Photogirl

I phoned my local OPC two days ago and was put through to the service centre - the person I then spoke to took various details and said I would receive something in the post in 3 weeks. I was also told I'd need to visit them in person to sign a form, so I'll do that when I can. 

They said they had no record of my car, despite it being serviced with them by the previous owner. 

36 minutes ago, Topbox said:

Blue callipers then, simples 😃 

Perhaps the graphite colour I mentioned earlier, with a hint of sparkly navy blue to it - that would be subtle without straying too much from what it came with. 

3 minutes ago, Sanky said:

I am more of an OEM+ kind of guy.  I have done a fair few mods to my 986, but mainly retro fitting options out of the Porsche option bin.  No idea if its increased the value of the car, but I like it and It gives me something to tinker with/

Sounds good to me. I think it's nice to have an 'original' car but with some touches which make it your own, and which don't deviate from the car's character or integrity. 

I've been to the odd Porsche event where people purse their lips if you have the wrong colour key fob. That's enough to make anybody want to rebel. 

OMG. It's fantastic. 

I want it. 

9 hours ago, Boxsum said:

I see Cotswold Porsche colour a few of non S version callipers red on customers 986’s. I wouldn’t of thought painting your callipers will plummet the value of your car and tbh I think you will have to wait a very very very long time for a 986 to ever be worth much, there are just too many even the finest examples are still usually less than a new fiesta. I would do what you like and just enjoy the car 👍

My local Porsche used dealer does the calipers in red (and occasionally in yellow) on many of the non-S versions they acquire for sale - they say customers love it and the car becomes more appealing to buyers. They're not trying to make the car look like a different model, they're just adding a pop of Porsche colour. It was them who got me thinking about doing mine. 

27 minutes ago, Ol' Shatterhand said:

An addition to my long rant above: if a 986 happens to be silver on red, then a set of 964 split rims, painted gold, would look VERY cool on it, like a rather smart tribute to the 1993 concept car. Cup 1 alloys are a good choice too. 

I absolutely love the champagne-gold Porsche uses to salute the original 986. I thought of doing my calipers in the same soft pale gold, but felt that getting the colour right might be a nightmare.

My 986 is arctic silver with a factory custom metropol blue and pebble grey leather interior.

Brilliant and very helpful answers, thank you!

I thought about doing my calipers in red, because red looks gorgeous and is classic Porsche, but I think people would accuse me of trying to pretend I'm driving an 'S'. So I thought yellow would be a better choice. I'm still slightly undecided though.  @Mattman42 has got me thinking about a custom yellow, perhaps with a bit of shimmer or pearl to it. The yellow calipers on the Cayman I have are a slightly warm yellow (rather than a citrus yellow) which works beautifully with the rear lights.

It's gorgeous  💛

Edit: I think it would be a boring world if all our cars looked the same. Tasteful, subtle, reversible mods can be lovely in my opinion. As you say, if the mod is from a different era it will look iffy.

19 minutes ago, GmanB said:

All stuff I can reverse. 

Edit: Oh yes, mesh grill fixed to the inside of the front bumper. Honestly, it should have come out of the factory like that.

I think reversible mods are fine, you can change your mind when it suits you without consequences for the car. I've seen so many mods which would be very expensive or damaging to undo.

Agree about the mesh - I've got Zunsport grilles on mine, they just pop on and off and are vital in my opinion. I don't think mesh grilles are considered to be a modification, for that reason.

5 minutes ago, Nobbie said:

I have yellow callipers on my Zenith Blue 2.5 and really like them. Luckily I don’t attend Porsche Club GB events or they might all faint when they realised that they weren’t PCCB brakes😲. Generally I leave mine fairly standard visually (apart from the rust😢) mostly because I prefer driving it to messing with it.

It was actually a Porsche Club event I was at (I'm not a member) and they did seem to be into absolutely original looks. I was surprised at how badly received my thoughts on painting my calipers were  😝

Yes, the graphite looks nice - I'd love a more iridescent/sparkly version with a sort of basalt vibe to it. 

Unfortunately I don't have the facilities to take my calipers off and send them away, so I could probably do it myself. Hopefully I can get decent decals which won't peel off. 

The chap I was talking to at Goodwood suggested I simply give them a good clean and a light sand on the edges where there is a bit of dulling, then give them several coasts of laquer - he felt that would make them come up nicely. 

Interesting answers - thank you.

I'm still thinking about my calipers though so will ponder on that one.

Has anybody done their calipers and if so what colour?

1 minute ago, Scubaregs said:

Did he have a pipe, slippers and a very boring monotone voice?

I don't want to say, because he might be a member of this forum ....... or perhaps not. 

He was very nice though.

😆

Much is made of the importance of keeping some Porsche models as original as possible, since this is seen as a way to help maintain overall value.

That’s certainly backed up by some of the excessively modded 986s I’ve seen - once personal tastes have been imposed on virtually every inch of the car it can be hard to find a like-minded buyer and these cars are usually cheaper as a result. My question for you isn’t about these extremes, but more to do with how original you keep your 986.

My 986 is absolutely original - I do have a fancy hardtop but that is OEM fit and requires no changes to the car. The only other thing which isn’t totally original would be my shiny new wheel bolts (the Porsche ones corrode too easily and are dull). Anyway, I was at Goodwood the other day talking to a very knowledgeable Porsche 986 owner and he seemed horrified when I said I was thinking of painting my wheel calipers. He felt that would be a deviation from ‘originality’ on what is now accepted as a classic car.  

