porsche specialist or rep garage for servicing?

[deafasapost]

been to my local and good garage today who look after both mine and the mrs car, plus now, my bro's the in-laws, and booked the car in for a full service inc all fluids, plugs the lot, and have asked them to price up the belts, pump, etc too.
now, they are a good bunch of guys, very honest, and not expensive at all, would it be adviseable to use them to change the cam and balance belts/water pump, or should i take it to a specialist?

i do trust them completely in the years i have taken my cars there, and in fairness, i wouldnt go anywhere else for my mainstream cars. i have asked them to price up the belts etc, and they have no problem in doing them at all, even gave me a number of a guy they have used in the past to do cab hood rear scren repairs/replacements this morn just incase the majic bottle doesnt clear the cloudiness.

Lemon, just incase your interested, its curzon motors in hoylake, i dont know if you've used them in the past, but they are a good bunch.

ta for the replies in advance,

Al.

 

[blease]

I have just taken the plunge and done this myself. My nearest OPC and/or indie are at least an hour from me so I decided to entrust the local garage with belts/tensioner etc etc (see the ongoing belt and tensioner thread started by Oli). They had the thing apart in no time and don't seem fazed at all by the car. I suspect that a 944 motor is a stroll in the park compared to a lot of more recent cars. The proof of the pudding shall be in the eating, but so far I feel reassured.

 

[Lemon]

ORIGINAL: deafasapost

been to my local and good garage today who look after both mine and the mrs car, plus now, my bro's the in-laws, and booked the car in for a full service inc all fluids, plugs the lot, and have asked them to price up the belts, pump, etc too.
now, they are a good bunch of guys, very honest, and not expensive at all, would it be adviseable to use them to change the cam and balance belts/water pump, or should i take it to a specialist?

i do trust them completely in the years i have taken my cars there, and in fairness, i wouldnt go anywhere else for my mainstream cars. i have asked them to price up the belts etc, and they have no problem in doing them at all, even gave me a number of a guy they have used in the past to do cab hood rear scren repairs/replacements this morn just incase the majic bottle doesnt clear the cloudiness.

Lemon, just incase your interested, its curzon motors in hoylake, i dont know if you've used them in the past, but they are a good bunch.

ta for the replies in advance,

Al.

The belts need retensioning after about 1500 miles once they have been fitted, so as long as they have the correct "Porsche" belt tensioner then fine.

If not i would get a Porsche Independant to do the belts. I am sure Andrew Kirk Engineering in Birkenhead will have said tool.

May be worth giving them a call, if not i would drop it off with Phil at Tech 9 in Liverpool.

I think if you join the club they have one you can borrow on a loan basis.


http://www.arnnworx.com/

 

[deafasapost]

cheers Lee.

i think i will give andrew kirk a bell, and i'll see if curzon have ever changed belts etc as well on a 944.

tbh, i'd rather take it to someone who has experience with the 944's engine anyway, but i think for general servicing and maintenance i'll use curzon.

 

[pauljmcnulty]

tbh, i'd rather take it to someone who has experience with the 944's engine anyway, but i think for general servicing and maintenance i'll use curzon.

It's a common question, why pay high charges to a specialist when any half-decent mechanic should be able to work on a 944?

But, I live just outside London, where labour rates are always going to be high. Local "lock-up" type garages are around £50 plus vat per hour, so going to a specialist at a only little more, say £65 plus vat for exapmle, is going to be cheaper as they know the cars inside out and can work on them faster. That said, specialists seem to be moving to fixed-price servicing, which I don't like personally. I'd rather pay less if it's a straightforward job, or get a bigger bill if it's more complicated than expected. I don't like the idea of them rushing as "it's a two hour job and we've spent four hours on it already".

With something like belts I'd always go to a specialist. I don't like the casual approach to things like tensioning, but at least a specialist will have a clue about what the tension should be. He (or she [&:]) will also know the other things to look for whilst in there, and where to get the right parts. Same with a clutch, it's not as simple as on a Focus.

Check out the labour charges between your local guys and a specialist, and factor in the inconvenience if it's going to be a long way from home to drop off and pick up.

 

[blease]

I use and trust an indie with my 996. But with a much older design like the 944, surely this will not be as complicated as say, a Merc 240 with a V4 engine?
p.s. Paul, did you get my email request to join the register?

