Finally spent some quality time with my new 996

I'm relatively new to the forum and made a couple of posts here already. I've had the car for a month and between traveling for work and incessant rain, I've only had the chance to take out the car a few times. It's a 2000 Carrera with 20,000 miles. Today didn't look much different from all the other days, woke up this morning to pouring rain again. Since I didn't *have* to do anything today for a change, I decided to tackle my biggest issue with the car, the PO's "love marks". I can tell the PO absolutely loved the car and it was taken care of, washed and waxed, but the methodology wasn't quite right. The car looks absolutely awesome in everything but direct sun and low light in the garage. In those situations millions of little swirl marks and light scratches reared their ugly little heads. He must have not used the proper method to dry the car or maybe even taken it to an automatic car wash or two. If you take a look at the center of the picture, right by the light, you can see what I mean: I've always taken care of my cars that I truly care about from new, so I've never had to deal with something like this. I tried to find a detailor in my area that "understood" what I was trying to accomplish but most of the "detail shops" are a bunch of hacks, so I gave it a go myself. I picked up a Griot's garage DA orbital and used their one step polisher/sealant. I chose that because it is supposedly the least abrasive compound they sell and I couldn't screw it up to bad and had a very low chance of harming the car. Well, I'm happy to say it worked really well. I was able to eliminate all of the swirls and probably 95% of the scratches. What's left I will probably have taken care of this winter when I find a qualified pro. Here is the same part of the quarter panel: Also, luckily for me, it actually stopped raining and I was finally able to get some wheel time with the car. What an absolutely amazing machine! For a first timer stepping into a 911, things aren't quite right. The pedals are to the right, the seating position is off. This isn't the first 911 I've driven so I expected this. It takes an hour or two behind the wheel for things to start to click. It's not that the 911 has a fault, it's that nearly every other car is WRONG. The seating position places the wheel where it needs to be, the shifter is exactly where it is supposed to be when you grab a gear. The dead pedal is naturally under foot when you're in between cogs and pedal placement is absolute perfection for heel toe. I ended up driving for nearly three hours, in town, undulating country lanes, a few corners. I'm amazed by how planted the car is exiting any turn. I've driven other sports cars of all different types, the 911 is the only car in which you can plant the gas out of the corner and just plain go. Oh, and the sound, it probably echoed in the dreams of some German engineer decades ago. It eventually made it to a slide rule and then a litany of parts that all work together making something so unique, it can only be found in a flat 6. My only complaint is that it isn't loud enough, probably the result of a marketing department focus group determining the optimal volume that would be accepted by the largest percentage of people. Nothing that some Fisters can't fix. All in all, my first extended encounter with my 911 was pure bliss. Nothing went wrong and the car and every component performed flawlessly. I couldn't be happier right now. Here is a shot of the car I took after claying, polishing, and waxing in the middle of my drive:

Told you to get out and drive it

Looks absolutely fabulous and great you got a chance to drive it properly now. Don't worry about driving it in the rain btw, it tracks great and just seems to claw into the road. I got a new set of Michelin PS2 and they do a great job as well, also at high speeds in the rain. Volkert

Nice work.

It looks stunning, and your drive write-up brought me right back to what it felt like the first time.

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It's not like I didn't want to. We've had continuous rain and I've had no chance with work. I have actually driven it, but not a "proper" drive. It seems I get all the luck when it comes to these things. I also love to snowmobile. I've been riding for ten years on an old Yamah SX-R 700. I bought a new Viper this past fall and the place were I ride typically has rideable snow from early December well into March. Not so this year, there were two weekends with ridable snow. I only put on 300 miles. Back home I bought my first snowblower...it never snowed. I could have solved the drought issue in California if I had moved there and bought a Porsche.

Well it's good to hear you've found some time, enjoy!

Quotes source post: 14199993

I'm normally not this type of car owner, but I don't think this car has ever seen rain. Things are clean that shouldn't be. I'm sure at some point I'll get caught in the rain and all of that will go to turds.

LIES!!! No 996 drive ends without catastrophy! Congrats. Keep it up

Beautiful car! Do the fisters and you'll absolutely love the sound of the car!

Changed the oil today. Aside from a spider web in the drain of the catch pan that caused it to overflow and put about three quarts of oil on the driveway..everything with the car checked out. I cut open the filter and found absolutely nothing inside of it. Not a bit of anything. It looked like a filter soaked in oil. Sending the oil of for analysis JIC.

Quotes source post: 14201015

I understand you are from the Chicago area from another thread? I'm in Northwest Indiana myself. Dyer to be exact.

From the pictures it appears as though the crest is not pointed at the valve stem. Such a no no Seriously, great looking car and a nice job getting the scratches out