Introduction - 996 C4 2002 Polar silver, Boxster red interior

Hello everyone, thanks for having me here. By means of an introduction, I bought a 996 C4 2002 in December after my Boxster S was crashed into in September. I have always been a fan of Porsche and my daughters who are 22 and 20 mentioned that there has always been a Porsche in the household fleet. In fact, my eldest just bought her own first car a 1984 Porsche 924!!! My 996 was cheap at £8k. It has 150k miles on the clock, but the engine was changed for a new Porsche engine (receipts for over £8k) at 61k miles. The car drives well and is the 996.2 version. It was advertised on Ebay and Autotrader and I managed to get to see it with the help of Storm Darrah! I need some advice please. I took it for a post purchase inspection and a major service at LAP911 in Highworth, Swindon. They gave it a clean'ish bill of health, but I do need help with: Serious: 1. Wheel bolts - the collars are corroded - I want to make sure that the bolts I buy are of decent quality - any recommendations? 2. Brake lines - the 'S' which connects from the flexi to the caliper - any recommendations where i can get this from? Other: 3. The alarm just keeps going off at the worst times - normally 3am. Does anyone have PWIS local to Wiltshire who might be able to tell me what is causing the alarm to trigger? 4. The headlights are cloudy - i have bought a 3M kit to sort these and will use when i the weather gets better. Any advice on how to make these stay clear. 5. The tyres are old and i am running 17" wheels!! - what are the recommended tyres? Some pictures of the car:

welcome to the forum, looks a good buy Serious: 1. Wheel bolts - https://www.design911.co.uk/p/porsc...he-996---boxster---997---cayman/?source=911uk 2. Brake lines - https://www.design911.co.uk/porsche/996-c4-3-4l-1997-08-01/caliper-lines/?source=911uk Other: 3. The alarm just keeps going off at the worst times - sounds like it's old and needs replacement, no way for PIWIS to find issues, just get it cut out and replaced 4. The headlights are cloudy - Use that 3m kit you have ! 5. The tyres are old and i am running 17" wheels!! -

Nice interior, I love those kind of colours. I had my alarm removed, I don’t think they serve any purpose, maybe you’ll get a warning if someone is pinching it and you’re close by but other than that I dislike them. I just wired in a dead switch that is hidden and means it won’t start by any method if it’s not switched on. Tyres, I never put much effort in these on cars to be honest, I’ll usually go with what the majority use or what I’ve had on previously. I like the Michelin Pilot Sport 4, not great in freezing temperatures but I rarely drive in those temperatures anyway.

Tyres: 2 options depending on budget Low - kumho ps71 High - michelin PS4

Welcome to the forum. For the money it looks like you have bought well

Is it just the lighting or camera, but it looks more seal grey than polar silver?

WOW - that was a fantastic price, especially if that's all that was wrong with it. Loads of helpful people here who can help answer all your questions. Enjoy

I've got very expensive designtek stainless steel wheel bolts on my C4 courtesy of the previous owner... really good quality. Tyres, don't buy crap and do not inflate to factory specs. Are you keeping the 17's. ? Supposed to drive alot Better than on 18's

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Sir, you are not a trainee. The car is Seal grey - you are 100% correct. My mistake.... @911UK - Thanks for the information. I will buy these parts. The car rides so nicely on 17" wheels. Much better than my old Bosxter S that was running 18" sport classics. Its really nice and just wafts over bumps. The book does suggest inflating to 36 psi all round, which i think is too much.

Welcome to the forum R.S. Interesting initials... Looks to be a rather special 996, congrats. also best wishes to your eldest, with her 924 ownership journey ahead..

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Nothing wrong with the lightest factory wheel that also gives the widest rear track for a narrow body (page 220 in the handbook) Those who know…..(I’m on PS4 btw)

I tend to have my tyre pressures towards the top of the recommendations, particularly the rear and on Michelins. They have incredible grip and if you get the pressures just right (usually lower than the book recommends) then they'll grip like poo to a blanket, right up until they don't and then they'll let go without warning, and on a 911 then letting go without warning usually means you're just along for the ride at that point. Whereas if they're on the firmer side they will slide earlier but you can tell it's coming from a mile away, and I prefer the early warning system. I found this most obvious on karts and motorcycles, but the same in cars although usually less sensitive because the bikes/karts are more taught and the feedback is so much more direct. If you have PSM then it doesn't matter really, it does it all for you, so then the tyre pressure is mainly about comfort and how you'd prefer it to feel.

Thanks for the welcome and advice. I spent the morning resolving the urgent points my local indie specialist found. I gave the car to them for a major service and cursory check over. It cost £1200! They found two urgent points. 1. Wheel bolt collars heavily corroded and disintegrating. 2. Brake S pipes. The wheel bolts were a mess. The collars were corroded into the wheel and had to be hammered out. It took a while to do this with screwdriver and hammer. The brake S pipes were a mess too. These had been made at home and even came with a nice kink pinch in them. A big thanks to Dan for his help with this. BTW: I saw a clutch and flywheel for sale here and cannot work out to PM the seller. Any advice please?

Click on the sellers photo on the left and it will reveal how to message them

More advice please. The stalk for the clock reset in the dash has a friend which i believe is used to turn the dash illumination up and down. On my car, the one on the left hand side has been snapped off. I have seen that our friends at Design911 have these, but wondered how to get the old one out and the new one in. I used some pliers to pull at this, as much as i dare this morning, but it will not budge! Secondly, Has anyone found matching paint for the interior parts in factory colour? I have a boxster red interior and the panel around the radio is scuffed. I am tempted to wrap this in carbon fiber wrap to match the Techqipment gearknob and handbrake, but wondered if anyone has manged to find the boxster red colour?