 

[deafasapost]

good advice there Paul, cheers.

we have a customer who's into classic exotics, and had a ferrari 308 that a local garage looked after it for years. she also uses the garage i use for her other cars, and said the only reason she used the other garage to look after the ferrari was that the previous owner used them, otherwise she would use the garage i use. no other reason., and i dont think the labour rates were vastly different.

the one Lee talks about in birkenhead is only a 20 min drive from me, so handy, esp as i only have one day off a week and work saturdays. i'll give them a bell and get a price all inc for the belts and pump change. i have set aside £1500 to use for all the things i expect that need doing, so the bills should be covered.
all other minor things can wait until next year sometime as they are really only minor niggles (slight chip in one of the fog/side light lenses, that kind of thing)

 

[sawood12]

There are good and bad mechanics just as there are good and bad specialists - and from some of the stories i've read and heard of some OPC's don't cover themselves in glory. I'd rather entrust any car of mine to a known and good mechanic whom I trust than an unknown specialist. The timing belt change on a 944 is no more complicated than it is on any other car, and you'd expect a good mechanic to refer to the manufacturers handbook.

I didn't notice much of a difference in the hourly rate between the two specialists I used and a decent local mechanic I've used. The only difference is that for some jobs the local mechanic may take an extra hour or two due to unfamiliarity.

The only other aspect to consider is, or course, whether or not you want to maintain a service history of the car with a reputable specialist. That is the main reason I used specialists rather than my local guy.

 

[deafasapost]

Scott, tbh, having a fully stamped up service history from an indie and paying say an extra 10-15 quid an hour plus vat is not something i'm fastidious about, i want to have the car to use and enjoy for my own purpose, not it to be worth an extra 1-2k when i sell it on because of a porsche specialist stamp. i dont know a single thing about porsches, and only a limited amount about mechanicals.
a mechanic, or at least a tried and trusted mechanic is worth his/her weight in gold to me, as i have used some not so good in the past years, and finding a really good un is actually, (ime) quite difficult.

if a mechanic (a good one) can work on any car, there is only a limit at what there knowledge is on every single car made.

comes down to experience i suppose, the more of one make you work on than another, you get to know the make better. and get to know them inside out. like i said previously, for all routine maintenance like oil/filters, brakes, tyres, exhausts, servicing general repairs, i wouldnt think of going anywhere else than my tried and trusted mechanics, but as i'm new to these cars, for the proper tensioning of the belts etc.... then i suppose the best bet is to use a good indi for that. cheers for the advice so far guys btw, very much appreciated []

 

[Lemon]

ORIGINAL: deafasapost


the one Lee talks about in birkenhead is only a 20 min drive from me,

Your house to Andrew Kirks place is 5 miles Al [][][]

You need to change to 2nd gear to get that 20 mins drive time down a bit[][][]

Only joking with you.

 

[deafasapost]

ORIGINAL: Lemon

Your house to Andrew Kirks place is 5 miles Al [][][]

You need to change to 2nd gear to get that 20 mins drive time down a bit[][][]

Only joking with you.

not the way i drive with the nipper in the car [] [] []
driving miss daisey is me!!! []

 

[zcacogp]

Good, and ongoing Q.

Use someone you trust to work on your car. Simple as that. If you trust them, then they are the right place to go.

I'd use a good known local (general) mechanic over an un-known indie. But I'd probably choose both over an OPC. Yes, really.

Having said that, I have done all the work on my 944 in the four years that I have owned it (with one exception - belts, just after I bought it. And tyre fitting.) I am no whizzo mechanic and I have no workshop - everything is done with a pretty simple socket set, on the side of the road. And, with the exception of the bolt on the end of the camshaft last week, nothing has defeated me. (That's included pretty much all of the big jobs mentioned regularly on this forum - belts, clutch and brake caliper rebuild, which are the three biggies on an S2.) OK, when I did the clutch I borrowed a friends' garage (with an inspection pit.) And when I made some replacement bits for the bottom of the front wing then I enlisted another friend to help me weld them in, and Paul Smith sprayed it for me. If I can do this, nothing should be beyond a competent mechanic.

There is always an ongoing debate about the value of a stamped-up service book as well. But those stamps cost a LOT of money, and given the value of 944's these days, you simply won't get that money back at sale time. Doing work yourself means you know it's done properly, and when buying a car I always look at the way a car has been kept and the owner before I look at the service book. A clued-up owner who knows what he is talking about, with a good stack of receipts from somewhere like Berlyn or Frazerpart would impress me more than a fully-stamped service book and a crummy car.

