2 newbie questions

[jagsiva@rogers.com]

I just got a 2005 TTS (5800 miles) and have a couple of questions...

1) At idle I can hear a vibration when outside the car. The exhaust has a nice purr, but I hear almost a rattle/belt type sound. Is this normal or is something loose?

2) I have stone 3 stone chips on the hood - what is the best way to get rid of these. I talked to a shop that works on high end cars, and they suggested repainting the hood, is this advisable?

THanks for any help...Jag.

[Loren]

I would look for a bent heat shield around the mufflers.

[fastboydave]

Question? Did you buy this car from a Porsche centre??? If so, they (Porsche GB's policy anyway) should make sure they have no stone chips and everything is in perfect condition. I know for a fact that any stone chips on the hood, bumper, anywhere are sprayed. Likewise anything else that is not 'perfect' is sorted. If you didnt, then obviously you have bought the car as is and will have to get it done if they are annoying you too much or are visible??

My advice would be if they are not oo noticable, leave it a bit, because i guarantee that as soon as you have it back from the body shop, you'll have a nice new stone chip for your trouble! However, i understand the need for perfection on a new motor, i had the bumper sprayed myself as mine had a few 'imperfections'. Enjoy it.....

[jagsiva@rogers.com]

Question? Did you buy this car from a Porsche centre??? If so, they (Porsche GB's policy anyway) should make sure they have no stone chips and everything is in perfect condition. I know for a fact that any stone chips on the hood, bumper, anywhere are sprayed. Likewise anything else that is not 'perfect' is sorted. If you didnt, then obviously you have bought the car as is and will have to get it done if they are annoying you too much or are visible??

My advice would be if they are not oo noticable, leave it a bit, because i guarantee that as soon as you have it back from the body shop, you'll have a nice new stone chip for your trouble! However, i understand the need for perfection on a new motor, i had the bumper sprayed myself as mine had a few 'imperfections'. Enjoy it.....

Actually, the car was perfect when i picked it up from Porsche in Dallas. I drove it back 1300miles to Canada -- very carefully. About 3 miles from my house, a gravel truck pulled in front of me and i watched in slow motion as a stone did the jig on my hood...I probably should wait, but it just bothers me everytime i look at it.

Jag

[fastboydave]

Thats typical my friend. I have a nasty one right by the badge, and you do keep looking at it yes. Thing is though, you can bet that you'll have it sprayed and the same gravel truck will be waiting for you on the way back! :-) Its how far you go, you cant keep having it sprayed?? Depending on how many miles you do (useage) you may escape the stone chips for a while? Mine isnt too bad (apart from the one mentioned) and i use mine everyday (7000mls year approx). You could get it sprayed and invest in those front covers for your bumper/bonnet and side mirrors if your that concerned??

On the other note you mentioned which Loren says could be the heat shield, that should have been looked after at Porsche should it prove to be that? Dead easy to see (because mine is loose so i know!), when its cool get your head under and you'll see the sheild on top of the exhaust. Grab it and see if it moves. You have two, one each side if my memory serves me correctly. To sort it means exhaust off, which they can damage the doing it apparently.......

[jagsiva@rogers.com]

Thats typical my friend. I have a nasty one right by the badge, and you do keep looking at it yes. Thing is though, you can bet that you'll have it sprayed and the same gravel truck will be waiting for you on the way back! :-) Its how far you go, you cant keep having it sprayed?? Depending on how many miles you do (useage) you may escape the stone chips for a while? Mine isnt too bad (apart from the one mentioned) and i use mine everyday (7000mls year approx). You could get it sprayed and invest in those front covers for your bumper/bonnet and side mirrors if your that concerned??

On the other note you mentioned which Loren says could be the heat shield, that should have been looked after at Porsche should it prove to be that? Dead easy to see (because mine is loose so i know!), when its cool get your head under and you'll see the sheild on top of the exhaust. Grab it and see if it moves. You have two, one each side if my memory serves me correctly. To sort it means exhaust off, which they can damage the doing it apparently.......

Thanks for the help, Jag.

[msallen]

... you do keep looking at it ...

Buy some touch-up paint from Porsche and just put a tiny dab of it on the chip, followed by a tiny dab of clearcoat (you get both in the touchup paint pack). Even though the results may not be quite what you get from a full repaint, it hides the color difference and the chip is WAY, WAY less noticable.

If you really want to take the time and make it virtually invisible, put on numerous dabs of color paint, 10 minutes apart, and build up the paint to just below the surrounding surface. Then put dabs of clear coat on until it is just above the surrounding surface (don't worry too much if the paint spills slightly over onto the surrounding surface - this will be fixed later). Then VERY CAREFULLY, with a very small sanding block (about 1" x 1/2") and 800 grit wet paper, wet sand the slightly proud clearcoat until it is just slightly above the level of the surrounding clearcoat. Do you best to just sand the new clearcoat bead as much as possible but when you get close to the level of the surrounding clearcoat it is pretty inevitable that you will sand at least lightly on some of the surrounding clearcoat. This is not the end of the world, just limit this to an absolute minimum and rather leave the new clearcoat slightly proud - you won't notice it when you are finished (and you can always go back and take off more later, if necessary). Finally, finish off the area with some Meguiars ScratchX scratch remover and polish.

Using the above technique you will end up with a virtually invisible repair - the only downside is that it takes a long time to do if you do it carefully (which is how you should do be doing it...) - about an hour each chip.