Scary at high speed

[Guest]

I have recently bought a 2001 Boxster S and am a little conserned over how the car reacts at high speed.

My commute to work includes a very long, wide, back road where high speeds can easily be reached. I have noticed that at around 90+ the car starts to become a little less confident (down the straights) and at over 100 it becomes damn scary!

I am concerned as other cars I have had (including a 944 S2 convertable) have felt 100% solid at well over these speeds down the same stretch of road.

My feeling is that something cannot be right. My initial thoughts are:

Could it be the spoiler not coming up? How do I check this, as I can't see the spoiler in any of the mirrors, or does that mean it's not working?

Could it be that the tracking is out. Could this cause the car to be unstable at high speed in a straight line?

The car has the sports suspension and is on the 18" GT3 style wheels and has covered less than 30k.

Any advise or other ideas would be very appreciated.

 

[Elliot Davies]

I think you have answered your own question, it may be because it is a back road and probably uneven and you are maybe going too fast for the road conditions on sports suspension and 18" alloys.

but...........

Check your tyre pressure
get the wheel alignment/balance done
less pressure on the steering wheel
if your spoiler isnt working it has a warning light to inform you
get a mate to follow you at above the activation speed (50?), its in the handbook and see if your spoiler lifts

 

[Mark_Bennett]

The car should feel very "planted".

I too have sport suspension - but went for the better handling 17" wheels.

I found that the faster I went on the Autobahn (I take it you live in Germany from the speeds quoted []) that the car seemed to feel MORE stable the faster I went. This is patently not true as the car generates lift rather than downforce but nonetheless it seemed very stable.

Have you checked the tyre pressures? Start at the reccommended 29F 36R.

The tracking is likely to be out (especially if you have sports suspension - it really needs checking once a year for an average milage.

If the spoiler failed to raise there should be a warning light telling you it is not up. So you should be ok there. You can check it does actually go up and down by operating the switch in the outside of the fuse panel in the footwell - also useful for cleaning rather than using a spatula to get the cleaning/drying cloths down between the cracks like one new owner I heard about []

 

[Mark_Bennett]

Note to self - "Must type faster".

(Elliot's reply was not there when I started [])

 

[Mark_Bennett]

Activation speed for the spoiler to go up is 75 actually - it goes back down when you go below 50.

 

[Elliot Davies]

ORIGINAL: Mark Bennett

Note to self - "Must type faster".

(Elliot's reply was not there when I started [])

my fingers are longer and faster []

 

[Elliot Davies]

ORIGINAL: Mark Bennett

Activation speed for the spoiler to go up is 75 actually - it goes back down when you go below 50.

I was thinking 964 then [&:]

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your replies. I have just checked the tyre pressures and they were running at 33 fronts, 42 rears, so I have reduced them.

The spoiler does work via the switch and no warning light comes on so that seems unlikely to be a problem, but I will check.

I will try to get the tracking checked this weekend. Is it something that needs specialist equipment to check properly or would the local kwick-fit or the like, be capable? It has just gone through a 24K service at an OPC, I guess that tracking would not be something that is checked by them.

Of course when I said 90+ I meant KPH

So what's better about 18" over the 17", looks only, or do they have more of a purpose on a track?

 

[Mark_Bennett]

Tracking is best done at a real specialist - it requires speciallist equipment and Kwik-fit just will not have it. Figure on spending £150... (ouch). But your car will thank you after []
Look for somewhere with a Hunter Series 611 Computerised Wheel Alignment System, or Bessparth, or similar.

Every road test I ever saw said the Boxster handled better on the 17" wheels than the optional 18" (and now they say the same about 18" on the 987 v the 19" [])

The 18's are fine though - and they DO look better![]

One thing contributing actually might be the18" wheels - the shorter sidewall by necessity has to be stiffer - so making the car even more "jittery"? Sport suspension is pretty hard for many people - any bumps are pretty well "communicated" to the driver []

 

[Rotorhead]

It's unlikely that it's the wheels, although I agree that the 986 rides and handles better on 17"s rather than 18"s.

Best to get a full 4-wheel geometry alignment at an OPC or recommended Porsche specialist.

 

[Guest]

Hi,

This sounds very familiar. The steering on mine got very flighty at "higher" speeds but tyre pressures were spot on (29 front, 36 back). It was traced to worn drop links, they were replaced, retracked and everything is fine now...

cheers,

Iain

 

[Guest]

The car spent the day with Camtune yesterday, they test drove it and checked wheel alignment and said is was all spot on!

Maybe I'm just not used to it yet or my expectations were too high... either way I'm still loving it

... Oh, and it has one of those Tequipment sports exhausts, the sound is just so addictive.

I think I'll be taking Elliot's advice and drive in accordance with the road conditions on sports suspension and 18's

.

 

[Elliot Davies]

If you want a bit more induction roar remove your cars intake snorkel as per
http://www.xclusivecar.com/Porsche_Boxster_S_DeSnorkel_Mod.htm
i also have the same tequipment system and am de-snorkelled []

 

[Guest]

I assume the snorkel is not any kind of filter and just something to funnel the air through more quietly? is this correct?

Is it perfectly safe to remove?

 

[Elliot Davies]

It quitens the intake noise for one and also stops water ingress into the airfilter should it manage to get there.
IMO perfectly safe but id say as my get out clause dont wade in fords over 2 feet deep.
If you compare the side 2 panels either side intake/heat out, the intake has a larger lip around it and therefor throws water around the side and doesnt allow access to the filter.

 

[Elliot Davies]

another link
http://www.ppbb.com/boards/ppbbphp/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=ARCHIVES&Number=820409&page=&view=&sb=&o

 

[Guest]

I'll take a look over the weekend...

 

[THX911]

ORIGINAL: recneps

I'll take a look over the weekend...

Before doing the de-snorkel, please do an extensive search on various Porsche forums for the pros and cons.

See the second question posted in the link below (Porsche Club of America) and the reply on the right:
http://www.pca.org/tech/tech_qa_question.asp?id={06A95732-F6C9-4C65-B4E5-29D580E29AE9}

Edit: Sorry, the link is missing out the {}, just copy and paste the whole link:
http://www.pca.org/tech/tech_qa_question.asp?id={06A95732-F6C9-4C65-B4E5-29D580E29AE9}

 

[Guest]

Can I throw the splitters into the equation as per this thread:
http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.asp?m=196747&mpage=1&#196795

 

[insatiable]

Had the same problem with my '03 ,std suspension and 18" rims when driving on uneven blacktop back roads which I have to do a lot of. Over 120kph.steering was starting to get uncomfortable and over 180kph downright scary. The ride was also a teeth chatterer. After contacting Porsche and some of their Agents I fitted a set of original 16"s with P-7 Pirrellis and bingo !!! What a great improvement.
However the trade off is slightly sloppier cornering , only when pushed very hard.
Cheers,
Glenn---Happy Easter!