Touch of preventative maintenance: 987.2 2009

[911hillclimber]

Cool dry day here, so set to with a can of Dinitrol cavity spray and drowned my nice new and very expensive cross-over front pipes.

Having invested in nearly £1200 to have these done, the most expensive job on my Boxster so far, so to keep the corrosion at bay (a bit) I've liberally coated the rubber hoses joints/alum cross over and plastic pipes in Dinitrol.

Bit runny, bit sticky, but searching at first then a drying to a wax coating.

Should do the trick.

Checked the front brake pads/discs while exposed.

About 2mm left on the pads which a bit of a surprise as I am a master of gentle braking (or so I thought).

Wanted to check them carefully as they sound a bit rough, but the car certainly stops when needed.

Those 19" rims are sure heavy...

The old Bridgestones are now about 2/3's down and I hope I can arrive at the point where all 4 need changing and I can go to another brand to kill the road noise a bit.

Any suggestions on quiet tyres please? Not interested in track/ high speed grip etc, just comfortable touring driving with excellent rain dispersal.

 

[BrianJ]

New tyres are always quieter than old ones! Black Circles give you the dB, wet braking and fuel economy ratings for all tyres so that's a good place to start depending on your tyre size and N rating (or not).

 

[911hillclimber]

Thank you for the post Brian.
Will take a look at a few popular brands used by many and see the ratings.

 

[Motorhead]

Bridgestones always seem to be hard-wearing Graham, probably due to a hard rubber compound which does nothing for their noise profile. The Michelin PS4S tyre is a very popular fitment on our cars, although there’s now a PS5 tyre available, but they’re an expensive option and the latest Continental Sport Contact 7 is cheaper and has received a good press, although some say that they’re faster-wearing than the MPS4S. The Goodyear F1 Asymmetric 6 is another [and quieter?] option and I had an earlier version on an old Mk5 Golf GTi and found them to be a really good tyre.

Just one thing to note about EU tyre ratings is that the noise value is for exterior noise and is measured in a pass-by test as follows:

The actual test consists of a microphone being set up on the edge of a track to measure the sound level of a test vehicle - the mircophone is required to be 7.5m from the centre of the track at sit at 1.2m above the ground. When passing, the vehicle must be travelling at 50 mph with the engine turned off for the test to be valid.

Note that a lower tyre noise rating could translate to a quieter cabin, but that’s not guaranteed, and a difference of 3dB represents a halving of the sound pressure level which most of us should be able to detect.

Good luck with your tyre hunt, and let us know what you decide.

Jeff

PS: I forgot to mention that although MrD rarely has a good word to say about Pirelli P-Zeros, the latest PZ4 and PZ5 versions have their followers and will qualify for the Club discount of up to £120 for two or more tyres purchased from a participating dealer.

 

[911hillclimber]

Thank you Jeff as always.
I fancied the Pirelli since it has been 55 years since I had that brand on any car, my beloved Triumph Herald (12/50 no less) in the early 70's.
Cinturatos of course, a bit better than G8 cross-plies.
The discount is appealing too!
Cars always run so much sweeter on fresh rubber as said. The fronts must be 5 years old by now.
The rears wear quickly considering I do not cane this car at all and the geo is perfect, no uneven wear front or back. (Zuffenhaus have a real expert down the road)

I leave the very hard driving for the hill climb car!
(still a bit of Boy Racer in my soul.....)