2005 Boxster 987S 3.2
Discussion
After owning this for over 10 years, and having mentioned it repeatedly in other threads, I thought it was about time it had a thread of its own.
I'm not going to be able to write about 10 years of ownership in one go, so will be updating this periodically.
The car:
It's a 2005 3.2 Boxster S in Atlas Grey. 18" Lobster Claw alloys, Bose, and not much else. No pictures at the moment, as I don't have very many, and what I do have aren't usable. It's also in with my Indy for a recurring problem - more about that later.
I purchased it around May 2015, as a one-previous-owner car, from Shirley's of Meriden - known for selling honest Porsches without massive levels of over-preparation and having sensible prices. It had clearly been well looked after, and had a decent history. The only down side is that owner number 1 had stuck rigorously to Porsche's service intervals, which are too long IMO.
Following purchase, a few obvious items were replaced:
- New Clutch
- Replace the standard 'small' IMS bearing with the LN ceramic sleeve bearing
- New RMS
- New AOS
- New engine and transmission mountings
It quickly became obvious that the Bridgestone Potenzas that were on when I bought it were, well, a bit s**t. So these were replaced with a set of Michelin PS2s. That transformed the handling, especially in the wet.
After that, I can sum the following few years as "routine".
Now, there are two independent Porsche specialists within 20 miles of home - one is expensive, but good. The other is cheaper, and as I found to my cost, not so good.
I took it to the cheaper guy for what should have been a routine replacement of rear pads and discs. Oops. You'd think this was simple, but no. They managed to mess up the adjustment of the shoes. Having left it in the garage for a few weeks, the parking brake was comprehensively seized on, despite me not applying the handbrake in the garage. Needless to say, the guy who did the work was "really busy and couldn't get it in for at least 8 weeks". I gave up with him, and got the expensive guy to fix it. Never went back to the cheaper guy again.
Since then, it's had fairly routine jobs done. Coolant cross-over pipes were changed before they failed, it's had the alloys refurbished once.
Then, last year, it had its first huge bill. More about that, and the recurring problem, to follow when I get a few more minutes to do some typing.
I'm not going to be able to write about 10 years of ownership in one go, so will be updating this periodically.
The car:
It's a 2005 3.2 Boxster S in Atlas Grey. 18" Lobster Claw alloys, Bose, and not much else. No pictures at the moment, as I don't have very many, and what I do have aren't usable. It's also in with my Indy for a recurring problem - more about that later.
I purchased it around May 2015, as a one-previous-owner car, from Shirley's of Meriden - known for selling honest Porsches without massive levels of over-preparation and having sensible prices. It had clearly been well looked after, and had a decent history. The only down side is that owner number 1 had stuck rigorously to Porsche's service intervals, which are too long IMO.
Following purchase, a few obvious items were replaced:
- New Clutch
- Replace the standard 'small' IMS bearing with the LN ceramic sleeve bearing
- New RMS
- New AOS
- New engine and transmission mountings
It quickly became obvious that the Bridgestone Potenzas that were on when I bought it were, well, a bit s**t. So these were replaced with a set of Michelin PS2s. That transformed the handling, especially in the wet.
After that, I can sum the following few years as "routine".
Now, there are two independent Porsche specialists within 20 miles of home - one is expensive, but good. The other is cheaper, and as I found to my cost, not so good.
I took it to the cheaper guy for what should have been a routine replacement of rear pads and discs. Oops. You'd think this was simple, but no. They managed to mess up the adjustment of the shoes. Having left it in the garage for a few weeks, the parking brake was comprehensively seized on, despite me not applying the handbrake in the garage. Needless to say, the guy who did the work was "really busy and couldn't get it in for at least 8 weeks". I gave up with him, and got the expensive guy to fix it. Never went back to the cheaper guy again.
Since then, it's had fairly routine jobs done. Coolant cross-over pipes were changed before they failed, it's had the alloys refurbished once.
Then, last year, it had its first huge bill. More about that, and the recurring problem, to follow when I get a few more minutes to do some typing.
Interested to follow your journey. Have currently got a 2005 3.2S Boxster on 105k miles. Just had a £2.5k bill for an engine out job following a snapped intake valve. Had a few other jobs done whilst the engine out. Also had all the coils and drop links replaced earlier this year to put the ride height back to OEM standard height. Car now running nicely.
Mine's slightly lower mileage than that - about 98,000 so far.
