Re: I had the nose repainted and tires

I have not driven since - largely because of the snow etc. I don't want to ding up new/soft paint.

I REALLY need to detail the car. I has not been done in well over a year - perhaps over 2.

I need to have the car clay barred among other things.

1) how long do I have to wait?

2) Any special instructions due to the new paint job?

3) Should I go to a "higher end" guy because of the new paint - or just because.

4) If you have a guy in lower fairfield county CT - I am all ears.

In other news - I need new tires.
I am going to get all seasons.
The Michelin Pilots I have on there now have been good all around tires. But they are getting dry rot - UGH.

Tire rack has several choices - kinda all over the place. I am debating just going inexpensive with the Kumho's. But.....

I know this opens up a can of worms but, any thoughts?

your favorite body shop that did the paint work should be able to answer that question. I've had paint work on both cars over the years and I was told to wait some time but I honestly can't remember the time now.

Regardless of if the paint is new or old you want to use a detailer that won't screw up the car, one that is experienced with Porsche and other similar brands. My local Porsche dealer has a detailer they use. Check with your local Porsche (or BMW/M-B/Lexus/?) dealer dealer to see which detailer is recommended.

Can't help you with tires. I have no experience with non N-rated tires on my Porsche cars.

Hey JM, I'm not sure many people put all seasons on their Boxsters, but I hope a few folks here help out if they do. I feel you get the most fun out of using true summers on the Porsche, and that all seasons are a compromise in a sports car (not great in summer or winter). I used to run with dedicated snow tires/wheels in the winter months here in the Northeast, but got tired of swapping out the wheels, and also instead decided to use our other cars which have AWD during any snowfall days. Now I know I'm gonna catch some flack for admitting this, but I run summers all year on my Boxster. I've done this during my early ownership years on this car too when I was living in NYC. It's fine as long as you give sufficient time for the tires to heat up. Drive it like a grandma for the first few minutes/miles until they warm up. As you can see in the pic below, I've run them in the cold this year, and have dropped my son off at school a few times in sub 20F degree weather. I have been on Sumitomo HTRZ iii tires and really like them.

[m.tirerack.com]

As far as tires, I think the Michelin Pilot Super Sport are excellent. But what's best depends wholly on your driving style and preferences.

The body shop guy was actually chastising me a bit because I had not detailed the car in a while. He said I really need to clay bar it to get the crap out and get a really good coat of wax on it, because if I don't I will start "killing the paint" this eventhough he said "that German paint is really, really good."

He told me to wait "a while" I took that to mean 6-8 weeks. He said that the paint hardens faster in the winter than the summer, but he did not give me a time.
So I am curious what other folks have been told. I am also curious why Stefan believe I should not detail the newly repaired part.

As you have said, there is a waiting period before detailing newly painted panels as they need to dry and harden and that requires breathing. I am merely suggesting you detail only the rest of the car and after a couple of months put some wax on the newly painted parts.

Not exactly in your back yard, but you might check out Detailer's Domain, just across the river in NJ. Phil details tons of Porsches.