Rustproofing a 996
Discussion
Bought a 996 C4 recently and ideally I'd like to use it through the winter. Has anyone rustproofed a 996? If not, and you use it in winter, do you think factory rustproofing is adequate? I have a slightly morbid fear of corrosion... If anyone has had a 996 rustproofed, was it a relatively straightforward job?
Edited by Billy_Whizzzz on Sunday 21st June 21:40
Myself and several friends had Ninemeister remove the undertrays/wheel arch shields etc on our Porsches last autumn. They steam cleaned the cars underneath, left them to dry thoroughly and then applied a copious amount of waxoyl. Certainly helps to protect the brake lines etc. Price was fair too: £150 plus vat I think. Recommended.
I think they are robust. The only rotten ones I've seen so those with previous accident repairs. It pays to keep the arches clean and if you can, to remove the undertrays and wheel arch liners to give them a proper clean. There's no doubt that the radiators can suffer and I've seen rotten rear exhaust boxes too.
As others have said, have someone remove the undertrays and waxoyl the underneath and then use the car in the winter.
I've used my cab in all the weather conditions we seem to have had thus far this summer and it's been fine.
As others have said, have someone remove the undertrays and waxoyl the underneath and then use the car in the winter.
I've used my cab in all the weather conditions we seem to have had thus far this summer and it's been fine.
Billy_Whizzzz said:
No one else, really? Are 996s so robust they can still be used in winter and as an everyday car...?
No, I would rustproof, especially in any area where salt is spread on the roads. I have noted (and treated) for-now superficial rust on the bodyshell around / above the gearbox area and in other locations, so it's not just the exhaust bits that corrode. Even the crankcase bolts are moderately rusty on mine. If you are up to it you could do a lot of this yourself. I used door cavity wax for non-impact areas, it penetrates well, for the underside per se if there is any damage to the existing sealant, spray on underbody bitumen will work well.If not treated I have no doubt that several 996s subject to salt spray will be found to be seriously rusty if one were to look in the right places.
river_rat said:
Billy_Whizzzz said:
No one else, really? Are 996s so robust they can still be used in winter and as an everyday car...?
Is this a wind up? Of course they can be used through winter and everyday, it's what they were designed for!Hi, used my previous 996 for 4 years as a daily driver in Scotland. It stood up very well. The only thing I had additional protection on was the engine casings as they went very white and fury in the winter. The rest was fine. Never missed a beat in 4 years. In fact I miss it and would buy it back if I could find it....
Hi, used my previous 996 for 4 years as a daily driver in Scotland. It stood up very well. The only thing I had additional protection on was the engine casings as they went very white and fury in the winter. The rest was fine. Never missed a beat in 4 years. In fact I miss it and would buy it back if I could find it....
Billy_Whizzzz said:
Bought a 996 C4 recently and ideally I'd like to use it through the winter. Has anyone rustproofed a 996? If not, and you use it in winter, do you think factory rustproofing is adequate? I have a slightly morbid fear of corrosion... If anyone has had a 996 rustproofed, was it a relatively straightforward job?
The car already is well protected against corrosion.Edited by Billy_Whizzzz on Sunday 21st June 21:40
The underside body metal is coated with a heavy duty paint that is very durable. Almost all lines/hoses are protected behind plastic panels.
The wheel wells are protected by liners.
Couple of things I did when I drove my Boxster year round...
First avoid damaging the car's painted underbelly by improperly lifting the car. Even if you lift at the factory sanctioned lift points you want to protect the lift point paint from damage. The dealer lifts have heavy rubber pads that protect the paint.
If you damage the paint this gives a place for corrosion to gain a foothold.
Whenever the temperature got above freezing I rinsed the car thoroughly. Then I took the car for a drive and used the brakes enough to heat them and dry them. If you fail to do this they can rust something fierce and what can happen is when you go to use the brakes the rust dust can result in some kind of uneven pad material transfer and the brakes will pulse afterwards. This happened to my VW Golf TDI's brakes.
Keep in mind if you drive in snow/ice the wheel wells will collect slush and when you park the car the heat will melt this and water rains down on the tires/wheels and brake hardware. So when you first head out use the brakes hard enough to remove the rust and get the brake hardware warm but avoid bringing the car to a stop until you have scrubbed all the rust off the rotors.
