Pushing car in Neutral

[rene525d]

I often need to manually push my Boxster backward or forward in my garage to reach some stuff in storage. With the car in neutral and the hand brake fully disengaged (obviously ) i find I need to use quite alot of force...

My other car which is significantly heavier (BMW 5 series) is much easier to push around. To check further i removed the front and rear wheels of the P car and the rear rotors are quite hard to move by hand. The front ones are much easier.

As a comparison:

Front Rotors - I can move with one finger
Rear Rotors - I need to grip the whole rotor from both sides and exert some force.

Both rear/front rotors as well as brake pads are quite new.

What could be the problem?

[Meir]

Originally Posted by rene525d

I often need to manually push my Boxster backward or forward in my garage to reach some stuff in storage. With the car in neutral and the hand brake fully disengaged (obviously ) i find I need to use quite alot of force...

My other car which is significantly heavier (BMW 5 series) is much easier to push around. To check further i removed the front and rear wheels of the P car and the rear rotors are quite hard to move by hand. The front ones are much easier.

As a comparison:

Front Rotors - I can move with one finger
Rear Rotors - I need to grip the whole rotor from both sides and exert some force.

Both rear/front rotors as well as brake pads are quite new.

What could be the problem?

not an expert on that, but you might need to adjust the e brake.

[JFP in PA]

There isn't a problem, the resistance is a combination of drag sources, including the brakes and the cold gear oil in the transmission/ diff assembly (even in neutral, the gears have to turn when the rear wheels move).

[Eric G]

You are turning the transmission so there will be a greater level of resistance.

[rene525d]

Cheers thanks Guys! All the best to everyone for the new year.

[Kurt V]

I think you need to do a bit more investigating. I jsut replaced my front brakes last weekend and also checked my rear brakes. My fronts were like yours, one finger to rotate. The rears had more resistance, more like two fingers to rotate. I think you either have a caliper piston hanging up or, as posted above, need to adjust your parking brake.

[Flavor 987S]

I roll my cars all the time in the garage by hand during winter hibernation (first Saturday of each month.....to minimize flatspotting) and they roll VERY easily. Having 55-58 PSI in the tires helps too. Same thing when I pull the wheels off for deep cleaning and prep for Concours.

[howe]

Try pushing on the outside diameter of the tyre, NOT on the car body, this will help x 2

[Wendo]

How do you push the car with another vehicle?
I was thinking of using a tire bump pad with carpet protecting the rear bumper.
I need to move it about 100 feet to the next building with my tractor.
Any ideas or concerns would help.
Thanks.
OH! It has to go through a door before the tractor, can't pull it.
Thanks again.

[Racer Boy]

Originally Posted by Wendo

How do you push the car with another vehicle?
I was thinking of using a tire bump pad with carpet protecting the rear bumper.
I need to move it about 100 feet to the next building with my tractor.
Any ideas or concerns would help.
Thanks.
OH! It has to go through a door before the tractor, can't pull it.
Thanks again.

I would use the tow hook attachment, and tow the car rather than pushing it. Once you get to the door, just push the car.

It's very normal that the rear brakes are difficult to turn by hand, as JFP said they are attached to the driveshafts, which at attached to the differential and then the gearbox. If you tried it after driving the car for a while, it would be much easier because the oil in the transaxle has warmed up and provides less resistance.

[Anker]

Even in the dead of winter my car is easy to push by hand by myself. I move it around to prevent flat spots on the tires.

[Pdwight]

I live in the deep South and it could be temperature related. I find if I need to move my Boxster in my shop I simply put one foot out of the door and push skateboard like to move it when stone cold. My old E36 is the same way

[Nine8Six]

My 97 is getting pretty hard to push also. But then those 4 wheels bearings are the same age as the car :/

Used to be so much easier back then... could be me aging also? lollll

[bwdz]

If you had a front wheel drive car the action would be opposite as the rear rotors would freewheel and the fronts that are attached to drive axles and the gearbox would be more difficult, I don't see a problem there.

[jakeru]

I'm not sure high pushing effort is necessarily a "problem", as cars are generally designed to be moved under engine power and not pushed, but presuming your car is getting good fuel economy/ gas mileage, or if such "easy pushing performance" is an important factor to you for how you use the car (sounds like it is), I'd suggest that tire pressures could play a huge part in the effort (with increased tire pressure giving lower rolling resistance, probably noticeable when "pushing" the car) and aside from that, tire design could also be a significant factor. (With many newer and increasingly popular "low rolling" resistance tire designs potentially having noticeable difference in pushing effort compared to other styles which compromise other tire performance factors, such as increased cornering grip, reduced tire weight, and so on.