My 911 smells like burning rubber

Is it just me or does anybody else have the same problem? Every time I get out of my car I smell the heavenly smell of burning rubber eminating from the area of my back tires....I also notice a black coating on the bottom of my rear bumper. Do I need to refrain from pushing so hard on the right pedal, or do I need to start buying stock in a tire manufacturing company?? Seriously, in my other cars I can tell when I'm shredding the tires. In my Porsche I can not. I just see and smell my tires disappearing at an incredible rate. Is this because the engine is sitting above my rapidly disentigrating rear tires...or is it because my Billy Boat exhaust system & EVO intake sound so good at redline?

I'd go with curtain #2 (BB & Evo)......

Ray, that was my fear. I guess I better look at how BFGoodrich stock is doing.

I have the same odor and without mods. I figured is had to do with tires near the exhaust. Question is, how strong is the odor from your ride? Junk yard/burning tires strong or the type of odor you have to think about before your figure it out? BTW, I don't notice it in the winter with snow tires on. --Dale

Dale, the odor is extremely strong..like the tires are on fire. There is always a black residue on the bottom of my bumper behind the rear tires. I just assumed it is from my lead right foot; however, I do not feel the tires spinning when I drive it hard (which is always). I don't notice it after my wife drives it which is probably a clue.

hmmmmmm....... my car after i drive it smells like something is burning, like oil or something but i think t just might be normal..........?????

Mine used to smell like that - used to think it was either the clutch or brakes or something, but quite strong. It eventually went away, though I smelled a hint of it a few weeks ago after some spirited driving.

I always smell something after some spirited driving. Now that I have the new engine, I ruled that out as the problem.

PorscheSmile, I have had the smell of burning oil coming from my car recently. It was the oil seperator. I had the engine out of my car and stripped down to the longblock..except for the oil seperator. It went within a couple thousand miles of getting my car back together. It covered my nice clean engine with copious amounts of oil. Mine is a tiptronic. The dealer said the engine had to come out to replace about a $200 part that I should have known to replace when I had the chance. I took the car to a reputable independant. They did the job for half of what the dealer would have charged, without pulling the engine. I just got the car back yesterday from the dealer. A local tire shop jacked the car improperly and bent both lower rear control arms (fortunately my insurance covered it). I still had a residual leak from the area of the oil seperator. The dealer told me that they cleaned a bunch of oil off the top of my engine from when the seperator went. That is one of the reasons why they pull the engine to do the repair. Next time, I'll stick with the dealer. They have never steered me wrong.

The burning smell is normal, you can search some other posts that go into details on the thought why...smells really bad in a cab. I would question the black marks in the rear though. If you are using a tire dressing that may be it. Do you have OEM wheels?

jsaindc, thanks...I was afraid it was just my driving style. I upgraded from 17s to 18 inch OEM wheels with 285-30-18 Continental Sport Contact 2 tires. Prior to summer, I want to upgrade to BFG KDW tires for the track. I do not currently have dressing on the tires and it was aligned yesterday. I thought that might have been part of the problem. It obviously was not. I still fear it's leadfoot.

Wow, you are lucky you got the seperator before any bad damage was done. MY first 99 I had it ruined the entire engine.

Smell is normal.

cosmoline?

Yea, I get a little subtle smell too (always have) but the entire engine is dry top to bottom. Everything seems normal, however, so I don't worry about it.

+1 on the Cosmoline. If you think it might be Cosmoline, you could do what Gary (Orient Express) did. He removed all of the Cosmoline from under the car (engine, headers, etc.). Now the under side of his car is probably cleaner than most kitchen floors! Seriously! Here is a pic of his car showing the location of the oil drain plug. Gary is so ****, he learned how to "levitate" his car so the jack stands wouldn't scratch the paint on his jacking points!

Same smell here. Mine has been more pronounced since I put my winter tires on. Thought it might have to do with the difference in compound (driving the "softer" tires harder). My car is leaking oil (new RMS 3,000 kms ago) so I will bring it in. Will ask the dealer about the smell at the same time and will try to report back.

So what are the symptoms when the oil seperator is dead? I've heard that the oil seperator if gone and not checked can kill the engine.... Would I see oil drip (at some place) or what ? Thanks !

I get the burnt oil smell everytime I park in my parking garage after circling up all the ramps.....don't notice any other time. I just figured it was due to the oil being thrown to the driver side......any thoughts??

Gotta911, the bottom of that car is beautiful...could somebody please teach me how to raise my car like that? Sids911, the oil seperator is on the back (top) of your engine closest to the driver's seat. When mine went, I had a fine mist of oil all over the back (rear deck lid & buumper) of my car. It leaked a silver dollar sized puddle each day on my garage floor. ZX9RCAM, If you look at my first post from a couple days ago (new member with rebuilt 911) I have a picture of my engine when it was partially stripped down. You can see that there are areas on the top of the engine that are like baffles. If you have oil or power steering fluid spilled on the top of your engine (ask me how I know) it will remain up there until you go up a hill or park your can at an angle. Cosmoline? wouldn't that come from nice new shiny parts...not e-bay bargains. Thanks for all the responses.

could be too much rear toe scrubbing the tires, have your alignment checked.

UCrazyKid, I thought the same thing. I just got it back from the dealer on Tuesday. The alignment was seriously messed up. A local tire store jacked the car improperly causing $1,500 in suspension damage. The alignment is perfect now and the problem persists. Thanks anyway.