I would use windshield fluid that gas stations would sit outside in the cold. On a particularly cold day -- below freezing -- I'd pick up one or two jugs of the stuff what were free of any ice build up.
Be sure the coolant has sufficient strength to avoid freezing in the temps you expect to drive in.
Before bad weather arrives be sure all body water drains are clear of any trash. If there is any trash while it may not block the drains now but once it gets wet then freezes it might block the drains then when you rinse the car the frozen mass can result in water overflow into the cabin.
Water build up in the oil will almost certainly happen because the engine doesn't get hot enough to boil the water out of the oil. So start the winter driving season with fresh oil -- probably 0w-40 (and Porsche "requires" this for driving in temps -25C and colder) -- and as soon as the weather turns nice in the spring change the oil to remove all the old oil with the water in it.
I carried a nice heavy duty tow strap in my car's trunk along with some properly sized u-bolts/shackles to help connect the strap to the eyebolt that screws into the front or rear of the car just in case I got stuck and needed a pull out of a snow bank or ditch. Never had to use the strap.
Come nice weather give the car a thorough wash and rinse. Rinse underneath the car, all the running gear, exhaust hanger hardware, tranny, engine block (the lower portion of it at any rate), the radiator ducts, condensers, everywhere. I used a garden hose with no nozzle cause I wanted a pretty good flood of water. To reach some places I put my thumb over the hose opening and varied the spray to really rinse everything.
Afterwards be sure to drive the car and use the brakes hard enough to dry them thoroughly.
Rockster said:
Billy_Whizzzz said:
Bought a 996 C4 recently and ideally I'd like to use it through the winter. Has anyone rustproofed a 996? If not, and you use it in winter, do you think factory rustproofing is adequate? I have a slightly morbid fear of corrosion... If anyone has had a 996 rustproofed, was it a relatively straightforward job?
The car already is well protected against corrosion.Edited by Billy_Whizzzz on Sunday 21st June 21:40
The underside body metal is coated with a heavy duty paint that is very durable. Almost all lines/hoses are protected behind plastic panels.
The wheel wells are protected by liners.
Couple of things I did when I drove my Boxster year round...
First avoid damaging the car's painted underbelly by improperly lifting the car. Even if you lift at the factory sanctioned lift points you want to protect the lift point paint from damage. The dealer lifts have heavy rubber pads that protect the paint.
If you damage the paint this gives a place for corrosion to gain a foothold.
Whenever the temperature got above freezing I rinsed the car thoroughly. Then I took the car for a drive and used the brakes enough to heat them and dry them. If you fail to do this they can rust something fierce and what can happen is when you go to use the brakes the rust dust can result in some kind of uneven pad material transfer and the brakes will pulse afterwards. This happened to my VW Golf TDI's brakes.
Keep in mind if you drive in snow/ice the wheel wells will collect slush and when you park the car the heat will melt this and water rains down on the tires/wheels and brake hardware. So when you first head out use the brakes hard enough to remove the rust and get the brake hardware warm but avoid bringing the car to a stop until you have scrubbed all the rust off the rotors.
I would use windshield fluid that gas stations would sit outside in the cold. On a particularly cold day -- below freezing -- I'd pick up one or two jugs of the stuff what were free of any ice build up.
Be sure the coolant has sufficient strength to avoid freezing in the temps you expect to drive in.
Before bad weather arrives be sure all body water drains are clear of any trash. If there is any trash while it may not block the drains now but once it gets wet then freezes it might block the drains then when you rinse the car the frozen mass can result in water overflow into the cabin.
Water build up in the oil will almost certainly happen because the engine doesn't get hot enough to boil the water out of the oil. So start the winter driving season with fresh oil -- probably 0w-40 (and Porsche "requires" this for driving in temps -25C and colder) -- and as soon as the weather turns nice in the spring change the oil to remove all the old oil with the water in it.
I carried a nice heavy duty tow strap in my car's trunk along with some properly sized u-bolts/shackles to help connect the strap to the eyebolt that screws into the front or rear of the car just in case I got stuck and needed a pull out of a snow bank or ditch. Never had to use the strap.
Come nice weather give the car a thorough wash and rinse. Rinse underneath the car, all the running gear, exhaust hanger hardware, tranny, engine block (the lower portion of it at any rate), the radiator ducts, condensers, everywhere. I used a garden hose with no nozzle cause I wanted a pretty good flood of water. To reach some places I put my thumb over the hose opening and varied the spray to really rinse everything.
