A big thanks to all of those who came with their Porsches to display at the Iowa City Airport. It was one of the biggest groups there. Hope you all had plenty to eat at the Breakfast.

The Porsche Club has been invited again to participate in the Smooth Jazz Festival. There will be a shine and show for judging. The staging area is the John Deere Commons in downtown Moline, IL. The time slot for us is 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm. The judging will begin at 5:00 pm, with trophies announced at 7:00. There will be trophies for oldest car, peoples choice, and judges first, second, and third place.

If you like Jazz and bands that know how to play it, then the Quad Cities Marathon Smooth Jazz Festival is where you’ll want to be. Enjoy great music from 4:00 pm to 10:00 pm on the John Deer Commons. This festival will feature the Robert Jennings Trio and Dougherty & McParland bands. There will also be great food vendors, drinks, and of course the Porsche Car Show.

We would like to welcome Stuart Lehr as a transfer member into our region. Stu lives in Des Moines. Stu, we hope to see you at one of our club events in the near future.

This is the last Auto Cross of the season, your last chance this year to test your skills at Marshalltown on October 14^th. The format is the same. Practice time will start at 10:00am with timed runs at 1:00pm. Lunch will be on your own and the fee for each driver on the track is $25.00.

Take Highway 30 to Marshalltown. Exit 186 (Industrial Park, S 18^th Ave.), go north to Anson St. (2.3 miles), Right on Anson Street to Iowa International Raceway at 2002 East Anson Street. You can not see the track from the street but you will see the sign and the garages.

Track facts:

Length: .6 mile or 1 km with 10 turns and elevation change. Width: 26 to 30 feet of asphalt and concrete. Straightaway: 2 - 400 foot straights connected by 80-deg. turn. Permanent restrooms -- handicap accessible. There are bleachers with large viewing area.

If you are not sure you want to drive just come up and watch. You can help with various duties that need to be done, such as running the timing watches, flag the drivers, check in drivers, etc. This is a club event and we always welcome participants and helpers.

1995 993 Cabriolet. Polar Silver/ supple grey leather. 17 inch cup wheels with painted crests and new tires. 13,500 miles. Perfect condition. Never in rain. Contact Stu Lehr at 515-285-5805.

Technical Organization) and the Economic Association of the German Rubber Industry. In the United States it’s the Department of Transportation (DOT) utilizing the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards Act (FMVSS). Many of these regulations prescribe certain tests, however, the government does not have specific instructions on how these tests are to be interpreted. Therefore, every tire manufacturer reads the tests in their own way. This is confusing for consumers trying to compare tires from various manufacturers.

I don’t sell tires, therefore, I don’t have a product agenda and I will try to present a balanced viewpoint. Let's see if I can cover the basics and avoid the market driven language and exaggerated claims.

1. Size

This should be pretty straight forward, but it isn’t. You would think tires could be measured with one method but, in fact, they mix inch size with metric. You would also think that two tires from different manufactures with the same size indicated on the sidewall would be the same physical size, but not always.

Let’s start with reading the sidewall: P205/60R15 89H - The "P" indicates it is a passenger car tire. "LT" would indicate a light truck application. No letter indicates that it is a European metric tire. "205" is the section width in millimeters. This is not the tread width, but the widest point from sidewall to sidewall. "60" is the aspect ratio. This is the sidewalls height expressed as 60% of the cross section (205). The lower this number the shorter the sidewall height. Most normal passenger car tires are in the 75 to 85 range. "R" indicates radial tire construction. "15" is the rim diameter in inches. "89" is the load index. This is the load rating at a given inflation pressure or the amount of weight each tire can support. "89" happens to be 1,279 pounds. "H" is the speed rating. That means this tire has been tested at a sustained speed of 130 mph. Pay little attention to "All Season" and "M&S" (mud and snow). Apparently these marketeers never saw real snow.

31X10.50R15LT - "31"is the overall height of this tire in inches. "10.50" is the cross section in inches. ‘R" is radial construction. "LT" stands for light truck. LT245/75R16 - This and the tire above are both Goodyear "Workhorse Radials" for light truck application.. Notice there is no consistency in how they are described or measured.

2. Plus Sizing

This is a method of improving tire performance by increasing section width and, as a result, the tread footprint. It reduces the aspect ratio to provide increased steering response and lateral stability. An example of a "Plus 1" would be to go from a 205/65R-15 to a 225/55R-16. We have increased the wheel diameter by one inch, the section width by 20 mm and reduced the aspect ratio by 10. The downside may be a harsher ride, but they look cool!

I would caution you to keep the overall diameter the same. Newer cars have speed sensors that send information to the computer and electronic speedometer. You can screw these up. Also, you rally folks need to be careful with your trick instruments.

3. Speed Rating

This is a method of indicating the safe performance of a tire at a sustained speed. It is an alpha symbol from "B" to "Z", but not necessarily in alphabetical order. The most common are "S"(112 mph), "H" (130 mph), "V" (150 mph) and "ZR" over 150 mph.

4. UTQG - Uniform Tire Quality Grading

This is a requirement of FMVSS 109. It measures the relative performance of tires in tread wear, traction, and temperature resistance.

Tread wear is measured in controlled conditions on a government test course. A numerical rating system has been established with 30,000 miles as a 100% index. The grading is done in multiples of 20. The tires are measured every 800 miles during the test. A 200 graded tire theoretically would wear twice as well as a tire graded at 100. The higher the number the better. Well, maybe not better, depending on your objective. Many perofrmance car drivers sacrifice higher tread wear ratings for better performing tires. But UTOG is an indication of how long the tire will last.

