MaxA
Well-known member
- Joined
- 11 Oct 2015
- Messages
- 2,697
I've learned from previous experience on other forums (fora?) that it is a good idea to keep a project thread, for sharing and in order to document the ideas, pitfalls and progress. So here goes.
We moved to Dubai last summer. It was too good an opportunity to pass up, so I set a budget, did my research, and bought a 2010 997.2 Carrera 4S in white. If you've been here in the summer, you'll understand why it had to be white or silver. It had just 25,000km on the clock and the right spec (PSE, sports seats, sports chrono pack, PASM...). It came from the local OPC with a full warranty, which made it easier to finance and insure. (I doubt that I'll stay with the OPC, as there is a very good independent called ARM about 3 minutes from my office, and because they can offer extended warranties on a modified car.)
I was looking for an S, in the right colour and the right spec, with a manual gearbox, but manuals are hard to come by – it seems the only manuals in the market have "GT" in the name. Right...
And now that I've lived here a bit, and I've been using the car in Dubai traffic, I think I would have gone mad in a manual. This is, by the way, the first automatic that I've ever owned and I'm nearly 50. I've always swapped my own cogs...
The specification – for those who are interested - included ocean blue leather interior, PDK, PSE, sports seats, the sport chrono pack, and Carrera Sports wheels in titanium with 8.5" wide fronts and 11.5" wide rears (apparently this was an option?) and Pirelli P Zero N2 tyres.
Having read that the 997 was pretty quiet, I was looking into the centre exhaust mod from Sharkwerks. Sharky was responsive and friendly, but before I pulled the trigger, I needed to take delivery (you need local ID and a driving license to register the car...). In the meantime I've found the PSE is pretty good with flaps set for takeoff, and my 3.8 definitely sounds louder than my friend's stock 997.1 3.6 Turbo under load. We think that a stealth mod may have been done somewhere.
I don't have big plans to modify the car, as it is my daily driver, but I can't resist a bit of tweaking. First of all, I wanted to fill out the arches, so I bought a set of 7mm front spacers and 12mm rears (as I have the slightly wider rear rims). To cut a long story short, the 7mm spacers don't fit on the hubs with these wheels. There isn't sufficient flange to hang the wheel and there was awful wheel wobble around 95-100kmh. I refitted them twice and even took them up to a local motorsport firm (they run three different sets of race cars at the Autodrome) and they concurred: the car wasn't safe to drive. Instead, they test fitted the 12mm spacers intended for the rears, and they've stayed on: they look great and the car's front end feels more planted to me. I ordered another set of 12mms for the rear end. They do help fill out the wide body arches...
The other issue was the original steering wheel. It was a bit shiny (maybe the wrong cleaning product?), and it had the push/pull buttons. I couldn't get on with them (they're not intuitive at all) and I now have the later Porsche Tequipment Sports steering wheel with the hollow metal spokes, nice long metal paddles, in the matching ocean blue leather. And I love it, it really allows me to get the best out of the PDK and it's 35 millisecond gear changes – the lack of torque interruption is really impressive. I still need to unlearn the old behaviour that I can't change gear in the corner.
So there we are. This is Mr White*
*Sorry, it's a nod to the café scene in Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs.
:grin:
We moved to Dubai last summer. It was too good an opportunity to pass up, so I set a budget, did my research, and bought a 2010 997.2 Carrera 4S in white. If you've been here in the summer, you'll understand why it had to be white or silver. It had just 25,000km on the clock and the right spec (PSE, sports seats, sports chrono pack, PASM...). It came from the local OPC with a full warranty, which made it easier to finance and insure. (I doubt that I'll stay with the OPC, as there is a very good independent called ARM about 3 minutes from my office, and because they can offer extended warranties on a modified car.)
I was looking for an S, in the right colour and the right spec, with a manual gearbox, but manuals are hard to come by – it seems the only manuals in the market have "GT" in the name. Right...
And now that I've lived here a bit, and I've been using the car in Dubai traffic, I think I would have gone mad in a manual. This is, by the way, the first automatic that I've ever owned and I'm nearly 50. I've always swapped my own cogs...
The specification – for those who are interested - included ocean blue leather interior, PDK, PSE, sports seats, the sport chrono pack, and Carrera Sports wheels in titanium with 8.5" wide fronts and 11.5" wide rears (apparently this was an option?) and Pirelli P Zero N2 tyres.
Having read that the 997 was pretty quiet, I was looking into the centre exhaust mod from Sharkwerks. Sharky was responsive and friendly, but before I pulled the trigger, I needed to take delivery (you need local ID and a driving license to register the car...). In the meantime I've found the PSE is pretty good with flaps set for takeoff, and my 3.8 definitely sounds louder than my friend's stock 997.1 3.6 Turbo under load. We think that a stealth mod may have been done somewhere.
I don't have big plans to modify the car, as it is my daily driver, but I can't resist a bit of tweaking. First of all, I wanted to fill out the arches, so I bought a set of 7mm front spacers and 12mm rears (as I have the slightly wider rear rims). To cut a long story short, the 7mm spacers don't fit on the hubs with these wheels. There isn't sufficient flange to hang the wheel and there was awful wheel wobble around 95-100kmh. I refitted them twice and even took them up to a local motorsport firm (they run three different sets of race cars at the Autodrome) and they concurred: the car wasn't safe to drive. Instead, they test fitted the 12mm spacers intended for the rears, and they've stayed on: they look great and the car's front end feels more planted to me. I ordered another set of 12mms for the rear end. They do help fill out the wide body arches...
The other issue was the original steering wheel. It was a bit shiny (maybe the wrong cleaning product?), and it had the push/pull buttons. I couldn't get on with them (they're not intuitive at all) and I now have the later Porsche Tequipment Sports steering wheel with the hollow metal spokes, nice long metal paddles, in the matching ocean blue leather. And I love it, it really allows me to get the best out of the PDK and it's 35 millisecond gear changes – the lack of torque interruption is really impressive. I still need to unlearn the old behaviour that I can't change gear in the corner.
So there we are. This is Mr White*
*Sorry, it's a nod to the café scene in Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs.
:grin: