My Boxster feels disconnected with the road

[Guest]

My job requires that I hire cars quite often and have been using the new style golf recently. Anyway, the ride is great and at high speed motorway cruising there is no deterioration in ride quality.

When I get home and get back into my 2004 car doing the same speeds it feels much less confident and can only describe it as feeling disconnected with the road or floating. I find myself gripping the wheel quite tightly. The tyres are in good condition and the pressures are correct.

I dont know if I have been spoilt on ride quality on the VW? At high speed I always thought my car would be much more planted than an average small family car.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Paul Bigman

 

[THX911]

Being new car I am assuming the wheels are N rated, what make are the tyres? You may need to get a wheel alignment done. You mentioned that you feel less confident at high speeds, how about the brakes; are they okay? When is your 2 years service due this year? Make sure your brake fluid is changed as this needs to be changed every 2 years.

 

[Guest]

Is the difference you speak of simply the difference between front and rear wheel drive cars?

A front engined, front wheeled drive Golf will feel more planted up front as opposed to a mid engined car where the front wheels are just doing the steering. I know I always have more confidence driving a FWD car with only understeer to worry about!
It may 'feel' less planted but in reality in probably isn't, the difference and the thrill of a drivers car compared to a normal car perhaps?

 

[Guest]

thanks THX and daliancer.

yes, I have yoko AVS N rated. It got serviced by an OPC a couple of thousand miles ago. Brakes are fine.

It may just be the fwd thing, but I think I will get the alignment checked.

Paul

 

[Dapster]

It may be the fact that driving the Golf is relaxing because you know that the worst thing that can happen is that if you overcook it you'll roll a bit, and scrub off speed with some understeer. If you are anything like me, you'll be thinking that in EVERY corner you enter in the Boxster it's a minute line between getting round and some oversteering nightmare and a written off car - result: white knuckle grip, not even approaching the limits, not a relaxing experience.

Get yourself on a track day or Porsche extended test drive as I did. When you drive upto and beyond the limits, realise how high they are, and how benign the car is beyond them, you will surely relax a bit behind the wheel and have huge confidence in the car.

 

[THX911]

Hi Paul,
I had assumed this was something you had recently noticed but if you are new to Boxster then please don't take my suggestion of checking wheel alignment as urgent as it may be an unnecessary cost... How long have you had the car? As mentioned by others it may be just getting used to the rear wheel mid-engine setup.

 

[jw2015]

Perhaps if you haven't pushed the Boxster to its limits and realised just how good it really is, you'll probably feel a bit nervous in it in general. I've had mine a couple of years but couldn't get over the fear of what it might do to me in the wet, until I recently took it onto a very wet track for a 'drive your own car at high speed' course. That put paid to any concerns I had.
Before you go to the expense of getting the allignment checked, take it to Knockhill and get 25 high speed laps in. That'll soon tell you if it's you or the car. It's £135 for the course and I think it's well worth it, just to feel what the limits actually are for the car. The instructor will take it for a lap or two and he/she will be able to tell you if there's a problem. I didn't get much instruction to be honest, was hoping for all the technical things like how to heel n toe, but the instructor wasn't into any of it, but just being able to take the car to the limit (and beyond) safely is a valuable experience.
Having said all that I drive a big comfortable FWD car as well, and I don't feel out of sorts when I get back into the Boxster, but then the Boxster is not the only RWD car I've owned, so I'm used to the difference in feel.

 

[Guest]

thanks all. I have had the car for just over a year but havent done much mileage or driven it hard. I havent noticed the ride at speed being a bit funny until now but maybe its just exagerated because of all the miles in the golf. Its just on the motorway that I notice it. My front tyres have done 16000 but they still look ok.

Will go to Knockhill though. can I just organise some laps just by phoning them?

Thanks

paul

 

[NicD]

Paul,

I would side with those who say get the alignment checked. In the early days of Boxsters, several owners complained that their handling wasnt up to expectations, and I drove a couple of these cars. In each case, having the suspension aligned especially to "track day" settings helped the feel and ability.

Note that the steering wheel does tend to move a little in your hands in response to undulations and bumps - you must just let it.

Ali has a company 03 Golf V5 (which she loves) but she just told me the Boxster drives much better, more confidently.

 

[pse_SC]

Are you running slicks?

 

[jw2015]

ORIGINAL: bigman

Will go to Knockhill though. can I just organise some laps just by phoning them?

If your days are fairly free then I'd say so. I phoned them a few weeks back on a Wednesday and got a session on Friday lunchtime, but it was miserable weather, although if you really want to feel your car on the limits and gain some confidence in it, then a wet day is ideal.
You might be able to ask for a particular instructor. My guy didn't impart much info but on the Scottish part of this site I've seen people recommend particular instructors at Knockhill. maybe you could ask there.

 

[Guest]

I would agrre about the wheel alighnment . My box was feeling funny at speed - sort of shimyed a little on bumps etc and just did not feel right. Perfect now it was all aligned.
The problem is this misalignement happens gradually so it is difficult to tell there is a problem as you sort of get used to it. That is until it gets so bad it's obvious. The garage said all these speed humps gradually knock it out

 

[Black80XSA]

Firstly borrow another tyre pressure gauge as a double check that you have the correct pressures, never trust anything on a garage forecourt.

Secondly hae the alignment checked - its quite easy to knock out if you live in areas of the square type speed humps , more so if you try to straddle the hump or drive between the humps in an attempt to miss them

 

[David Hooper]

Bigman, I had a set of the later 18" carrera wheels fitted last week, genuine Porsche from Porsche-apart with new P-zero - hurry if you want some last few sets going quick- and the car, 2001 3.2s,
feels very different. Had 18" GT3's previously.
The car now feels a lot smoother and dosn't seem to crash so much on the bad bits. The steering feels lighter although not exactly disconnected.

The everyday car is a Seat 150tdi Leon and I know what you mean - when I get back in the Boxster it does feel more lithe and perhaps a bit distant for a while.

Did I read somewhere that the later wheels were up to 2.5kg lighter than the old ones ?

The trackday thing as suggested by the guys is a good idea - never realised what you can do in a Porsche until that - great fun.

Cheers
DPH

 

[Guest]

thanks all. I have 18 inch carerras on an 04 plate so I guess that is the later lighter versions. After much thought I recon its all the speed bumps near my house though, there are loads. I have a digital pressure guage and the tyres are bang on.

Hope the OPC doesnt chare too much for checking/ fixing it

 

[critch]

If your steering feels a bit vague on the motorway then this could be 'tramlining'. The boxster is very sensitive to ruts in the road caused by hgv's as it is light in weight, has firm damping and has wide tyres. My 987S is brand new and does this. I also find the standard suspension (with the standard 18" wheels) a bit hard on normal roads and at 'normal' speeds, which can be disconcerting as you struggle to grab the gear lever while the car bounces all over the place (not humps - just that some of the roads where I live are like ploughed fields!). I regret not having the active suspension option as this has a more 'comfortable' setting as standard.

I wouldn't say my car felt disconnected from the road though, quite the opposite in fact - get the car checked out if in any doubt.

Critch

 

[Guest]

I have had my boxster for a few months now and I noticed that it needed alignment. However, after having this done, two new tyres on the front and balancing it just doesn't feel right over say 80 mph. There is a small amount of vibration through the wheel and the the throtle, and if you take your hands off the wheel it slowly veers to the left. Is this normal? Please help cause I don't want to go back to OPC if this is normal. I do not have much confidence with OPC as they damaged the wheels whilst putting the tyres on and I have had the wheels re balanced at ATS as they were not right either!! Help and advice would be appreciated. Thank you