I know many members have read about my change from the excellent cayman S to the gorgeous Targa 4 911. I had kept hidden one small fact about this transition. When I purchased the Targa, I did not get a PPI done as I was not thinking clearly when I saw the car. This turned out to be a month of restless sleep and some worry while driving. To make matters worse, I went to my preferred P-dealer to have them look into what I felt was a wheel bearing sound. After taking a test drive, I was told it is tire noise due to Hankooks v12s instead of OEM tires (which makes no sense in hindsight as I enjoyed thousands of quiet miles in my cayman with v12 tires). In addition, the mechanic told me he noticed some oil residue near the RMS area.
So what had me sleepless?
-bought a Targa 4 without PPI
-dealer saying I need 4 OEM tires (~$1500)
-possible RMS service (~$2.2k)
-no mention of any other items
For the first month of ownership, I was honestly regretting my change as I was very content with my Borla Cayman S with all black wheels!
Since it had now been 4 months, I will explain my timeline.
-for the next two months, I tried to live with the sound and got an oil change to then begin monitoring for any leakage or issues with the rms. the oil Change outlet forgot to put the crush washer in so I panicked the next morning with a small puddle of oil on my garage floor! :helpme:
-issue was fixed without incident and I continued with a loud tire noise, eventually replacing two rear tires due to wear, with new Hankooks.
-for the last month i was out of the country so it went by with no real issue other than placing a trickle charger to prevent loss of battery power
Finally, 2 days ago, I decided to bite the bullet and take care of my issue with the car. I looked for a reputable Indy shop in New Jersey and eventually decided on Bodymotion in Ocean NJ (no affiliation). I spoke with their head manager Ace about what issues I was having and had them look into the rms, wheel bearing, and worn brakes (which p-dealer did not even mention). I will say my experience with them was absolutely the best. The shop was able to instantly answer any questions I had including options for upgrades, brakes, rms, etc...
After the first day, I got a call about their diagnosis. They found the rear wheel bearing was severely worn, front brakes needed replacement, and NO leaks in the RMS or IMS area! I also let him know about the clutch engagement being a bit high but he said it definitely does not seem worn (a garage telling me the truth, wow!). So we moved forward with the major issues and now I have the car in tip top condition.... So how does it feel?
1) I feel so much better knowing my rms and ims don't have Any issues
2) the cars engine is much more dynamic in sound than I thought. The low end torque is audible with bass while the hp sounds like an air cooled 911 sound in higher rpm ranges. The Bose system is very good in quality and clarity. The car does not rotate like the cayman around the beltline but you can feel a bit of a pendulum effect like in a roller coaster. I love this feeling! The steering is super direct, smooth, and responsive. The brakes on the 911 have an obvious front end bias and feel much stronger than before, even with the cayman in comparison.
3) Bodymotion dealt with me with immense integrity and educated service. Their prices do reflect their knowledge (not cheap but not p-dealer expensive).
4) I think I felt like I did when I got my first p-car my Cayman S, absolutely content and smiling on every bend! An intense connection where the rainy gloomy day was the best day I've had driving... The feeling I had hoped to have when I first purchased the Targa 4. So I want to end by saying, I feel like myself again... A Porschefile with a huge smile.
:thanks:
Congrats. Peace of mind is a good thing. Any used car I purchase, I always plan on dropping some bucks to get it into shape, PPI or not.
Thanks for the report and good to know things are looking OK with the car now. I'll be stopping by BodyMotion later next week for my PCA track inspection and I'm looking forward to meeting Ace and seeing the shop.
glad you now have peace of mind... and thanks for posting your real concerns... I'm always a little skeptical about people's "this is great... that is great" posts, because so few people admit to having made a mistake of some kind.
We all do, and can learn from one another.
anyway, thanks again
Re: Glad to hear all is well.
Now that the weather is warm do you find yourself with the Targa roof open all the time? I'm a bit farther south than you in the DC/MD/VA region and there are suddenly Porsche convertibles everywhere. I've had the top down on my 987.5 almost everyday this week.
That feeling of semi-buyers remorse is not cool. It's great you can finally enjoy a dream vehicle . Some people will not, or can not, own a performance car of that caliber--bummer for them, good for you. :banana:
Yea peace of mind is everything with a P-Car. Why I went CPO. Im just too obsessive to go without it.
