by John Glynn | Dec 19, 2013 | Porsche Cayenne, Project Cars
It’s been a rough few months for cashflow, with the end of a loft conversion, end of a tax year and Christmas all at once. The brake pad warning light came on while I was driving to have the Porsche Cayenne LPG Conversion fitted, so I knew the brakes were getting low. I started researching my options for a complete Porsche Cayenne brake replacement without costing myself a fortune.
Thankfully, what’s left has lasted a few weeks of school runs. With the discs just about past it and the pads on their way out, I figured I’d change the lot. My replacements arrived today, so I figured I’d show you the size of these things. The PCM 2 navigation CD shows scale and, believe me, these are HEAVY.
Most Cayenne S models come with the 18″ brake setup, same as the standard Turbo. Turbo S is a whole other ball game: Porsche-only parts. The brakes are just incredible – one of my favourite things about the Big Pig. So I didn’t want to fit ultimate-cheapo aftermarket stuff.
Porsche Cayenne Brake Replacement
Cayennes allegedly possess expensive appetites for brakes and tyres, but I’ve not found that to be the case. The discs were getting low on mine when I got it, but I’ve logged about 6k miles now and they are still going strong. It’s almost 900 miles since the pad light came on and no sound of grinding as yet.
Tyres – well yes, they might like a bit of summer rubber. But if you’re OK with playing around on tyre choice, then you can do OK on spend. I’ve got a set of part-worn Pirelli winters on at the minute that only cost me £30: a new set would be circa £650 for a mid range brand. They’ve done about 1500 miles now and no sign of huge wear so should see me out of winter. After that, I plan to stay on 18s for the much better ride, and will experiment with summer tyre brands.
Back to brakes. I had a look around eBay for the best price on OEM Pagids. Discs are about £110 an axle and pads maybe £75-80, so call it £350 for discs and pads all round. I’ve always had Mintex on my Subarus and find them pretty good when worked hard, so I bought a full set of Mintex discs and pads for the Cayenne from Premier Factors on eBay, costing £196 delivered. Add £10 for the warning looms front and rear from a local guy in Milton Keynes totals a shade over £205. I’ll change the brake fluid when doing this job: should cost me less than £225 in bits.
Is £225 a lot of money for full brake consumable refresh? I don’t think so. OPCs charge £90-100 just for the fluid change and they keep the brake change prices POA. Perhaps the “Cayennes are pricey on brakes”reputation comes from people who lean hard on the brakes rather than keeping some flow in their driving, and then have them changed at Porsche dealers. Yes, doing things that way would be properly expensive. I’ll share some pics of this job when it happens over Christmas.
by John Glynn | Dec 18, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Market & Prices
Had a good chat with Robert this morning about an insurance valuation for his Porsche 911 SC. Robert has owned this Porsche 911 SC since it was a year old! The car is now thirty-three years old, so Robert has owned it thirty two years: absolutely brilliant.
Many classic Porschers dream of achieving long term ownership: the joy of a bond stretching through a significant proportion of life and its experiences. Owning a car thirty years through raising kids and maybe starting a business, building a house, owning a succession of faithful dogs and so on – it can make an old Porsche harder to part with.
Thing is, older cars get harder to live with as age creeps in. Ongoing injuries make unassisted steering a pain to live with. Low seat height plays havoc with the hips, and cramped cabins put strain on the knees in undignified egress. We can all come up with our own aches and pains.
Churchill said: “To improve is to change. To be perfect is to change often.” If you’ve had your Porsche for less than thirty years and feel the need to own something different (perhaps more modern), don’t feel bad. Chase Churchill perfection, move on and enjoy life!
Share stories of your lengthy Porsche ownership with us via email: I’d love to document a few long term Porsche stories in Ferdinand Magazine.
Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
by John Glynn | Dec 16, 2013 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
Porsche has taken a majority stake in Manthey Racing: Olaf Manthey’s Nürburgring-based racing team and motorsport organisation. It’s the latest step in Olaf’s move towards a retirement of sorts (hard to imagine Olaf ever entirely retiring, as he is still “working flat out in my own rev limiter”). Here’s Olaf with his works driver pairing of Marco Holzer and Nick Tandy:
Following Manthey’s initial merger with Audi racers, Nicki and Martin Raeder last year, Porsche AG has acquired a 51% share of Manthey-Racing GmbH: the organisation which has supported Porsche factory race efforts for a number of years, and counts five Nürburgring 24-Hour victories, two Le Mans wins and an amazing eight Supercup titles amongst its silverware.
Through 2013, Porsche AG Team Manthey together mounted the first works Porsche endurance campaign for over twenty years. 2014 will be a big year for Porsche and no doubt a shorter team name will please the marketing department.
