bluff driving a "M" that he could not be speeding as it was "only" a 6 cylinder......... I do not know of any of my fellow officers that know what speed the spoiler goes up or even if it is speed dependent in normal operation.

Chuck Jones

The fact the spoiler is up means nothing....a raised spoiler is not grounds for a ticket....only a successful clock by actually following you from behind, by aircraft, or by radar. A raised spoiler is insufficient grounds for any conviction as it is nothing more than supposition unsupported by any "evidence". You wouldn't even need an attorney to fight that one.

Wellardmac

All a raised spoiler means is "I was doing at least 71mph, but I'm not now and you didn't catch me".

washington dc porsche

Either the Patrolman will realize you were/are speeding or you're a poseur with your wing manually deployed.

BruceP

OMG, you can get a ticket for being a poseur?!

StuartFirm

Okay, so here's my legal opinion on this topic. A traffic citation in the US is a misdemeanor (defined as punishable by a fine of less than $1000, less than 1 year in jail or both) (unless you are traveling at a ridiculously outrageous speed, in which case the crime could be upgraded from a misdeameanor speeding to a felony such as reckless endangerment of others).

A basic tenet of criminal law is that the arresting officer is required to actually, personally observe the commission of a MISDEMEANOR, while a felony arrest need not be pursuant to observed conduct, just be based on sufficient probable cause of such felonious conduct. Accordingly, if traveling at 75 mph was a felony (such as exiting a 25 mph school zone with children present with your wing up), then an officer could arrest you for the wing being up, but since traveling 75 mph is almost always going to be a misdemeanor, the police are SOL unless they observe you speeding through the use of radar or by pacing you. Nevertheless, even if you were arrested for having the wing up (either for misdemeanor or felony), there is so much room to create "reasonable doubt" that there is very little chance of a conviction resulting from such a flimsy, BS arrest. Reasonable doubt #1 and probably the only argument you would need to get the prosecutor to nol pros the case, "the wing was placed in the up position manually."

Granted, I only practice business, real estate and advanced asset protection/tax law, but this was an interesting thread for which I just had to throw in my $.02.

jugger911

LOL, I think you guys are taking this a little too serious. Just wanted to see what everyone thought about the idea. The same concept could apply to the mufflers being "cherry-red" that you were speeding too. You cant get a ticket for that either. Great discussion though... Have a great weekend to everyone.

Adrian

This problem first surfaced in 1988 with the 964 Carrera 4 which was the first Porsche fitted with the automatic rear spoiler. People were being booked for speeding because the rear spoiler was up and the Cops said they must have been going over 80kph (50mph) to get the spoiler up.
Porsche solved the problem by installing the centre console manual override switch for both up and down in model year 1990 (calendar year 1989).
Every case in 1988 was thrown out of court. For the past 17 years I have not heard of anyone being done for speeding just because the rear spoiler is up. They have to catch and record you speeding.
Of course if you are really worried and you are not speeding (cause the spoiler will not go down) just hit the switch and retract the spoiler.
Ciao,
Adrian.

porschedog

Since it goes up at 75mph, but stays up until you slow down to 35mph (or thereabouts, it's not like I watch to see it go down), it can still be up as you roll past Mr State Trooper, all perfectly legal, at 55mph or even 45mph. Don't sweat it.

Dave Howerdel

No 996 but with the 986, I'll tell ya this much. Driving a Porsche is a finable expense as far as the Passaic county sheriffs dept is concerned....even if you're 3mph under the limit. 4 bikes and 6 cruisers in the course of 1/4 mile taking turns picking people at random. This was the day before turkey day. It's well known that the sheriff's dept is trying to justify their existence by increasing revenue.

The officer came up behind me and I moved over since I figured he was going after someone in front of me. He pulled me over informed me that I was caught at 77mph (radar never went off). I asked if my rear spoiler was up when he pulled behind me. After I showed him by operating it manually, he said that it wasn't. I explained that at 77 it would have been extended and that it wouldn't have retracted until <55. After expressing anger toward the detector on the dash, he said that the "Best he could do for me" was a ticket for careless driving(2pts). I anxiously await my day in court.