Just my £0.02's worth. (And - hey - I gave it for free! I'm such a nice chap, really! [] )


Oli.

 

[deafasapost]

the guys i use are great, and very honest too, as well as reasonably priced.
they spotted something that wasnt mentioned in the ppi from the specialist, namely the bleed nipple broken, the air intake split and the cracked ht lead top. ok, the specialist probably didnt look for that, and was only noticed on the service i had done, but if thats all thats wrong then thats fine by me!

i used to (20 years or so ago!!) do a lot of my own repairs, even tho my mechanical skills are limited, my brother and i even rebuilt an engine on the pavement outside his house! but sadly, with having my own business and a little 'un now, i really haven't the time, so i have to enlist a mechanic. ok, little jobs i can find the time to do, but even changing discs and pads these days is hard as time is limited.
i'm with you as well, i'd rather enlist someone i know and trust to do the main things, although for some big things i'll prob get an indi to do.

i'm not bothered about a fully stamped book from an indi because it'll be worth so many ££ more than not having them when i come to sell, i want the car for myself, my wife and the nipper to enjoy over the coming years, unfortunately, i am a perfectionist so want all the jobs done NOW!!, lol, but feasibily it isnt possible, so i've given myself a time scale of 12 months to get it perfect (or as perfect as i can!!)

even fixing the indicator today was total satisfaction, made up it works now!! [] [] [] []

 

[pauljmcnulty]

I'd use a good known local (general) mechanic over an un-known indie. But I'd probably choose both over an OPC. Yes, really.

Some PCs (PC is the new name for OPC []) are great, many owners have a great relationship with their local PC who have staff trained, and interested in, the model.

Many indies are now moving away from older cars and focussing on newer models, some to the extent that they are either refusing to take the 24/44/68/28 cars in, or are being difficult and charging well over the top. A local "good" mechanic might not know the shortcuts, or where to get parts at the best price, so could well cost a lot more than an experienced indie or even a PC.

It's a minefield out there, so I'd always recommend an indie who knows the cars, and is obviously keen on supporting the model through the Clubs or forums. There are still companies out there who want to give a good service, they are becoming harder to find, though.

 

[blease]

Will be collecting my S2 from my local trusted garage tomorrow. So lets see if that trust is well placed. Update to follow.

 

[Lemon]

At least you will be easy to spot on the Wirral then, you will not go speeding past[][]

If you need parts for your car, someone mentioned Frazerpart on here.

Max at Frazerpart is really helpfull and he has secondhand parts aswell as New OEM stuff.
And the good bit is he is based in Bebington, so really handy for spares.
He has even popped stuff through my letter box for me at no extra charge, now thats personal service.

If you use him tell him I sent you. []

ORIGINAL: deafasapost

ORIGINAL: Lemon

Your house to Andrew Kirks place is 5 miles Al [][][]

You need to change to 2nd gear to get that 20 mins drive time down a bit[][][]

Only joking with you.

not the way i drive with the nipper in the car [] [] []
driving miss daisey is me!!! []

 

[zcacogp]

ORIGINAL: Lemon
If you need parts for your car, someone mentioned Frazerpart on here.

Max at Frazerpart is really helpfull and he has secondhand parts aswell as New OEM stuff.
And the good bit is he is based in Bebington, so really handy for spares.
He has even popped stuff through my letter box for me at no extra charge, now thats personal service.

If you use him tell him I sent you. []

I may be the chap who originally recommended Max at Frazerpart. Even if I wasn't, I am happy to do so now - he is very good, and offers excellent service.

Well worth a call.


Oli.

 

[blease]

Update. Car starts and runs beautifully. Ticks over much more evenly than before. BUT! clutch master decided to expire so the naughty thing remains at the garage and I shall miss my first Frontrunner!

 

[pauljmcnulty]

the naughty thing remains at the garage and I shall miss my first Frontrunner!

Come in the 996, you'll just have to park round the corner. []

 

[Hilux]

many owners have a great relationship with their local PC who have staff trained, and interested in, the model.

An OPC is generally a franchise employing technicians trained in specific tasks.

A good independent will be an enthusiast (probably Porsche trained) and skilled in trouble shooting rather than menu based servicing with a propensity to replace parts wholesale.

Try and find one from recommendations and in particular if they do motorsport or create tuned cars they will know engines properly. They also tend to know all the cars and are not trained in specifics.

S`wot I think anyway and I know more (serious new cars) Porker owners who use indy`s than use OPC`s.