911 servicing, calling Housey/Jez

Ev0

Ev0

Ev0

Soldato
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18 Oct 2002
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Been asked to look into a couple of bits for someone with regards to some work that an OPC picked up on that needed doing on their car whilst it was in for a service.

Now he's ringing a local specialist up tomorrow to check some of this but thought I'd ask here as well :)

It needs new pads and discs up front, local OPC are wanting £750 for the pleasure of doing this. Now looks like parts can be had for around £500 for a set of genuine parts, does that sound about right? Guessing for someone who doesn't track the car and doesn't need anything uprated they will be more than adequate? Is there any reason to go OEM with them, guessing that should be avoided?

Secondly the tyres on the front have been wearing unevenly which they have said is 'front suspension control arm bushes separated and shifting'.

Now they are saying that's an £800 bill to sort out, does that seem right/reasonable (I've no idea!)? Is this a common thing, and is it worth going for any uprated bushes?

Apart from that the 60k service wasn't actually too pricey I thought for an OPC.

They certainly go over the thing with a fine toothed comb, they retuned the radio so that all the stations were under the 'correct' numbers and noted that the spray pattern on one of the nozzles was ever so slighty wrong :p
 
OPC have a nasty habit of recommending disks before they are needed.

Dont bother with uprated bushes, get it done at an indy and save 25% unless it needs to be at an OPC for the warranty.
 
No warranty (04 plate).

They said the disks are on minimum thickness, and the brakes are the one thing the chap who owns it reckons aren't as good as he thought they should be :p Felt alright to me though, not grabby at all and very progressive (maybe too much!) with a lot of feel.

I told him try the indy person but there aren't many all the way down here so there's not really any choice.

Forgot to say the other thing theybunged on as an advisory was the heater matrix membrane 'unbonded could cause water ingress'. Again they said it's a common thing that if left and water does get in it screws the electrics.

Cheers :)
 
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Well it's an old high mileage 911 so some of the things they outline may be valid. I'd expect the alignment to need work, they all do once a year really as 911's are very tetchy when it comes to set up and if it's out it will cause tyres to wear badly. Now that may simply mean it needs a geo tweak, it may need more, can't say much more than that really. As Mark said the 'needs new discs' is standard Porsche practice and is more often than not because 1% wear on a disc seems to mean new discs! They also see a 1mm crack in a drilled disc and evacuate the building...just in case.

If I were your friend I would seek out a quality Porsche indi to have a nose. All of the work may in fact be needed, then again it may be the OPC being 'safe'. Servicing is cheap for the caliber of car, but when bits go it's welcome to 70K car ownership and goodbye 3 series service bill.
 
prices sound about right, i did new discs & pads all round and that cost me a couple of grand through chiswick porsche, be glad its not a cayenne, those cost an utter fortune!
 
Will Gill said:
prices sound about right, i did new discs & pads all round and that cost me a couple of grand through chiswick porsche, be glad its not a cayenne, those cost an utter fortune!
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Oh yes :) 4 grand with the service.
 
Missed this thread at first. I am unable to comment on the tyre wear issue, but i would put it by an independant for a second opinion if it were mine. I would have no way of knowing whether they are telling the truth or not as i am not mechanically knowledgable enough.

Discs and pads though, that is robbery.

The discs and pads for 996's are not expensive at all. Pagid discs are around £85inc each, and a set of front pads around £80 for the axle. Fitting is literally a 1 hour task at any garage you care to use. The total bill should be in the region of £300-350 depending on labour rate. There is absolutely no need to pay any more than this, you say yourself he does not have any special requirement for uprated ones. If you wish to stick to OEM only (which i see no reason to do so) then you are looking at around £150/disc plus pads. Probably £400 or so parts plus the same labour.
 
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Jez said:
If you wish to stick to OEM only (which i see no reason to do so) then you are looking at around £150/disc plus pads. Probably £400 or so parts plus the same labour.
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200 + vat from design 911 assuming a standard 996

I bought from them , exact same discs and pads just no Porsche box
 
It's a C4S so same brakes as the turbo I believe, adds a few pennies on but not a great deal.

Wasn't sure if going OEM on these was a 'done' thing :p

My bet is he ends up going to the opc for it though :rolleyes:
 
If it wasnt for the warranty i would never have set foot in an OPC for servicing.
 
i got lots of gaymans, managed the demo 911turbo once but they were very anal about return times etc.. so it was a short lived experience
 
Will Gill said:
i got lots of gaymans, managed the demo 911turbo once but they were very anal about return times etc.. so it was a short lived experience
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Thats what im saying, i find them very anal full stop, i must admit im not sorry to part company with Porsche for a while.
 
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