RussellNYC

As of today, I may be in a position to actually buy a 996 GT3. The thing is, my driveway is very steep. Steep enough that my other car (a 335i which is kind of low to the ground, but not compared to a GT3) bottoms out as it's going over the top of the driveway.

How have some of you dealt with getting your cars up steep driveways? Mine, for example, is too steep to just drive up at an angle. And I'd really rather not have the driveway jackhammered and re-poured, because it's in good shape. I will drive the GT3 fairly infrequently, so perhaps it's not that much of a pain to buy ramps like these?

http://www.discountramps.com/auto_ramps.htm

Thanks in advance. And yes, I'll pay the membership fee once I get my car.

RussellNYC

By the way, I'm willing to have the suspension adjusted up a bit if that's possible, since I live in NYC and am willing to give up a bit of handling in exchange for clearance of potholes, bumps, garbage, etc.

RussellNYC

Okay, I'm having a dialogue with myself here. But I thought I'd ask, how much a difference would it make to drive without the splitter? I could always put it back on for the track.

stuka

Just buy a 12 pack of them. They are 200 something a piece.

And yes, I am speaking from experience. The first scrape you cringe, but after the 100th, you just don't care any more.

And they are easy enough to put on and take off.

Oh, but do leave them on. My 996 Turbo had a totally scrapped lip before I turned it in. I put a new lip on the car and drove it one last time at high speed to the dealer, and the car was way way more stable at speed.

GT3 Chuck

the splitter isn't the only clearance problem...the front brake air ducts protrude under the car...raising the car and subsequent corner balance/alignment will not be a cheap proposition...why buy a GT3 if you are going to make it handle like a lesser car?....without a pic of your driveway can't tell if the ramps will do the job....fix the driveway and enjoy the car the way it was meant to be enjoyed...

RussellNYC

Thanks. This pic (all I have right now) shows about 2/3 of the driveway. If this prevents me from buying this car, I will be sad.

mfennell

If you're bottoming your 335 over the TOP of your (transition into the garage, I guess) driveway, it's not going to help at all.

RussellNYC

Well, I am less worrked about that, since I can take care of the bottoming out with wood blocks or something.

But my other cars can get up the front part of the driveway with about 2 inches of clearance and I am positive the GT3 wouldn't.

Mike Buck

Parallel park it on the street. Problem solved.

amaist

I would redo the driveway. Unless you plan to move in the near future. Once you can get the GT3 in you can also contemplate owning other low cars, as well.

FixedWing

The bottom of the driveway might be a little easier to deal with because you can approach that at an angle. If you can enter at a significant angle then you can get over almost anything.

But the entry to the garage could present a bigger problem. There it will be hard to enter at anything more than a slight angle and you will need to straighten the car out as you go in. There are tricks you can use to get a little bit more height. One is putting the steering on full lock which will raise the front up about an inch. Another might be to back it in which will allow you to maintain a bigger angle as you enter. But there are limits to everything.

By the way, I see another problem. Maneuvering slowly uphill on a steep driveway such as that is an excellent way to burn out a clutch on a Porsche.

If the driveway is concrete, what's the big deal about getting the guys with the pnumatic hammers in? If you can afford a GT3 then you can afford that. So why not just resolve the problem once and for all?

Stephen

RussellNYC

Points taken, thanks so much to everyone for your input.

One main problem with redoing the driveway and garage is that my house is set back only a short distance from the curb, and the approach angle is necessarily limited by that distance. The driveway isn't concave or convex, it's a constant and level (albeit steep) angle, and the only way I could make it more shallow would be to extend it out towards the street. If I did that, the sidewalk in front of my garage, which is already a bit steep, would become even steeper, and would possibly present a slip-and-fall hazard to neighborhood pedestrians (of which there are many), especially during the winter.

Since I can't lengthen the driveway and flatten out the incline that way, I have also contemplated lowering the floor of the garage. But, there is apparently some some oil tank plumbing submerged under the driveway which serves the boiler (which is in the basement, at garage level). So now I'm looking at breaking up and rebuilding the garage floor plus the driveway, and risking possible damage to the oil lines that heat my house. If it were $10k maybe I could see doing that, but we're talking about a $50k job to have it done right.

RussellNYC

If I lived in Maryland maybe! Lemme tell you what I had to go through to get my own garage parking in New York City...

smlporsche

As a contractor I like the idea of jackhammering one bay of the garage and in essence making it a 2 story bay. You could even put a 4 post lift in it and then be able to have a three car garage (which is what we put in most new construction now).

Yes it will cost but I truly believe it would be a great investment in your home. Just think how many three car garages are there in NYC? You could probably count them with one hand!

DanH

Looking at that picture, I don't see how jackhammering it would work. The angle is so extreme you won't even get close to getting a GT3 up there. You'd need to make the ramps twice as long to lower the ramp angle. Or just rebuild the garage at street level...

Not sure I'd want to drive a GT3 around NYC anyway. Terrible pot holes and taxi drivers who don't know how to drive. Braver man than me!

Sorry for your plight though. I sympathise.