Porsche Boxster 986.2 2.7

[JakeT]

Looking at the MOT history for the car it's had a pretty clean history, but the most recent one looks like you've taken it on the Paris-Dakar Rally!

Some testers are just like that it seems. Like they've something to prove. Sure you didn't cut him up that morning?

[squareflops]

Thanks TR4man ha. Indeed will not be returning, shame.

Advisories are not the end of the world and it can all be explained easily enough, I'll have to devote a paragraph in the for sale ad about it I guess!

Brompty - to be honest the exhaust is back as it should be now, everything is sealed and all easily disassembled if needs be in the future, was just a bit of a journey to get there urgh.

re-test tomorrow. I may take the garage to task re the over zealous advisory list, then again I may not

[TR4man]

Assuming the retest went fine?

[squareflops]

Ah yes sorry should have updated. Passed fine. I should really be fitting the rear discs and front pads this weekend but I'm in work doing OT to fund the bloody Rover

[squareflops]

Well taken a few months but I finally got around to the brakes on Saturday. I really didn't fancy doing them in the wind/rain and the garage isn't really big enough to stretch out with it being a single. Couldn't have asked for better weather on Saturday morning so got cracking. I really find doing stuff like this therapeutic (quite necessary atm) and believe that if you can change you a wheel you can change discs and pads, It's really a joy to do.

The front discs were deemed (by me) to be absolutely fine regardless of what my friendly MOT tester man said, I concurred with him about the front pads and rear discs as we'll see momentarily. Rear pads are fine too.

Started with the front pads. The calipers are well designed 4 pots, the locating pin was a little tight on both sides due to a little surface rust build up but a drift soon saw then out and old pads removed.

My work station for the day, quite secluded with no through traffic, right next to my house

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

Pad removal was very simple, no need to remove or rotate the caliper, simply slide the pin out and pull the pads

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

Home made drift

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

and pads out, both wear sensors were already broken but that's almost to be expected

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

Cleaned the pins up, I don't have a bench grinder atm due to not having a bench so had to make do with hand held sand paper

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

and cleaned; a bit, a world of difference!

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

Old pads vs new pads

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

Never seen new pads rust before!

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

and all back together with the retaining pin copper slipped. All 4 pistons on both front calipers slid back smoothly so the calipers are working as they should. The fronts took no time at all. Turned my attention to the rears

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

The rear discs particularly were knackered. The pads have worn quite strangely, leaving a high spot in the centre of the swept area of the disc, this will no doubt disappear in time as the new pads cut in

Outside face looks great

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

Inside not so good

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

and can see the step on the rear pads

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

One thing I noticed on the rear was the hard line going to the caliper, great I thought, how do I remove the caliper to pull the disc without bending/snapping the line. I could see a union and then flexi so thought I may have to separate the two

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

I thought, this may not be easy but then I noticed the bracket was holding the union was bolted to the strut rather then welded, awesome, undone and caliper could be removed, nice to have the air tools to hand again

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

Thankfully the two retaining bolts were removed easily and the discs both sides pretty much popped off with no issues, super. I blew compressed air around the brake shoe mechanism and calipers which yielded a huge amount of dust but no doubt better for a de-dusting

Tiny shoes

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

I cleaned up both discs before fitting with brake and clutch cleaner, then all back together

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

retaining bolts torqued to 7.5nm

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

Caliper bolts done back up to 63nm

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

Before going for a spin

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

Pulling the car off the drive I did what I always do and forget to pump the brakes to get the pedal back, queue panic when I couldn't stop and a quick pull of the hand brake stopped me rolling into anything

And after a few miles drive to check everything over, interesting wear on the still uneven rear pad

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

That's gone now having done a few more miles.

So all in all a 100% success trip

All to do now is take a trip to France in it in May and then sell it when I get home

[squareflops]

Tuning fork arms.

I didn't know either but having had the service done by Chris Denning he pointed to these items as the culprits for the knocking at slow speeds. They attach from the lower wishbone on the hub going forward and bolt to the chassis to stop fore and aft movement of the rear wheel. The bushing on the LHS fork was the worst offender creating a knocking noise at slow speeds mainly when going over speed bumps etc but I opted to change both as they were on the same mileage of course (81k)

With no guides on how to do it the job took me a while but got there. 4 bolts - 6 hours I'm not the fastest worker and like taking my time but that's a long time to change 2 arms with a total of 4 bolts well the job has been properly and I almost enjoyed it.

I managed to get 2 new identical to OEM arms at a very reasonable price, matching part numbers, same manufacturer, the only difference being a casting mark having to be ground off for some sort of TP seller reasons as Chris was telling me.

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

notice the ground off P emblem

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

and for comparison to the OEM item

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

all very nice. The job although having taken ages was more fiddly than hard, undertrays had to be removed and the bolts at the chassis ends were a bit of a potch to get to

with the arch liner pulled off to reveal mud which was then cleaned off

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

and under tray removed

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

the bolt (thank god the nut was captive) was a right pain to get to at the chassis end, this is the old one before removal

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

I did have to jack up the hub to release the twisting pressure off the bolts when the hub was at full droop

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

bit of a mess

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

and fitted, not a lot to see at all

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

The most interesting bit of the whole job was the comparison between old and new, even before fitting the wear was obvious in the old arm. I'm putting the same force into each bush here

Untitled by Kaeser Devon, on Flickr

edit: if this hasn't worked as a video someone will have to tell me how to do it!

and what a difference it's made when on the car! I wasn't expecting to feel any obvious difference but blimey the back end of the car feels like a snare drum now. the difference is truly amazing. the back end is pin sharp with no tram lining or wandering over bumps, it almost feels like I've replaced the suspension for stiffer items. If you own a boxster - look into this!

If I was keeping the car () I'd be doing the fronts too and I imagine the difference with be similarly impressive. alas I am not. I got talking to someone from work about a week ago and mentioned it was going up for sale soon, she asked if she and her husband could take a look and after a look around and test drive he decided he'd have it. so not sold as yet as the money isn't in my bank but all being equal it will be gone the day after I come back from France in it. I will be very sad to see it go but - I need a kitchen and this will get me 80% of the way there (bloody expensive things kitchens)

so there we have it. lets hope it doesn't get taken out by a polish trucker on a french autoroute