purrybonker

I'm in shock. Again!

I smacked down some serious coin to lay hands on a set of Carrera Sport wheels. When I had them installed I neglected to take the center caps with me to the shop, so I popped them on myself when I returned home. Doing so, I was very careful to make sure that all four caps were in consistent alignment with each other. I mean to say that as I installed them, all of the colored crests were perpendicular to horizon, or in other words, straight up and down.

A couple of days later I jumped in the car and drove about 4000 miles from Vancouver to Scottsdale and back over a period of a couple of weeks or so. The drive was a complete blast and included some long sections of coastal and mountain pass highways through Oregon and northern California as well as extensive top-down cruising in 80-90 degrees of glorious desert sunshine.

The car performed in a spectacular manner in all respects, keeping me engaged in the pleasures of driving even in the brain-numbing I-5 segments of central California (ipod/dension is mandatory equipment for such roads). The car even delivered me safely, comfortably and in sufficient style on the absurdly chewed up roads of Weho and environs.

But imagine my disappointment when I returned to Vancouver, parked the car and noted that my center caps were completely out of alignment! I immediately noticed that the cap on the driver front wheel was pointing up while the cap on the driver rear wheel was pointing at about 50 degrees from perpendicular! I had to take a walk around the block to cool down before I dared to look at the passenger side caps, and when I did I discovered that they were in even worse disarray!!!

Would this be covered by the factory or CPO warranty? I'm a bit concerned because I added the wheels after-the-fact and even though they are factory wheels, I did install the center caps myself - they were not installed by a factory trained technician.

Any else had this problem? Any suggestions?

Sadiq

hmm... did u fill up the right octane gas? sometimes this happens when I fill up with 87. But don't worry - fill up with 104 from sunoco + add some octane booster and the center caps will heal themselves.

Sadiq

also check your blinker bearings - sometimes these will throw your spoiler button out of alignment, which in turn causes the situation youre describing.

p-cardriver

The service bulletin 997.11N .00B describes the correct center cap installation proceedure as indexing the bottom of the crest to "point" at the valve stem. You did some sort of horizon alignment and as you know the horizon is not a factor within the control of the factory so you should expect not only the bizzare results you experienced but also that your warranty will be disclaimed. You should now have your car towed to the nearest Porsche dealer for a complete inspection; hopefully there is no collateral damage. I personally suspect this causes the RMS failure.

mdrums

Oh geesh...Oh my!

KBS911

You guys are cruel.

The phenomena you are experiencing is simply the coriolis effect, or the deflection of a moving object when viewed from a rotational reference frame.

I can see from your post that you are from Canada (Northern hemisphere) which visually manifests itself as a "right rotation. You will find that driving your car in more Southern climes (left rotation) will correct your problem.

Not to worry.

Le Chef

I would send your wheel caps to Australia for a few months rehab, that should bring them back to the center. In fact you might consider starting up a "North turns South" exchange company for Porsche owners so wheel caps can be correctly rotated once every 6 months.

springgeyser

A 'small' dab of 100% silicone will keep it in place.

jpcourt

You guys ARE cruel!!!...But thanks for the laugh.

gota911

Lack of the proper amount of grease on the muffler bearings will cause an additional amount of vibration on the car.

Since this vibration begins at the back of the car, the impact of the vibration is greater on the rear wheels that it is on the front wheels because the vibration gets dissipated as it moves forward on the car. The difference in vibration levels, front and back, is what is causing the center caps to rotate at a rate that is directly proportionate with the vibration frequency.

Have the dealer repack the grease bearings in the mufflers and you should be good to go!

Fahrer

You should write a letter to Porsche!. Actually it is a waste of time. This is not repairable. I'll take the car off your hands!

jpcourt

Or you could go here and solve your problem http://www.boothedesign.com/centercaps.html

ryangambrill

I heard that the Johnson Valve that is attached to the calipers can cause this type of problem when they fail. Definitely have them replaced if necessary.

purrybonker

Seriously, there are some gorgeous roads and drives associated with the coastlines of California, Oregon and Washington as I'm sure many of you know.

Here's a link to a piece of video I shot along No. 199 which links the coast highway from Eureka in north California to Grant's Pass on the I-5 in Oregon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTU6HOBbrNM

I just set the new Leica D-Lux 4 on the dash and set it to video mode to try it out. The HD recording losses much quality in the Youtube translation.

mnalla

purrybonker

Nice video. Yes living in Oregon I have to come to appreciate the diversity of the geography and the many great touring back roads in the state. Now I cannot wait to get my 09 c4s (expected in April) and enjoy them even more.