Is it just me, or is the 986 Boxster noisy and rattle prone?

[BYprodriver]

Originally Posted by BrokenLinkage

Either I'm deaf or lucky because my 2001S has remarkably few noises for a convertible sports car of its age. About every 6-9 mos I hit the rubber cabin seals with Gummi-Phlege and it is as quiet as a church in there. I do get a little chatter only over steep-edged bumps due to deterioration of the bushings in the rear trailing arms, just waiting for my annoyance to exceed the cost of replacement. Sorry you guys are having so much trouble. Wonder if I would have more rattles had I gone ahead with an aftermarket exhaust?

There is an excellant chance.

[BYprodriver]

When these cars were new they were among the best at being rattle free. I was the lead test driver for press fleet vehicles in the SoCA region for MY2000-2003 for 75% of the new vehicles sold in the USA including Porsche. 1st order of business when I receive any new vehicle to the fleet is to test drive for squeaks & rattles. After every journalist loan the vehicle is test driven again to ensure no new noises are appearing. Of the 40+ Boxsters & 996's I test drove during these years 85% never had any noise issues during their press fleet service. This is also the years that Porsche's J.D. Power Initial Quality rating started to climb to the top of the industry.

[V-Rod]

I would like to try and quite my 99 a bit more when the top is up. What are the main bushings to check first? All the little noises that I hear are from the rear. Front seems pretty tight. I also attribute some of the cabin noise to the rear tires.

[thstone]

The key rear bushings are outlined in red:

[V-Rod]

Originally Posted by thstone

The key rear bushings are outlined in red:

Are these five bushings serviceable individually or do I have to replace the arms. Are the parts $$$$?

[thstone]

New parts pricing is here: Porsche Boxster Rear Axle Parts

Some parts are also available from the aftermarket and might be cheaper (check Vertex).

[Kurt V]

I must be one of the lucky ones. 2001 Base with 48K miles and no squeaks or rattles!

[tanque55]

My Boxster is solid even at 10 years old. When I put the hard top on it does have some squeaks and rattles. With the soft top up I still think it pretty good. And that's saying alot because the roads around here are not the best. And when the top is down it's all engine!

[2112]

I have a 2007 Boxster S, and while I agree with most here that it's quieter than most convertibles ... there are two rattles in mine that make me insane:

1) The wind deflector right behind my right ear. It's just a bad design; if they had secured both sides of the bottom of the deflector with the little "nub" that sticks up, it probably wouldn't rattle at all. However since the nub only secures the bottom of the deflector *in the middle*, it rattles like crazy on one side.

2) The top part of the dash that covers the speedo/tach/other instrumentation - rattles like crazy, particularly now when the weather is cold. That one is even worse; when it's rattling badly I can put my hand on it and press to stop the noise, and even feel the thing moving it's so loose.

The ragtop creaking I can understand and it doesn't bother me, but these two noises described are far from necessary. I'm almost due for my first service so hopefully they'll be able to fix them up (though I'm not looking forward to going without my baby for days!).

[stephen wilson]

The wind stop rattle is an easy one to fix, take it off, stick on some small pieces of adhesive backed weatherstripping, and re-install.