5. Traction

This is an alpha grading, "A", "B", "C", highest to lowest. Friction efficiency is measured tested) on a skid pad. The tire is inflated to 24 psi and propelled at 40 mph with a load of 1,085 lbs. The tire is locked up and skidded (dragged) and the friction created is measured. An indication of the distance needed to stop.

6. Temperature

This is a very specific test with a properly inflated and loaded tire. It measures the tire’s resistance to the generation of heat and its ability to dissipate heat. Grade "A" is highest, "B" is good and "C" is the minimum permissible under the definitions in FMVSS 109.

All of these tests are purchasing guides. Significant variations occur with weather, temperature, road conditions, driving habits and maintenance (inflation, alignment, balance, etc.).

7. Air Pressure

This is critical to the safe operation and long life of the tire. An underinflated tire generates more heat and shortens its life. Under inflation will also effect the load carrying capacity of the tire. Tires are porous and leak air, some more than others. They should be checked periodically. A reasonable interval is every few months or maybe while your having the oil changed. This is so important that the competitive autocrossers use pyrometers (digital thermometers) to check tire temperatures across the tread and adjust tire pressures accordingly.

8. What to buy

Tires are application specific. Those ads you see that offer "buy 3 and get 1 free" or "4 tires for $100.00" have their place. Probably not on your 930. But, then again, you wouldn’t put Kumho or Hoosiers on your grocery getter either. My suggestion is to talk to a tire professional about your needs. Recently I went to a Witness advertiser to buy a set of tires. I had two brands in mind. After some discussion I purchased a different tire at his recommendation for less money.

We would like to thank all of you who have responded and sent your information to us. We still hope to hear from more of you and we are in need of your phone numbers and e-mail address. There are times that we might need to contact you about an upcoming event that we don’t have time to send a mailing. Please consider getting this information to us.

The bad news is that some of you have changed you e-mail and forgotten to let us know about the change. We have been making it a practice to send e-mail reminders just before an event. This has prompted us to check on some of the e-mails that did not get through.

Send information to :

Summer is tar, sap and bug season. In the summer months, bugs are at full population, trees produce more sap, and the heat softens the asphalt, producing tar balls on tires. While tar and tree sap can be difficult to remove, they do not present a threat to your paint's finish. Bug stains, like bird droppings, are very acidic and represent a significant danger to the beauty of your paint and trim. This article discusses the proper way to deal with these common detailing problems.

Road Tar

As you drive, your car is bombarded with small specks of asphalt, tire rubber, grease and oils kicked up by the cars and trucks in front of you. Left on your car's finish, these petroleum based contaminates will firmly affix themselves to every exterior surface. Soap and water washing will do little to remove these ugly black spots.

To remove road tar you need a solvent. Most commercial tar removers contain kerosene, mineral spirits or another petroleum distillate combined with lubricants to surround and buffer the road tar from your paint. Of the petroleum distillate products I've tried, Stoner Tarminator is my favorite. How-ever, I prefer to use natural products where possible. Of the natural products I've found, Stoner XENIT, a strong citrus based cleaner, is king. It removes heel marks from your doorsills, too.

Tree Sap

Removing tree sap from a car's finish is a bit more difficult than tar, as hardened sap can scratch your paint. I've found that by hand-rubbing the sap spots with mineral spirits or denatured alcohol, I'm able to easily remove the sap without damaging the finish. Mineral spirits and denatured alcohol act as a solvent to break up and dissolve the sap.

If there is a large amount of sap on the car, or if the sap has been left on the finish for an extended period of time, it can be a lot of work to remove. For these cases, I discovered that hitting the affected areas with a light-duty buffing compound removes the hardened surface on the sap spots. Then I can hit the sap with the mineral spirits to remove it. The light duty buffing compound softens the sap so the mineral spirits or denatured alcohol can do its job. The goal is to use the least pressure possible to reduce the risk of scratching the paint. After removing heavy sap, I always buff the treated areas with a good polish to clean up any marks created during hand- rubbing with solvent. The treated area must also be re-waxed.

Insects

What's the last thing that goes through a bug's head when it hits your windshield? His rear end, of course! All joking aside, the head-on collision of that juicy June Bug on your car's beautiful paint and trim is far from one-sided. As the bug's exoskeleton explodes, acidic fluids are firmly
imbedded in the surface of your car's paint.

Did you know that shellac is a bug byproduct? Think of it, that beautiful, old antique table you love is covered with dried bug juice (yuck!). Bug splats on your car amount to little more than shellac mixed with nasty bug parts. Any attempt to remove the catalyzed remains without the use of a special cleaning solution could result in scratched paint.

The secret to removing insect remains is to loosen and dissolve them with a solvent that will cut through the shellac. Porsche's fanatical desire to prevent paint damage resulted in the development of Porsche Tequipment Insect Remover. This citric acid based cleaning solution will gently remove even the most stubborn bug remains. For bugs with a little extra grip, Tequipment Insect Remover includes a special cleaning sponge. P21S Total Auto Wash and a special bug sponge also work exceptionally well.

If you have a particularly large bug mess, I have discovered a trick that seems to work pretty well. If you use a pre-wax cleaner, such as Pinnacle Paintwork Cleansing Lotion or P21S Cleansing Lotion, apply a small dab to the offending bug splat. Next, cover the spot with a wadded up tissue. Let it sit for a few minutes, then pinch up the mess and give it a soft wipe with the back side of the tissue. Voila! The bug mess is gone.

After Removing Tar, Sap & Bugs

All of the chemicals used to remove the aforementioned road stains also remove your wax or sealants. After removing tar, sap or bugs, plan to spot wax or re-wax your vehicle. If you don't have time to wax right away, use a quick detailing spray that contains wax. Eagle One's Wet Spray Wax, a quick spray wax, is great for this kind of spot waxing, too.