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Message: Re: Breaking in a new Porsche - fast and hard or per the manual?
Changed By: Guenter in Ontario
Change Date: June 18, 2013 09:29AM
Re: Breaking in a new Porsche - fast and hard or per the manual?
Change Date: June 18, 2013 09:29AM
Re: Breaking in a new Porsche - fast and hard or per the manual?
[quote="Len In Naples"]
Dear Porsche Enthusiasts,
It has been a long time since I posted on any Porsche Forum site so excuse my interjection of an old but still debatable topic. I originally owned a new Boxster back in 1999 and took it to many BRBS Events and had a blast with it for over 10 years before moving to a 2009 Cayman S which I just sold. I also have a 2011 Cayenne S for long trips and hauling more than two people and I love that SUV for sure. Having been warned many times by Pedro to not step down to a 911, but the temptation was just too much for my mature (older used) brain and I have purchased a 2014 991 Cab S with all of the goodies. Now that have read a lot of horror stories of cylinder sleeve issues, RMS, IMS and other nasty failures, you think about all of the bad things that can happen to your new baby unless you follow the factory recommended break-in guidelines. Now I have been told by more than a few people that the best way to break in a new Porsche is to drive it like you stole it. I do not mean hitting the rev limiter when the engine is totally cold, but after the 1st few hundred miles drive it like a sports car and take it through its paces. To me driving it fairly hard at a very wide range of speeds is a better approach That approach allows the moving parts to seat in well at all power ranges. I have done so with all of my Porsche's and I never had an issue due to that operating mode. If anything, I swear that my Porsches ran better and faster than the same model Porsche that was broken in by the book.
I suspect this topic has been tossed around a few times but with a very expensive vehicle to be delivered in a few more weeks, a sanity check is in order. I have heard that race cars are taken on the track as soon as they were ready to run but I am not sure if that is a fact or not. After all it seems like Porsche provided brand new models to the press people to beat the tar out of them so it would be interesting to see if they were first broken in by the book.
I am not trying to start another war among the board fans as virtually any topic about Porsches tend to have a religious fervor mixed with hot politics. I would love to hear your personal experiences good or bad with hard and fast or by the book break methods.X(
Len In Naples[/quote]
First, congrats on the new car. Hope to see some pictures of it when you get it. (Even though you are down grading to a 911. ;) )
Nope, you're not starting a war, just a large flow of different opinions. :D You pick the one that you think is best.
I for one prefer following the suggested break-in procedure. I know that new engines are built to much closer tolerances than they used to be. Still, people who've changed the oil after the first few thousand miles, have found metal flakes in the oil filter. It takes some time for the moving parts to wear in against each other. It makes sense to me to take it easy during this time. I follow the recommendation of varying the speed of the engine and try to drive it on secondary roads with towns and curves that allow you to shift and vary engine speeds to get the whole drive train broken in.
Brakes need to be bedded in and new tires usually are a bit slippery from the manufacturing process (brakes and tires need only a few hundred miles to be "broken-in". Again, it's a good idea to avoid hard cornering and braking to accomplish this.
I followed this procedure with my '06. It used about a cup of oil before the first oil change. Since then, it's never used any oil between changes, gives great gas mileage at cruising speeds and runs strong. Granted, at about 65K miles, I feel this engine is only just really broken in. I do enjoy driving it in a spirited manner, specially when I get into the twisties.
Dear Porsche Enthusiasts,
It has been a long time since I posted on any Porsche Forum site so excuse my interjection of an old but still debatable topic. I originally owned a new Boxster back in 1999 and took it to many BRBS Events and had a blast with it for over 10 years before moving to a 2009 Cayman S which I just sold. I also have a 2011 Cayenne S for long trips and hauling more than two people and I love that SUV for sure. Having been warned many times by Pedro to not step down to a 911, but the temptation was just too much for my mature (older used) brain and I have purchased a 2014 991 Cab S with all of the goodies. Now that have read a lot of horror stories of cylinder sleeve issues, RMS, IMS and other nasty failures, you think about all of the bad things that can happen to your new baby unless you follow the factory recommended break-in guidelines. Now I have been told by more than a few people that the best way to break in a new Porsche is to drive it like you stole it. I do not mean hitting the rev limiter when the engine is totally cold, but after the 1st few hundred miles drive it like a sports car and take it through its paces. To me driving it fairly hard at a very wide range of speeds is a better approach That approach allows the moving parts to seat in well at all power ranges. I have done so with all of my Porsche's and I never had an issue due to that operating mode. If anything, I swear that my Porsches ran better and faster than the same model Porsche that was broken in by the book.