But beyond business, Porsche’s involvement with Olaf Manthey is quite a personal one. Following the loss of Olaf’s son in a tragic road accident in 2007, Manthey and Porsche Motorsport boss, Hartmut Kristen, agreed that Porsche would become the ultimate inheritor of Olaf’s incredible competition portfolio, earned since the team was formed in 1996.
“Porsche’s commitment and dedication represents the best possible incentive to our employees,” Olaf is quoted as saying. “Not only can we pool our knowledge and expertise, but with Porsche at our side we can look forward to the future with great confidence”.
The Manthey name has a special place in the hearts of Porsche enthusiasts. Let’s hope it continues to be part of the landscape.
by John Glynn | Dec 13, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
Oxfordshire roads are dry and there’s lots of winter sun around at the minute. It was shining down on Tuthill Porsche when I stopped by this week, and spotted a line of classic 911s at Tuthill’s Wardington workshops for servicing.
Porsche 911 Winter Driving
It’s always good to see older 911s on the road in December. Some rightly take advantage of the workshop availability and service discounts to be found at some Porsche specialists in the slower months of winter, as they just can’t bear to be without their cars. I can totally understand this.
Winter is all about “to use or not to use” for classic Porsche enthusiasts. Do you keep the car taxed and ready to go, and catch a few dry days through December and January, or does it come off the road at the end of September, and go back on the road at the start of April?
There’s a lot to be said for keeping the car ready to run all year around. Parking a car for six months at a time is no good for anything, and the cost of keeping it taxed is minimal compared to the joy of driving on empty roads over Christmas and New Year. Whenever they are working, I keep my cars taxed year-round.
No one with some Porsche blood flowing in their veins would refuse to pay £30 for a drive of their classic Porsche, to escape visiting relations on Boxing Day. Five of those drives and the tax is paid. Tuthill Porsche can steam clean the underside of a classic Porsche on their outside car lift, before protecting it with waxoyl to remove all worries of corrosion. On the worst days with salt on the roads, you just leave it in the garage.
Where the weather allows, I think keep the Porsche ready to rock over winter. Early 911s spent many winters ploughing through snow and ice, living the life of a daily driver. I’m not saying make it suffer through winter, but no sense locking it away for half the year, either.
by John Glynn | Dec 12, 2013 | Porsche News, Market & Prices
Esteemed friend and colleague, Leonard Stolk from Twinspark Racing, runs a Gen 2 Porsche 997 GT3 as his daily driver. Leonard recently drove its successor at the Amsterdam Porsche dealer and reviewed the Porsche 991 GT3 drive on the Twinspark Racing blog.
“I put the PDK in automatic to see how that would work out. At 100 km/h you do not hear the engine. Boring as hell. If clients test drive this car without manual function engaged, pulling 7-8,000 revs, they will never know how this car differs from the standard Carrera. To enjoy the GT3, you need big revs: the payback comes from a sense of what historic Porsches feel like.
“The 991 GT3 feels even stronger than its already excellent predecessor. The sound experience is even closer to the historic racing engines I’m used to, and that sort of sealed my verdict. The PDK set up is brilliant and I can imagine people liking manual shifting, but to me this is just the next evolution of the mighty 911 and the PDK is progress! I was used to the shift system in a few minutes and wouldn’t hesitate for a second to buy the car as-is.”
Talking to another 997.2 GT3-owning friend in the UK last night, recent discussions with his official Porsche centre suggest 991 GT3s have not sold in droves. While waiting list spaces are said to be rare, he’s still getting sales calls three months after the 991 GT3 launch. OPC bids for his Gen 2 997 GT3 trade-in have risen ten grand since their first offer.
“The OPC guys say that 997 Gen 2 GT3 values have come up as much as £10k since the 991 launch, but then you know what happens at the dealership: they knock an excellent condition car the cost of a front-end respray, a bit of prep including skimming the discs all round, and then want at least six grand margin for resale. When the cost to change from 997 to 991 is £40k or more, who would get out of a low-mileage Gen 2 997 GT3 that does everything perfectly well?”
Just as current owners are staying in their Gen 2 997 GT3s, used buyers who have deferred a Gen 2 997 GT3 purchase, expecting prices to fall with the 991 GT3 launch and who can wait no longer may be the force driving prices upward. Gen 2 997 GT3s retailing at circa half the cost new of a reasonable spec 991 GT3 are reportedly selling well.
UK dealers are having no problem finding buyers for good examples of Gen 2 Porsche 997 GT3 RS: the low-mileage Grey and Red one above with some very nice options recently sold for just over £100k in less than a day. This black Gen 2 997 GT3 Comfort for sale with just 6,700 miles from new is a beautiful car, and seems well priced at £77k including full warranty.
I heard a rumour the other day (via someone I trust to have a clue) that 3,700 991s came into the UK in 2012, but the number imported was less than 1,000 in 2013. No idea how accurate that is – I’ll have a look at the sales figures. All very interesting.
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