986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners - View Single Post

PorscheBound · 08-05-2013, 07:13 AM

So I have been in the market for a 986 S for well over a month now. I have read a lot on the car and have become fairly knowledgable. I am looking for one with 60-70K miles and my budget is 17K. There seems to be a fair amount of them out there for that price. With that said, the IMS is starting to get to me. I can afford the car, I can afford the maintaince, I can afford to replace the bearing with the LN engineering one. What I cant afford is the replacement engine if it were to come down to that.
I honestly would buy the car and immediatly put in the LN bearing. I have read articles on the LN bearing, it seems to be bullet proof but with that said there are some people who say that even with the LN bearing, it could still fail. I know the percentage of actual IMS bearing failures is very little but it still concerns me. Am I over thinking it too much? How confident are you guys with the 986 being a reliable solid car with the bearing replacement? I just dont want to buy a 15K car and have to put a 20K engine in it. Thoughts?

08-05-2013, 07:13 AM	#1
PorscheBound Registered User Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Maryland Posts: 189	Cold Feet So I have been in the market for a 986 S for well over a month now. I have read a lot on the car and have become fairly knowledgable. I am looking for one with 60-70K miles and my budget is 17K. There seems to be a fair amount of them out there for that price. With that said, the IMS is starting to get to me. I can afford the car, I can afford the maintaince, I can afford to replace the bearing with the LN engineering one. What I cant afford is the replacement engine if it were to come down to that. I honestly would buy the car and immediatly put in the LN bearing. I have read articles on the LN bearing, it seems to be bullet proof but with that said there are some people who say that even with the LN bearing, it could still fail. I know the percentage of actual IMS bearing failures is very little but it still concerns me. Am I over thinking it too much? How confident are you guys with the 986 being a reliable solid car with the bearing replacement? I just dont want to buy a 15K car and have to put a 20K engine in it. Thoughts? Last edited by PorscheBound; 08-05-2013 at 08:27 AM.