Home with my C4S
05-17-2010, 10:13 PM
#1
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Home with my C4S
Janis & I flew to Portland on Thursday to pick up my new-to-me 2004 C4S.
After examining the car and signing all the papers it was after closing time for the dealership. I discussed parking options with them as Janis wanted to eat dinner just down the block so it was decided to use the Enterprise lot right across the street. I pulled out and went around the block and pulled into the lot, promptly scraping the bottom of the front bumper!
I would have been fine in the Boxster but the nose on the C4S is much lower at the very front. On the bright side, the damage to the plastic bit isn't visible and I've got the first incident out of the way 
We left Portland late Thursday and stopped in Cascade Locks for the night. It was a gorgeous morning the next day and we pushed on to Bozeman, Montana via Hwy 12. I would highly recommend this route if you can afford the extra hour instead of taking the freeway via Spokane. A nice road when there's no traffic and very nice scenery. The 2nd day saw us making it to St. Cloud, Minnesota via Montana and North Dakota. We arrived home just after 9pm on Sunday. Total distance was just over 2,500 miles and the car ran flawlessly - even with the cruise control set to 105 in Eastern Montana and Western North Dakota - and I averaged 24.3 MPG for the trip.
I did have two interesting occurrences along the way. While doing 95 or so in Montana and passing a truck I saw something dark in the road and slowed, but I had someone behind me. As I got to within 100 yards or so I could see it was a tire carcass off a truck that had made it into the #1 lane and it was straddling most of the lane. With only 2 lanes and no real room on the shoulder I quickly weighed my options (none of which were good) and ran over it with the right side tire. I could hear it thump underneath as the rebound whacked the underside but a quick look at the gauges showed all was well. Stopping at the next opportunity showed we got off very lucky as the only visible sign anything had happened was where it slid along the bottom of the plastic of the passenger-side rocker panel. Needless to say I was expecting the front bumper to have some damage but it must have just slid under.
The 2nd incident wasn't quite as exciting but was just as maddening. I was filling up the car in Miles City, Montana and the pump was running very, very slowly. At the same time I was exchanging a few pleasantries with the owner of a nice Corvair we'd passed 3 times already in 2 days when I saw gas starting to run down the side of the car! I did clean it up with some soapy water as well as clean water and then was lucky enough to find a self-serve car wash just down the street to do a better job. Hopefully there aren't any long term effects.
Here's a few pictures from nearly every state we went through.
Cascade Locks, Oregon
Lolo Summit, Idaho
About 200 feet down the road from Lolo Summit is Montana
Entering North Dakota
Chippewa Valley, Wisconsin
Turtle Creek, Illinois
After examining the car and signing all the papers it was after closing time for the dealership. I discussed parking options with them as Janis wanted to eat dinner just down the block so it was decided to use the Enterprise lot right across the street. I pulled out and went around the block and pulled into the lot, promptly scraping the bottom of the front bumper!
I would have been fine in the Boxster but the nose on the C4S is much lower at the very front. On the bright side, the damage to the plastic bit isn't visible and I've got the first incident out of the way We left Portland late Thursday and stopped in Cascade Locks for the night. It was a gorgeous morning the next day and we pushed on to Bozeman, Montana via Hwy 12. I would highly recommend this route if you can afford the extra hour instead of taking the freeway via Spokane. A nice road when there's no traffic and very nice scenery. The 2nd day saw us making it to St. Cloud, Minnesota via Montana and North Dakota. We arrived home just after 9pm on Sunday. Total distance was just over 2,500 miles and the car ran flawlessly - even with the cruise control set to 105 in Eastern Montana and Western North Dakota - and I averaged 24.3 MPG for the trip.
I did have two interesting occurrences along the way. While doing 95 or so in Montana and passing a truck I saw something dark in the road and slowed, but I had someone behind me. As I got to within 100 yards or so I could see it was a tire carcass off a truck that had made it into the #1 lane and it was straddling most of the lane. With only 2 lanes and no real room on the shoulder I quickly weighed my options (none of which were good) and ran over it with the right side tire. I could hear it thump underneath as the rebound whacked the underside but a quick look at the gauges showed all was well. Stopping at the next opportunity showed we got off very lucky as the only visible sign anything had happened was where it slid along the bottom of the plastic of the passenger-side rocker panel. Needless to say I was expecting the front bumper to have some damage but it must have just slid under.
The 2nd incident wasn't quite as exciting but was just as maddening. I was filling up the car in Miles City, Montana and the pump was running very, very slowly. At the same time I was exchanging a few pleasantries with the owner of a nice Corvair we'd passed 3 times already in 2 days when I saw gas starting to run down the side of the car! I did clean it up with some soapy water as well as clean water and then was lucky enough to find a self-serve car wash just down the street to do a better job. Hopefully there aren't any long term effects.
Here's a few pictures from nearly every state we went through.
Cascade Locks, Oregon
Lolo Summit, Idaho
About 200 feet down the road from Lolo Summit is Montana
Entering North Dakota
Chippewa Valley, Wisconsin
Turtle Creek, Illinois
Last edited by Tom M; 05-17-2010 at 10:33 PM.
05-17-2010, 10:18 PM
#3
Rennlist Member
congrats! You'll learn to ignore the scraping of the plastic lip soon enough. My driveway is a tiny little hill so I always scrape it backing down. Over the years, it's made a nice little hole right under the air inlet for the brakes on driver's side.
05-17-2010, 10:36 PM
#7
Race Director
What a story...you'll never forget this Porsche purchase. Glad you and your wife made it home, nice looking C4S. I like how visible your red calipers are through your wheels.
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05-17-2010, 11:11 PM
#9
Rennlist Member
Congrats on the purchase and welcome to C4S ownership! You will be very pleased with the choice. I got mine back in January and have already put about 6000 miles (+2000 on the ride home) on it.
05-17-2010, 11:23 PM
#11
Rennlist Member
Congrats on the purchase...and welcome...youll find a wealth of wisdom here and some great people.
05-17-2010, 11:24 PM
#12
Race Director
Looks good! Glad you decided to pick the car up and drive it back home.
You dodged a big bullet hitting that "Detroit Alligator" (tire carcass). I hit one late one night on 50 higway west of Strong City KS and it cost me a $125 tow into Wichita KS and around $1400 to repair a damaged radiator, A/C condensor, some hardware and a few plastic panels. The front bumper cover cracked but was usable.
Sincerely,
Macster.
You dodged a big bullet hitting that "Detroit Alligator" (tire carcass). I hit one late one night on 50 higway west of Strong City KS and it cost me a $125 tow into Wichita KS and around $1400 to repair a damaged radiator, A/C condensor, some hardware and a few plastic panels. The front bumper cover cracked but was usable.
Sincerely,
Macster.
05-17-2010, 11:41 PM
#14
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Looks good! Glad you decided to pick the car up and drive it back home.
You dodged a big bullet hitting that "Detroit Alligator" (tire carcass). I hit one late one night on 50 higway west of Strong City KS and it cost me a $125 tow into Wichita KS and around $1400 to repair a damaged radiator, A/C condensor, some hardware and a few plastic panels. The front bumper cover cracked but was usable.
Sincerely,
Macster.
You dodged a big bullet hitting that "Detroit Alligator" (tire carcass). I hit one late one night on 50 higway west of Strong City KS and it cost me a $125 tow into Wichita KS and around $1400 to repair a damaged radiator, A/C condensor, some hardware and a few plastic panels. The front bumper cover cracked but was usable.
Sincerely,
Macster.
The donor truck was actually about 1/4 mile further up the road pulled over on the shoulder with the driver examining the remaining tires.
