Macan GTS - new owner reflections...

[Wing Commander]

I didn’t PPF mine, Rab and after 3k miles I have 1 chip. I reckon a front respray after 3 years will probably be about the same as PPF so 6 and 2 3s.

+1, VanB.

The OPC marked me down a touch on the Panamera 4, due to a few small chips picked up over 17k miles. But the 'cost' to me was certainly no more than the cost would have been to get the front of the car PPFd.

I used to think I was quite OCD, but unless I look really, really hard when washing the car, minor blemishes are pretty much invisible anyway.

[VanB]

In total agreement WingCo. At the end of the day it’s a car


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[Wing Commander]

In total agreement WingCo. At the end of the day it’s a car

Yep. I think the OPC were only being so picky, as my car was only a year old and they were planning to ask close to new money for it.

[Rab J]

This is the first time I've tried PPF, well other than the Macan's boot lip. I worry the dark red would show chips, so thought it would be worth trying. The jury is still out, but I do drive fairly hard and on the evidence so far it might just be worth it.

[MCDK]

I did PPF for my own enjoyment of the car. To drive it for 3 or 4 years with chips that annoy me and then paint just before selling would be bit pointless. I would much rather have it perfect every day of my ownership.

[alxgb]

- the paint is not as chip resistant as on my old BMW X3 Sport which had not a single stone blemish over 75,000 miles. The Macan has gained had three stone chip nicks in the bonnet already so I had the front covered in Xpel Ultimate by Porsche who also re-sprayed the bonnet. Brilliant job. So while they were at it I had the whole car wrapped. I would have had this done before collection if I had been warned in advance.

Is it not a sad reflection that owners feel the need to wrap their entire new Porsche in a costly protective plastic film, partly because for some, the factory paint does not seem up to the job?

I'm a Porsche fan and am on my 4th, but struggle to get my head around the concept of buying a brand new (and expensive) Porsche and then feeling the need to cover part (or all) of it in a plastic wrapper...?!

No sad reflections for some people. I think it's stupid to take a car on track without PPF in some form. My detailer has a Cayman R as well and it too is black. The front end of his is absolutely pitted and he painstakingly went through and retouched the nose by hand - 138 chips. He hates the look of the PPF that I have on my R as it's a half bonnet but when I renewed it after 6 years, the paint underneath is perfect. I only did a half bonnet as it was the first time I had used PPF and it wasn't as easy to do and was even more expensive at the time. The GT4 is fully covered and the RS will be too - also makes cleaning a bit easier as you don't have to be as careful, particularly on dark cars as any light swirling disappears virtually immediately.

If you take a car on track, you want to be focused on driving and having fun, not fretting over chips and damage. At the end of the day, cars are assets so why wouldn't you look after them? Respray is never the same and nobody ever said 'i love respraying, it's so cheap'....

[alxgb]

PCCB - I am kicking myself now. I have PCCB on my current Boxster and not only do they work well, the reduced unsprung weight makes a noticeable difference. Given how well the Macan drives these would help. But mostly the brake dust. I now remember how much I hate cleaning wheels. Yes I’d pay £5k to have clean wheels...
PTV - I’m buying a comfortable car, not a sports car so I don’t need this. But it does drive so well I’d be tempted.

Welcome Jamie.

I had the same sort of thought process regarding the extras but if it makes you feel better about not including PTV and PCCB, take another car instead. Which is how I saved myself the cost of getting carried away on the configurator.

I don't know what size of wheels you have on your Boxster but my GT4 with ceramics has suffered terrible scratching on the inner circumference of the wheel where stones have lodged behind the caliper due to the tight tolerance. Makes a terrible sound and happens when a stone gets flicked in on a turn. If you're running the Spyder wheels, the spoke design might actually help prevent stones going in from one side at least. Much as I love them, I live with fear of them failing!

I'm having a fight with PCGB about this at the moment because it's a design flaw and if it breaks up the disc, that's £15k to replace although it's only the fronts that have suffered the problem so likely less than full replacement. If brake dust bothers you, I'm sure scratched calipers and the inner circumference being badly scratched would annoy more, particularly as you couldn't get a permanent fix.

You can treat the wheels with a variety of coatings which help with brake dust management and there are alternative steel options which are lighter than OEM.

[Wing Commander]

A guy with a 991.2 GTS on the Rennlist forum had similar problems with his front PCCBs, which from memory have 410mm discs, so larger discs than the PCCBs on the 991.1.

He went to the extreme of buying brand new after-market wheels which resulted in a larger gap between calipers and the inner wheel barrel!

Perhaps I was right to skip the PCCBs on my Carrera T after all.

[alxgb]

A guy with a 991.2 GTS on the Rennlist forum had similar problems with his front PCCBs, which from memory have 410mm discs, so larger discs than the PCCBs on the 991.1.

He went to the extreme of buying brand new after-market wheels which resulted in a larger gap between calipers and the inner wheel barrel!

Perhaps I was right to skip the PCCBs on my Carrera T after all.

It's a known problem Simon. I remember the post. It was funny, I went into the dealer and I got the 'we've never seen this before' line so I invited them to walk the parking lot and found two GT4s. There was one in for a 2 year service that had done 180miles (FFS) and then another on 3,000 both with ceramics. Both were scratched. The 180 mile car not as badly but the 3000 mile car, different but the same.

I put ceramics on the RS reluctantly and because I felt it was appropriate for the car. Interested to see if tungsten carbide brakes or PSCB make it into the GT cars next but if they're proven on the new Cayenne Turbo S, they must have some stopping power, it's just the unsprung weight difference that isn't clear. They look very purposeful and no brake dust from them either.

What I don't understand is why there aren't a bunch of hacked off owners having a go at Porsche for a fix on the wheel issue. People seem to just be accepting of this as a cost of ownership. That or they're not driving the cars or haven't noticed the problem. I took out alloy/tyre insurance which is a con on the basis of repairing the wheel because it's a design flaw that can't be solved and I'll run out of lives on the policy and still be left with a flaw. It also doesn't cover the damage to the calipers either.

Caveat emptor on wheel choice and PCCB. Maybe I need some 24 inch spinners.

[Deleted User 2325]

Porsche Pox or PPF? No contest with one serious chip every thousand miles.