996 C4S repair advice

[Balblair_911]

Hello

I have a 996 C4S cabriolet and have had a official Porsche inspection and a independent specialist and from what I understand the car has a lot of issues with corrosion under the body.

I have attached a video sent to me of this. I have since had the brake pads & discs, and struts taken care of. I intend to look into the tyres next.

My question is to those who know more of this - from the look of it, is it a disaster waiting to happen, or is it something I can look into bit by bit over the next year or so? I was informed that the costs could go from £10,000 upwards to take care of this.

From the feel of it, it drives fine but I would like to know others thoughts if I just have to suck it up and get the whole lot replaced?

Also would be open to any serious buyer looking for a car like this for reasonable offers, just to put it out there.

It has frankly caused me a lot of financial pain since it was given to me with a lot of issues with coolant leaks, water ingression, ECU being fried and others, but those are now hopefully sorted and I need to look into the underbody.

Video at:
Health Check.mp4

Many thanks

 

[marc_tt]

Suggest find a local independent Porsche specialist and take it to them to walk you round under the car whilst it's up on the lift.

You want to know which areas are priority (such as brake lines) v surface corrosion that is not structural (such as roll bar).

A lot looks like it's surface corrosion that can be cleaned off and treated and many hours work.

Are you able / willing to do this yourself and do you have off road storage, ideally a garage, as time / labour is the main cost.

Other components such as heat shields and exhaust clamps are common fail / replaceable items and corroded / seized bolts can take a lot of time to remove (tip - use a plumbers MAP Torch).

Hope this helps

 

[maryse.watsica]

Hello

I have a 996 C4S cabriolet and have had a official Porsche inspection and a independent specialist and from what I understand the car has a lot of issues with corrosion under the body.

I have attached a video sent to me of this. I have since had the brake pads & discs, and struts taken care of. I intend to look into the tyres next.

My question is to those who know more of this - from the look of it, is it a disaster waiting to happen, or is it something I can look into bit by bit over the next year or so? I was informed that the costs could go from £10,000 upwards to take care of this.

From the feel of it, it drives fine but I would like to know others thoughts if I just have to suck it up and get the whole lot replaced?

Also would be open to any serious buyer looking for a car like this for reasonable offers, just to put it out there.

It has frankly caused me a lot of financial pain since it was given to me with a lot of issues with coolant leaks, water ingression, ECU being fried and others, but those are now hopefully sorted and I need to look into the underbody.

Video at:
Health Check.mp4

Many thanks

I watched the video, I was quite impressed. Thanks Balblair_911!

 

[ianthow]

Hi Balblair_911, welcome to the Porsche world.
Having watched the video, there is no reference to actual body corrosion so maybe nothing major to worry about.
If brake discs, pads and struts are taken care of, the brake pipes should be up there along with the tyres that you have prioritised. OPC price for this will be excessive, largely due to difficult access to the lines running across the car from side to side. The factory pre-formed steel pipes are too rigid to thread through. As a result, they will suggest dropping the engine/gearbox and the front crossmember for access. Factory steel pipes are expensive and the total bill from an OPC will be LARGE. A specialist, or competent local garage that does proper repairs, may be able to feed copper, or preferably Kunifer, tube through that can then be shaped and formed in-situ with hand held bending and swaging tools. If doing ALL the underbody pipes (recommended), this is quite labour intensive, but at a much lower labour rate than the OPC or specialist. Kunifer and copper do not corrode like the steel originals so a longer term solution.