I don’t like the factory finish on my wheel calipers, it’s boring and dull. I thought I might paint them yellow. I have a 987.2 Cayman with yellow calipers and they look really pretty. If I don’t paint my calipers yellow I would have to paint them in a high metallic graphite (if I could find the right paint) which would be similar to the original finish but with a bit of bling. I’m not sure what to do.

What are your feelings on the subject of what is or is not an acceptable ‘mod’?

Yep, the 9apart items are genuine Porsche goods. I have just ordered a pack of 2 badges for £17. 

I love what you've done with the badge, it looks fab - I didn't know you could get them and I'm going to order one!

23 minutes ago, Scubaregs said:

I think it's a bit much to have to sleep with the guy to obtain a written report. 😱

That would take the "occasional knocking sounds from rear" and the "insufficient lubrication" part of the report to a whole new level.

On 9/17/2021 at 9:39 AM, edc said:

If any of you paid by credit card and feel that strongly about it then you can complain to your credit card company and use their refund procedure. 

As I recall the only payment option Nick offered was bank transfer.

4 minutes ago, ½cwt said:

If this happens a couple of time he might pay attention.  Unfortunately this happens to one man/small businesses you only have a certain capacity and even if you can find someone else who works to your standard you need to double your business to make it pay that's if such a person wants to work for you and is not already doing it for them selves....  However it would be good if @Nick Gileswere to take the opportunity come to defend himself before he gets completely panned and loses recommendations and faith of the BoXa community.  There could be an acceptable reason, illness, bereavement etc.

Small business owners have to understand their workload. If we're getting more bookings than we can handle then we are in sufficient demand to take fewer customers but increase our prices slightly. If the market cannot absorb a small price rise (which I don't think is the case here) then you have to either take fewer customers and deliver what you have promised, or take on a co-worker. 

I considered every reason you mentioned, but Nick was continuing to work each day as usual, so I'm confident there is no acceptable reason for failing to deliver reports or failing to respond to messages. I'm struggling to find a defence for that, in all honesty. To be clear - raising a commentary about poor delivery of a service isn't the same as panning a supplier and there is nothing unreasonable in the feedback in this thread. Nick will know all about this discussion, of that I'm fairly certain. 

32 minutes ago, SuperPaulie said:

Don't do the job if you're going to take 100% payment and only deliver 50% of the gig, busy or not.

My opinion still stands that a report on a 20 year old £4k motor is pointless. 

Yes, that's where it ends. You enter into a contract then you must deliver. 

I think the requirement for a report will depend on the buyer. A lot of people on this forum are very knowledgeable, but I think a novice might do well to get an inspection done on an older or cheaper car - I'm talking about the buyers who think they can buy a cheap Porsche and drive away happy with a servicing budget of £500. An inspection could be a good lesson as a lot of these people are impulse purchasers who don't always understand the cost of repairs. You've got a point though - somebody spending 4k will probably be too tight-fisted to come up with £200 for a pre-purchase check, or else they're a clued-up buyer looking for a project car to fully restore.

I was looking at much younger cars, but was quite disappointed by the standard of the ones I saw (and I saw quite a lot of them). The process made me appreciate my 22 year old 986 which is in lovely condition and recently underwent an inspection at my local indie - they were very impressed.

48 minutes ago, Araf said:

For balance, can people please update to advise if they have or have not received their reports?

It's immaterial - if the report is not received within the specified timeframe as per Nick's terms (which as I recall was a day or two days most). Even a week is too long given that negotiations cannot be reasonably held beyond a couple of days. 

44 minutes ago, Araf said:

For balance, can people please update to advise if they have or have not received their reports?

Not received (inspection was 23rd June 2021).

If Nick is finding that his workload is leaving insufficient capacity for him to fulfil the terms of his contract, the general advice is that he needs to either take fewer clients /or take fewer clients and increase his prices slightly. If working at full load means delivering only part of the service then that is not a sustainable business model given that much if not most of Nick's business is based on referral and recommendation. Failing to respond to messages is also thoroughly unacceptable. I don't know what to make of it.

6 minutes ago, the baron said:

Having been there and done that with a genuine 356 Speedster it will be the latter, better to leave it a little tatty so you don’t worry about it to much

Sound advice, and that's what I've done in the past (not actually tatty, but small scratches are usually left for a couple of years).

I seem to be going through an obsessive phase - perhaps in part to having a younger Cayman on long-term loan which has made me competitive (its flawless wheel bolts kicked off the whole thing).

Must have been a nightmare for you at times with a Speedster (not sure how I'd cope with the stress of owning something that nice).

12 minutes ago, the baron said:

So you basically never drive it 😂

I knew that was coming! 

I don't drive it near enough. I'm on a campaign to sort out all the small irritations which have built up over the years because in theory that will make me want to take it out and use it more.  Or maybe it'll turn it into even more of a garage queen 🤣

1 minute ago, JonSta said:

In that case you'd hope the aftermarket ones ought to hold up pretty well. Fingers crossed.

Yes, I think the wheel bolts on eBay look very good and would be a sensible purchase. Not sure about the centre badges but the originals didn't seem to last all that long.