Dear all,

Just wanted your feedback on the following:

I just bought a used 997 C2 from an official Porsche dealer. It is 18 months and has 6000 miles on the clock. The car has been sold with the "Porsche Approved " label meaning that it has undergone a torough control all around including a test drive to verify that all works fine.

I noticed some vibrations at differnt speeds and informed the dealer about it. They tested the car and informed me that the vibrations at low speed are due to balancing of the wheels and they fixed this. The vivbrations at higher speed are due to flat spots on the 4 wheels due to long storage at the P dealer prior to my purchase. They took the wheels off and measured 2-3 mm differences on the tyres meaning that they are actually a little "egg-shaped" rather than 100% round.

I told them that they should have noticed this during the checks prior to signing applying the Porsche Approved guarantee and I asked them for 4 new tyres... They however stated that tyres are not covered by the guarantee and they don't want to change them at their cost. This is the second P car I buy at the same dealer and I am a bit disappointed with this.

What do you think: do you reckon they should change the tyres at their cost? What could be my next step? Write a complaint letter to the Porsche factory? Would this make sense?

Your feedback much appreciated...

Happy motoring,

Vince

 

Hi Vince,

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, or maybe you could call a tyre center that handles those kind of tyres and ask them, but I think it will sort it out the more you drive it and the more the tyres sit on other various parts of the rubber.

A great excuse to get out and drive it!

I used to have a car that had this problem and it took a day or 2 of long drives and the tyres worked themself back to round.

Good Luck!

Matt

 

I agree that the dealer should have replaced the tires, even now, or at least discount them significantly.

 

ditto, they should work with you, If not don't deal with, I would prefer to drive 50 miles to find someone worthy of doing business with.
Good luck.

 

Yes to both. That is, it surely seems that Porsche should act responsibly and replace the tires. You pay a significantly larger sum to have the full faith and protection of Porsche standing behind your pre-owned car. That the tires create an unacceptable driving experience (seemingly observed by the dealer) is reason alone for them to step up.
That said, I've had the problem more than once of flat-spotted tires from the car remaining dormant for some time. They have always worked themselves out after some time taken to warm them (read, spirited driving). However, the 2-3mm figure, off hand, sounds huge. I'm sure an expert will step in here, but it isn't clear that this will just solve.
I guess you'll find out soon enough. If not, see step 1.

 

I have gone though this twice -Never with a Porsche though . Both times it was a nightmare .

Basically what happens is the tires are separate from warranty and the dealership points to the tire company and they tire company points to the dealer . I went through this with a Lexus and again with a Volkswagon . The Lexus was on the drive home on day ONE .

Deal with the tire company . It is inexcusable for atire with tread to be out of round and insist that they comp you . Submit paperwork of the "certified" work as well as re balance and put the ball in the court of the tire company . The local shop will have to call regional and get on the phone with customer relations . Get the name of the person . Document everything and if they see that you are firm and have the paperwork yo back up your claims --you will get four new tires . BOTH times --I did and one time (The VW) it wasn't even my car .

 

This is not a joke: I contacted my dealer again for the flat spot issue. They now tell me that they will take the weels off with tyres, inflate them at 4 bar and put them for a couple of hours in the spray cabin at higher temperature. They told me it is likely that the tyres will be round again.

Has anybody heard of thios weird technique before? Too me it looks rather funny (read strange)...

I am not really satisfied to get my car back, run it at high speeds knowing that the tyres have been messed around with in an 'oven'

It looks like my dealer is more of a restaurant than a porsche mechanic

 

Sounds odd. I would demand new tires. Move past the SA if you have to and speak to a manager. Squeaky wheel.

 

I would say that is fine but I want documentation of what you did because I don't want another Firestone incident.
I sure you will get new tires.

 

Separate from this unfortunate dealer/tire issue, if you're planning on leaving your car in the garage for the winter (like starting now until Mar/Apr), how frequently should you drive around to rotate the tires so that flat spots do not occur?

 

The Owners Manual says to inflate the tires to 58 psi, and move the car slightly every 4 weeks. That's what I am doing, but I haven't done this before.

 

aa --it really is a mess dealing with a tire issue . I've tried it all from balancing, re balancing, rotating, shifting the tire position on the wheel . It failed on both the Lexus and VW . I never faced this with Porsche.

There's no easy way . Replace the tires and try and work with the tire company. The main problem here is that what if they scratch the wheels mounting them .