I suspect this topic has been tossed around a few times but with a very expensive vehicle to be delivered in a few more weeks, a sanity check is in order. I have heard that race cars are taken on the track as soon as they were ready to run but I am not sure if that is a fact or not. After all it seems like Porsche provided brand new models to the press people to beat the tar out of them so it would be interesting to see if they were first broken in by the book.
I am not trying to start another war among the board fans as virtually any topic about Porsches tend to have a religious fervor mixed with hot politics. I would love to hear your personal experiences good or bad with hard and fast or by the book break methods.X(
Len In Naples[/quote]
First, congrats on the new car. Hope to see some pictures of it when you get it. (Even though you are down grading to a 911. ;) )
Nope, you're not starting a war, just a large flow of different opinions. :D You pick the one that you think is best.
I for one prefer following the suggested break-in procedure. I know that new engines are built to much closer tolerances than they used to be. Still, people who've changed the oil after the first few thousand miles, have found metal flakes in the oil filter. It takes some time for the moving parts to wear in against each other. It makes sense to me to take it easy during this time. I follow the recommendation of varying the speed of the engine and try to drive it on secondary roads with towns and curves that allow you to shift and vary engine speeds to get the whole drive train broken in.
Brakes need to be bedded in and new tires usually are a bit slippery from the manufacturing process (brakes and tires need only a few hundred miles to be "broken-in". Again, it's a good idea to avoid hard cornering and braking to accomplish this.
I followed this procedure with my '06. It used about a cup of oil before the first oil change. Since then, it's never used any oil between changes, gives great gas mileage at cruising speeds and runs strong. Granted, at about 65K miles, I feel this engine is only just really broken in. I do enjoy driving it in a spirited manner, specially when I get into the twisties.
Original Message
Author: Guenter in OntarioDate: June 18, 2013 09:27AM
Re: Breaking in a new Porsche - fast and hard or per the manual?
[quote="Len In Naples"]
Dear Porsche Enthusiasts,
It has been a long time since I posted on any Porsche Forum site so excuse my interjection of an old but still debatable topic. I originally owned a new Boxster back in 1999 and took it to many BRBS Events and had a blast with it for over 10 years before moving to a 2009 Cayman S which I just sold. I also have a 2011 Cayenne S for long trips and hauling more than two people and I love that SUV for sure. Having been warned many times by Pedro to not step down to a 911, but the temptation was just too much for my mature (older used) brain and I have purchased a 2014 991 Cab S with all of the goodies. Now that have read a lot of horror stories of cylinder sleeve issues, RMS, IMS and other nasty failures, you think about all of the bad things that can happen to your new baby unless you follow the factory recommended break-in guidelines. Now I have been told by more than a few people that the best way to break in a new Porsche is to drive it like you stole it. I do not mean hitting the rev limiter when the engine is totally cold, but after the 1st few hundred miles drive it like a sports car and take it through its paces. To me driving it fairly hard at a very wide range of speeds is a better approach That approach allows the moving parts to seat in well at all power ranges. I have done so with all of my Porsche's and I never had an issue due to that operating mode. If anything, I swear that my Porsches ran better and faster than the same model Porsche that was broken in by the book.
I suspect this topic has been tossed around a few times but with a very expensive vehicle to be delivered in a few more weeks, a sanity check is in order. I have heard that race cars are taken on the track as soon as they were ready to run but I am not sure if that is a fact or not. After all it seems like Porsche provided brand new models to the press people to beat the tar out of them so it would be interesting to see if they were first broken in by the book.
