The worn clutch on my daughter's VW finally
gave out and she has started using THAT as her daily driver. It solved a problem for me because I felt like I had too many 986s, but really didn't want to get rid of any of them. Last week I was riding in the passenger seat and heard a light, scraping - sometimes clicking sound from the right rear wheel. First my mind went to bad wheel bearing or CV joint, but a quick look under the car showed it was much simpler and easy to fix.
The E-brake cable had been routed incorrectly and was rubbing on the tire and wheel. I have not done any work in that area since I bought the car, so it has been that way for over two years and not been noticed by me, or the shop that replaced the IMS. If I hadn't ridden in the passenger seat I probably wouldn't have noticed. Perhaps the zip-tie that had been holding it to the track arm shifted recently causing it to rub.
The fix was easy: Raise the car. Unbolt both ends of the track arm. Move the track arm under the cable. Bolt it back. New zip-ties.
While the car was up, I also noticed that the guard plate at the bottom of the brake rotor was rubbing and the CV boot is starting to crack. The guard plate was easily fixed (bent) and the CV boot will be deferred and watched for a few months.
Another thing I like to do when my Boxsters are raised, is check the oil filter. It looked great, going on about 5k since the last oil change and just a trace of metallic 'flour' on the magnets. I'll have my daughter do the oil change in the next couple weeks.
Filter magnet thread:
http://986forum.com/forums/diy-project-guides/51025-diy-magnetic-oil-filtering.html