The big bills on mine were somewhat different though.
At the beginning of 2024 it had a complete rear suspension rebuild. And I mean, complete. Everything from the mounting points is new. Top mounts, arms, springs, dampers, CV joints, the lot. Then, and the end of 2024 we did the same with the front suspension. It now drives and handles like a new car. Also fitted a set of Conti SportContact 7s at the same time. The SC7 is one of the few tyres still available for both front and rear axle on the 18" rims.
And of course, whilst that front suspension was being rebuilt, we attempted to address that ongoing problem again.... but it didn't work! More on this later, when I have time to write it up.
The big bills on mine were somewhat different though.
At the beginning of 2024 it had a complete rear suspension rebuild. And I mean, complete. Everything from the mounting points is new. Top mounts, arms, springs, dampers, CV joints, the lot. Then, and the end of 2024 we did the same with the front suspension. It now drives and handles like a new car. Also fitted a set of Conti SportContact 7s at the same time. The SC7 is one of the few tyres still available for both front and rear axle on the 18" rims.
And of course, whilst that front suspension was being rebuilt, we attempted to address that ongoing problem again.... but it didn't work! More on this later, when I have time to write it up.
Magnum 475 said:
Mine's slightly lower mileage than that - about 98,000 so far.
The big bills on mine were somewhat different though.
At the beginning of 2024 it had a complete rear suspension rebuild. And I mean, complete. Everything from the mounting points is new. Top mounts, arms, springs, dampers, CV joints, the lot. Then, and the end of 2024 we did the same with the front suspension. It now drives and handles like a new car. Also fitted a set of Conti SportContact 7s at the same time. The SC7 is one of the few tyres still available for both front and rear axle on the 18" rims.
And of course, whilst that front suspension was being rebuilt, we attempted to address that ongoing problem again.... but it didn't work! More on this later, when I have time to write it up.
Await hearing further.The big bills on mine were somewhat different though.
At the beginning of 2024 it had a complete rear suspension rebuild. And I mean, complete. Everything from the mounting points is new. Top mounts, arms, springs, dampers, CV joints, the lot. Then, and the end of 2024 we did the same with the front suspension. It now drives and handles like a new car. Also fitted a set of Conti SportContact 7s at the same time. The SC7 is one of the few tyres still available for both front and rear axle on the 18" rims.
And of course, whilst that front suspension was being rebuilt, we attempted to address that ongoing problem again.... but it didn't work! More on this later, when I have time to write it up.
In the meantime I really think that these cars if looked after can hide their age very well. The full leather interior of my car at 105k miles still looks very good and the underside ain’t too shabby either:
Mark-ri571 said:
Await hearing further.
In the meantime I really think that these cars if looked after can hide their age very well. The full leather interior of my car at 105k miles still looks very good and the underside ain’t too shabby either
They do age incredibly well. Probably down to the fact that Porsche build them to last - I think I heard some time ago that more than 80% of the cars Porsche have made are still in existence. They also used to have a policy that they would ensure parts availability for as long as customers wanted - you can still purchase parts for a 356 from a main dealer.In the meantime I really think that these cars if looked after can hide their age very well. The full leather interior of my car at 105k miles still looks very good and the underside ain’t too shabby either
Now, I mentioned a long-running problem. It's brake related.
In Feb 2020, it had a set of nice shiny new front discs & pads. Then it got SORNed due to the COVID bug. It was dragged out of hibernation in early 2021, Serviced, MoT'd, and driven.
2000 miles or so later, the brakes had developed a distinct vibration, with accompanying pedal pulsing. Hmmmm, warped brake disc. The Indy I mentioned earlier said, "Hmmm, must be a manufacturing defect." Front discs and pads replaced FoC.
All was good, for another 2000 miles or so.... then they were replaced again, FoC.
And again, when the front suspension was rebuilt, 'cause a disc had clearly warped again.
The calipers have been stripped and checked, no problems, nothing sticking. The hub faces have been thoroughly checked for distortion - no problems there either.
We're now onto front hub bearings as the possible cause. The right front hub bearing has a tiny, almost immeasurable, amount of play. So that's now being changed. Indy has said that if this doesn't fix it, he'll refund the cost of the work! When it comes back from having the work done, we shall see what happens.
The hopeful thing is that it's always the RH Front disc that warps, and the RHF bearing is the one with a small amount of play.... Time will tell.
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