Winter prep...snow not far away now....
Discussion
It's Canada ( at least for most of the cars) and very soon it will be too slushy , icy, dirty and dangerous for any kind of sports car. At the same time, the winter-use cars have to be serviced and get full snows on.
It can take only a short time to go from this :
to my street looking like this:
So, first thing was a service. inspection and full snows on the winter cars, inclusion smaller rims on the Panamera and Cayenne:
Also Panamera is down to 30% front brakes and I am driving the dog down to Arizona for winter in December so I expect I will do a brake job in Arizona over winter:
The GT cars had a few challenges:
My 991.1RS:
A drugged out guy ran out from behind a truck in the downtown at high speed. Luckily I was travelling slowly but I had to swerve to avoid him and got a lot of damage to a rear wheel and very minor scrape to a front. It is still at the dealer and I will see next week. Replacement wheel is on order ( bloody expensive) and if necessary I will store it with the old wheel till Spring. I generally just disconnect the battery as I do not have charging facilities for very much in Canada. Hoping to get it. back to winter parking at my office condo next week as driving it in snow is not an exciting prospect. 44,000km on it.
The 991 is perfect as it always has been 22.000km
Dealer signed off, just routine service, dumped in my garage, plugged in at the house till next April
The 992 is new so no service,. However, it has a lithium battery and it is a bit of a pain to get to it. You have to dig your fingers under the front panel and pull if off firmly, then slide the rear panel out in order to get to the battery...even my dealer had a bit of difficulty. Lacking charging facilities I put in a place called AutoVault here that stores some quite desirable cars in perfect secure conditions: 2200km on it.
The Smart just gets winter tires. Had it since Dec 2004 and it is getting very tired indeed. Wil probably find some very small EV as its replacement. 32,000km
SO, in reasonable shape in Canada at this stage, but I am now in Arizona where there are completely different and very frustrating issues with the cars stored there:
It can take only a short time to go from this :
to my street looking like this:
So, first thing was a service. inspection and full snows on the winter cars, inclusion smaller rims on the Panamera and Cayenne:
Also Panamera is down to 30% front brakes and I am driving the dog down to Arizona for winter in December so I expect I will do a brake job in Arizona over winter:
The GT cars had a few challenges:
My 991.1RS:
A drugged out guy ran out from behind a truck in the downtown at high speed. Luckily I was travelling slowly but I had to swerve to avoid him and got a lot of damage to a rear wheel and very minor scrape to a front. It is still at the dealer and I will see next week. Replacement wheel is on order ( bloody expensive) and if necessary I will store it with the old wheel till Spring. I generally just disconnect the battery as I do not have charging facilities for very much in Canada. Hoping to get it. back to winter parking at my office condo next week as driving it in snow is not an exciting prospect. 44,000km on it.
The 991 is perfect as it always has been 22.000km
Dealer signed off, just routine service, dumped in my garage, plugged in at the house till next April
The 992 is new so no service,. However, it has a lithium battery and it is a bit of a pain to get to it. You have to dig your fingers under the front panel and pull if off firmly, then slide the rear panel out in order to get to the battery...even my dealer had a bit of difficulty. Lacking charging facilities I put in a place called AutoVault here that stores some quite desirable cars in perfect secure conditions: 2200km on it.
The Smart just gets winter tires. Had it since Dec 2004 and it is getting very tired indeed. Wil probably find some very small EV as its replacement. 32,000km
SO, in reasonable shape in Canada at this stage, but I am now in Arizona where there are completely different and very frustrating issues with the cars stored there:
Canadians:
Assumption:
Well, if you have a car in Arizona you'll have no trouble maintaining it..there is no rust, cars last forever.
Reality:
The extreme summer heat of Arizona in summer fries all kind of stuff...
I have replaced the wiring harness in my 2003 SL500 which I have had since new , wiring cracks, replaced a fair bit of the plastic trim around the seat bases as they cracked like eggshells, have had four flatspotted tires from the heat, and this year had a new development: some the buttons on the dash,, (lock/unlock/hazard) have actually begun to melt and are sticky to touch as if covered in toffee. Not repairable so they have to take dash off to get to the darn things so a big job. I would never leave a Porsche down here over the summer...
30,000 miles on it
I have been careful to have the leather treated each year to avoid cracking. Here is a closeup of the melting buttons:
A routine B service plus a coolant flush was $2500 but car is perfect part from the buttons which are on order.
The Jeep is a sturdy thing and had had a lot of repair work from offroading - clear from an inspection at dealer . I asked hi what was likely to go and he said that eventually probably a transmission fault. It has 53000 miles,a lot of it off road , so no surprise there. Simple vehicle very dull on the road but great for its purpose:
The AZ cars eat batteries incidentally. I would say that batteries here last last than half the time in Canada.
However, one thing is true.
No rust.
So, two bloody weeks of work done (apart from all the house stuff, leaf clearing, all the usual supplies, but at least it is done!
Assumption:
Well, if you have a car in Arizona you'll have no trouble maintaining it..there is no rust, cars last forever.
Reality:
The extreme summer heat of Arizona in summer fries all kind of stuff...
I have replaced the wiring harness in my 2003 SL500 which I have had since new , wiring cracks, replaced a fair bit of the plastic trim around the seat bases as they cracked like eggshells, have had four flatspotted tires from the heat, and this year had a new development: some the buttons on the dash,, (lock/unlock/hazard) have actually begun to melt and are sticky to touch as if covered in toffee. Not repairable so they have to take dash off to get to the darn things so a big job. I would never leave a Porsche down here over the summer...
30,000 miles on it
I have been careful to have the leather treated each year to avoid cracking. Here is a closeup of the melting buttons:
A routine B service plus a coolant flush was $2500 but car is perfect part from the buttons which are on order.
The Jeep is a sturdy thing and had had a lot of repair work from offroading - clear from an inspection at dealer . I asked hi what was likely to go and he said that eventually probably a transmission fault. It has 53000 miles,a lot of it off road , so no surprise there. Simple vehicle very dull on the road but great for its purpose:
The AZ cars eat batteries incidentally. I would say that batteries here last last than half the time in Canada.
However, one thing is true.
No rust.
So, two bloody weeks of work done (apart from all the house stuff, leaf clearing, all the usual supplies, but at least it is done!
Mr Tidy said:
That's some fleet you have there - they must keep you busy!
Keep enjoying them.
Keep enjoying them.
Well, can't waste time on nostalgia
..have to find a few new adventures every year. At 75 I am aware than life is not infinite, but this is something I understood when I was about 15. Cars are just more stuff, but if they can allow you to have some experiences then they have value.RDMcG said:
Cars are just more stuff, but if they can allow you to have some experiences then they have value.
Well said - sorry to hear about the 997.1 having an altercation with a bit of road furniture! Fortunately we don't get too many drug addicts running out in to the road around here, they just pass out in doorways. CKY said:
Well said - sorry to hear about the 997.1 having an altercation with a bit of road furniture! Fortunately we don't get too many drug addicts running out in to the road around here, they just pass out in doorways.
Of course any time a Porsche has an accident it is always named. I could drive my Jeep or Smart and have an accident and it would go unnoticed, but I shudder to see the pictures showing "Porsche 911 hits homeless person on street". I am careful about this as a normal driver, and am aware that there are some bad behaved Porsche drivers , but most are just typical people.
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff