new tires on the box and guess what...?

[mach schnell]

so, finally got the new set of tires (actually two - haven't figured that one out yet - since they told me three were defective when i started this journey a month ago...), one on the back, one of the front - the remaining two orig - had 5200 miles on them.

grossly, that obvious kind of out-of-balance, out-of-round vibration was gone. but as you might have figured, my annoying little shimmy is still there. car still feels unstable and you whip through a corner or, in fact, the best example is a a nice long freeway interchange (for me the I10 onto the 215S/91W - it's about 1/2-3/4 mile in length and 80 should be a piece of cake. in my car you feel like you're bouncing around and the car is being thrown around like a small dingy on the ocean. however, the shimmy is a constant phenomenon - very pronounced above 3500 (obvious to me at 4000rpm and >) and happens in a straight line. unfortunately, i know i'm wasting my time at Walter's - not too mention, its pretty obvious that i've been labelled the a-hole customer (although i've never raised my voice),but apparently it's too much to actually expect that they find something wrong with the car. sadly, if i have another dealer look at it, i'll end up driving the 80 miles to hoehn. or, i've got a private, certified porsche mechanic locally, but haven't come to terms with having to spend my own money on an issue that is clearly warranty related.

could it just be that this car doesn't like 19" wheels? do i have something defective in the suspension or motormounts? is it wrong to go to a dealer and ask that a tech or serv mgr who owns and drives a porsche regularly, inspect the car, rather than the guy who drives a honda or saturn?

the bmw 330 ci is looking pretty nice now. in fact, the 95 993 that i test drove yesterday may have a welcome home in my garage...

[denverpete]

Goodbye 987- hello anything else....

I couldn't blame you a bit for getting out of that car. I really hoped the tires would solve your problem. I just can't believe they didn't replace ALL OF THE TIRES. The problem with not replacing all of them is that there is now the possibility that one or more of the old tires are still bad. It's basic problem solving 101. By replacing only 2 you still can't eliminate the tires as the source of the problem and therefore move on to other possibilities. Seriously, if you were here in Colorado I'd let you borrow my second set of rims and tires (17's) to see if that fixed the problem.

Stay Strong!

[mach schnell]

denverpete - thanks! yeah, if i were in your area that would be a great way to explore if it is really a tire/wheel issue - i appreciate the offer.

i will keep the forum posted on what happens. i'm gonna email my salesman down in carlsbad/hoehn (its a more affluent area down there and seems like more of the people at that dealership drive porsche than at walter's) describe the problem to him and see if he can get the right service people at his dealership to investigate the prob!

i'm also gonna have this private porsche tech inspect the 95 993 this week (hopefully) and we'll go from there - the 330ci has the leading edge of being essentially brand new (2005, 13000 miles and CPO BMW thus, 100k warranty), the 95, if it gets stellar marks on the inspect, has the advantage of being a ********************in car that oh, by the way is both porsche and 911

[smith12895]

Maybe you should try Circle Porsche in Long Beach. But if you are going to Walter's then you probably live in Riverside and Longbeach would be quite a hike for you. All the dealing I have had with Circle have been excellent. They really treat you right. Also there is Auto Gallery in Woodland Hills, but again quite a hike for you. I just hate to see you give up on your 987, but I understand your frustration. Maybe somebody here in SoCal has an extra set of wheels or track set the would let you use them to see if that fixes the problem (as denverpete suggested). Anyway, good luck.

[Biz-z Z]

I haven't read all of the posts to this saga, so forgive me if I am repeating some advice. If you really want to know if it is the tires and wheels, it seems that smith above is on to something here in termporarily swapping out wheels and tires. My suggestion is the same but with a twist. Test drive another 987 or S , preferably an 05 from your dealer's lot or another dealer's. If no shimmy, ask to swap those wheels/tires onto your car and take it on the same test route, the same speed. If yours continues to shimmy, think about how far you want to chase this. I would be thinking about abandoning ship, and probably for a trade on that 987 you just tested.

In the alternative, you could keep your eyes pealed for another cpo 987 elsewhere for a swap or better yet, go totally into the financial red and look at a 996S or 997SCab. As good as a Bimmer 330 is, it's no Porsche. It's only cashflow. At the moment, I'm trying to talk my daughter into dropping out of college so I can head for a 997S Cab myself! .

Sorry to hear of this niggling ongoing problem. Owning any sports car should be fun. Owning a Porsche should be fantastic.

Good luck.

[mach schnell]

i'm actually contacting the dealership where i bought the car and inquiring if the car had any damage or accidents before i bought it -(it had 70 miles on the odometer when i purchased). also gonna contact the service department at walter's (dealership i've been dealing with re: the vibration) and inquiring why, if 3 tires failed roadtest, only 2 new ones were put on the car, rather than all 4 (as denverpete put - problem solving 101)

by the end of this week i will either no longer be a boxster owner or the ultimate cause of my shimmy and shake will be discovered

[denverpete]

MS, I was wondering if those 19's require spacers. Now, I don't know alot about spacers (except that they, well, space things) - but I do know that my wife's car had a shimmy at around 70-80 mph. She replaced the tires which helped. But, the guys who replaced the tires noticed that the aftermarket rims were supposed to have spacers. They ordered them, put them on, and TADA! Shimmy gone. I don't know why - but it worked.

Just another thought.

Is it possible (along the lines of being wrecked) that one of your rims is bent? It might not even be noticeable until the tires are dismounted.

Even just hitting a pothole can dent, bend or loosen things up enough to cause a vibration.

Was the alignment checked?

Suspension looked over to make sure everything was tight?

I know these are basic things, but sometimes they don't get checked...for whatever reason.

[mach schnell]

denverpete - the wheel spacers suggested is a good one, and if these were aftmkt wheels rather than the factory carrera s wheels, i'd really consider that, as i've driven cars with poor wheel spacers that caused vibration. however, i'd hope (but am starting to doubt the all-knowing ability of porsche) that their factory wheels wouldn't need spacers or if they did, they'd put them on the car if they're gonna sell the car with the wheels.

creseida - all your suggestions are great! and again, the basics 101 rule, if it applied to porsche service, i think we'd be at a solution. however, with the dealership having the attitude of "we don't feel it or its normal" so, we're not going to look for anything.

a month after i bought the car i took it to walter's and complained of a machine like vibration in the gas pedal - so bad my foot would fall asleep. tech said he didn't feel anything, so he didn't look for anything. a month later i brought it in for this shimmy/vibration/wobbly thing - tech and service mgr both said, nothing wrong or its normal and didn't look for anything (they didn't even check the tires for balance probs). it was only after i said i wasn't leaving the dealership unless they looked for something that they actually road force tested the tires and determined 3 were defective - yet, i have no clear explanation yet, as to why only 2 new tires were put on the car. i've debated taking the car to a private certified porsche tech i know and have him investigate the problem, but not knowing if i'd get reimbursed the few hundred dollars i'd pay him to find the problem, i'm tentative to go that route. ya know, it's a brand new car, 5400 miles on it and under warranty, i shouldn't have to go pay a private guy to find and/or fix a warrantable issue - at least that's what i said to myself when i picked this car over some of the used 911's (that didn't have a warranty)

[denverpete]

I think I've found your problem...

Mach Snell Boxster