I am not trying to start another war among the board fans as virtually any topic about Porsches tend to have a religious fervor mixed with hot politics. I would love to hear your personal experiences good or bad with hard and fast or by the book break methods.X(
Len In Naples[/quote]
Nope, you're not starting a war, just a large flow of different opinions. :D You pick the one that you think is best.
I for one prefer following the suggested break-in procedure. I know that new engines are built to much closer tolerances than they used to be. Still, people who've changed the oil after the first few thousand miles, have found metal flakes in the oil filter. It takes some time for the moving parts to wear in against each other. It makes sense to me to take it easy during this time. I follow the recommendation of varying the speed of the engine and try to drive it on secondary roads with towns and curves that allow you to shift and vary engine speeds to get the whole drive train broken in.
Brakes need to be bedded in and new tires usually are a bit slippery from the manufacturing process (brakes and tires need only a few hundred miles to be "broken-in". Again, it's a good idea to avoid hard cornering and braking to accomplish this.
I followed this procedure with my '06. It used about a cup of oil before the first oil change. Since then, it's never used any oil between changes, gives great gas mileage at cruising speeds and runs strong. Granted, at about 65K miles, I feel this engine is only just really broken in. I do enjoy driving it in a spirited manner, specially when I get into the twisties.
Dear Porsche Enthusiasts,
It has been a long time since I posted on any Porsche Forum site so excuse my interjection of an old but still debatable topic. I originally owned a new Boxster back in 1999 and took it to many BRBS Events and had a blast with it for over 10 years before moving to a 2009 Cayman S which I just sold. I also have a 2011 Cayenne S for long trips and hauling more than two people and I love that SUV for sure. Having been warned many times by Pedro to not step down to a 911, but the temptation was just too much for my mature (older used) brain and I have purchased a 2014 991 Cab S with all of the goodies. Now that have read a lot of horror stories of cylinder sleeve issues, RMS, IMS and other nasty failures, you think about all of the bad things that can happen to your new baby unless you follow the factory recommended break-in guidelines. Now I have been told by more than a few people that the best way to break in a new Porsche is to drive it like you stole it. I do not mean hitting the rev limiter when the engine is totally cold, but after the 1st few hundred miles drive it like a sports car and take it through its paces. To me driving it fairly hard at a very wide range of speeds is a better approach That approach allows the moving parts to seat in well at all power ranges. I have done so with all of my Porsche's and I never had an issue due to that operating mode. If anything, I swear that my Porsches ran better and faster than the same model Porsche that was broken in by the book.
I suspect this topic has been tossed around a few times but with a very expensive vehicle to be delivered in a few more weeks, a sanity check is in order. I have heard that race cars are taken on the track as soon as they were ready to run but I am not sure if that is a fact or not. After all it seems like Porsche provided brand new models to the press people to beat the tar out of them so it would be interesting to see if they were first broken in by the book.
I am not trying to start another war among the board fans as virtually any topic about Porsches tend to have a religious fervor mixed with hot politics. I would love to hear your personal experiences good or bad with hard and fast or by the book break methods.X(
Len In Naples[/quote]
Nope, you're not starting a war, just a large flow of different opinions. :D You pick the one that you think is best.
I for one prefer following the suggested break-in procedure. I know that new engines are built to much closer tolerances than they used to be. Still, people who've changed the oil after the first few thousand miles, have found metal flakes in the oil filter. It takes some time for the moving parts to wear in against each other. It makes sense to me to take it easy during this time. I follow the recommendation of varying the speed of the engine and try to drive it on secondary roads with towns and curves that allow you to shift and vary engine speeds to get the whole drive train broken in.
Brakes need to be bedded in and new tires usually are a bit slippery from the manufacturing process (brakes and tires need only a few hundred miles to be "broken-in". Again, it's a good idea to avoid hard cornering and braking to accomplish this.
I followed this procedure with my '06. It used about a cup of oil before the first oil change. Since then, it's never used any oil between changes, gives great gas mileage at cruising speeds and runs strong. Granted, at about 65K miles, I feel this engine is only just really broken in. I do enjoy driving it in a spirited manner, specially when I get into the twisties.