Afterwards be sure to drive the car and use the brakes hard enough to dry them thoroughly.
Definitely, 100%. May not be rusty now but it is a shame to let it happen..body and mechanical components will all suffer from salt, no matter what, and when me and my friend were looking at 996s, there was a sense from traders that many are now starting to get pretty scabby underneath. Its only going to get worse and these cars deserve a bit of looking after, even if they don't rust now quite like they used to in the 60s and 70s. There is also all the stuff that is a royal PITA at MOT time - brakelines and unions, hydraulic pipes, suspension components. Salt is horrid to all of these things and many of them are right in the line of fire.
I use mine more in winter and drive the aircooleds in summer, which is why after a wet day in spring, I jetwashed mine and then rinsed it with ChlorX salt remover. I'll be applying a variety of things before the next winter, probably mainly tectyl ML or ACF, and maybe some waste engine oil via a paraffin sprayer. I'm not a big fan of waxoyl. Then I'll make my wife a cup of tea.
http://s172.photobucket.com/user/johnnygpipe/media...
I use mine more in winter and drive the aircooleds in summer, which is why after a wet day in spring, I jetwashed mine and then rinsed it with ChlorX salt remover. I'll be applying a variety of things before the next winter, probably mainly tectyl ML or ACF, and maybe some waste engine oil via a paraffin sprayer. I'm not a big fan of waxoyl. Then I'll make my wife a cup of tea.
http://s172.photobucket.com/user/johnnygpipe/media...
Edited by Johnny G Pipe on Wednesday 24th June 09:37
Rustproofing a 996 is very easy. Here is a simple to follow guide showing how anybody can do it on a sunny afternoon.
http://rennlist.com/forums/996-gt2-gt3-forum/66290...
http://rennlist.com/forums/996-gt2-gt3-forum/66290...
I have had 2 996s and would say that they are definitely prone to the corrosive effects of salt.
Its almost guaranteed that the manifold studs will be rust blobs that are time consuming/expensive to remove if they are original. Much of the corrosion will be hidden under the original brown wax or plastic panels. Above the engine and gearbox will also be multiple rotting components and fixings and I have yet so see one without rust on the bolt-on cross members (shown in picture 2).
If you are serious about keeping the rust menace under control I would suggest a full under body steam clean with all plastics removed. (I mean STEAM not pressure wash) This will remove the wax and accumulated dirt and will reveal where you have problems.
Having done this and abraded and repainted the rusted areas a full spray with Rustmaster setting wax will restore the finish originally provided at manufacture. I went one step further and injected wax into every seam and box section for good measure. I have used Waxoyl in the past but it does accumulate a huge amount of dirt over time. The hard waxes tend to shrug off the dirt more easily but require a clean surface for best results.
A few pictures detailing where rust lurks:
Its almost guaranteed that the manifold studs will be rust blobs that are time consuming/expensive to remove if they are original. Much of the corrosion will be hidden under the original brown wax or plastic panels. Above the engine and gearbox will also be multiple rotting components and fixings and I have yet so see one without rust on the bolt-on cross members (shown in picture 2).
If you are serious about keeping the rust menace under control I would suggest a full under body steam clean with all plastics removed. (I mean STEAM not pressure wash) This will remove the wax and accumulated dirt and will reveal where you have problems.
Having done this and abraded and repainted the rusted areas a full spray with Rustmaster setting wax will restore the finish originally provided at manufacture. I went one step further and injected wax into every seam and box section for good measure. I have used Waxoyl in the past but it does accumulate a huge amount of dirt over time. The hard waxes tend to shrug off the dirt more easily but require a clean surface for best results.
A few pictures detailing where rust lurks:
anonymous said:
[redacted]
It's true that most of the rust will be on removable, replaceable bits, but I also found rust (as previously mentioned) on the body itself, the gearbox/tranny tunnel, that would take a very, very good look to discover. Only bubbling paint at the moment but let it be and subject it to salt and it will let fresh air in in relatively short order.
anonymous said:
[redacted]
The OP asked about rust proofing a 996 - I said I had owned 2 that had some rust - its a statement of fact!I cant see any value in your contribution?
Its up to you if you wish to argue over such trivia so wont be baited to reply further.
Clearly with that many posts under your belt, you have nothing better to do.
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