My new-to-me 2011 Boxster has about 16,000 miles on it. I've been driving for a few days but it wasn't until today that I noticed a burning/ hot smell after a 40 mile drive. It is coming from the driver's side tire well and you can see waves of hot air coming from the well.
I've been doing quite a bit of research on the forums today looking for the cause, and found a few answers that might be applicable, but no where does anyone mention that the body of the car above the tire well gets almost too hot to touch.
Is there a simple/normal explanation for this or do I have a problem?

I would add that it was checked out by my trusted dealer & inspected before I took it home.

 

Is that wheel getting extremely hot? If so the brakes may not be releasing on that side?

 

Is that something I could sense at all in the performance? The wheel did not feel hot compared to the side of the car.

 

If the brake is hanging up you should smell it and the wheel should get extremely hot, hot enough to burn your hand usually. It may or may not seem to affect performance. To be safe I would get it to a Porsche repair shop.

 

The wheel does not get hot, but the side of the car above the wheel well does.
The smell is not rubber. Just a very hot smell - maybe metal or paint.

I have a call in to my dealer to get it checked out ASAP, but was trying to figure out if it was OK to drive around. You know : ) just got it a couple of days ago!
and the dealer drove it a couple hundred miles to get it to me. Also they came to pick me up and it was driven about 60 miles with no heat or odor - and that was just a couple of days ago.

 

If it was mine, I would not drive it until the situation is resolved.

 

I took your advice to heart and did my test drive in the direction of the dealer with several stops along the way to check the wheel well.
No issues at all in a 30 mile highway drive.
It seems likely that I wasn't releasing the clutch "abruptly" enough yesterday during a 20 mile drive through the back road twisities. My BMW & Cayenne were letting me get away with that, but not the Boxster.

 

I Had the burnt rubber smell on one of my 997 cars and it turned out to be the cosmoline .

 

Thanks.

 

I get the same smell on my 2008 CS. Honestly to me it smells like a burning clutch. However, I've been driving manuals for the last twenty years and I never had issues with burning up my clutches. I recently read another post on Plant-9 talking about this same issue. I need to go into the dealer to have my TPMS replace so maybe I'll ask them if they have any insight.

 

whoops - forgot to follow up.
The mechanic at my Porsche Dealer said I may be not releasing the clutch abruptly enough. I had the problem after driving a 17 mile stretch of twisty road, but not on the highway while taking the car to be checked out at the dealer.
Have followed his advice and no further issues.
I too have been driving manuals all my life-Volvo - Bmw - Cayenne- and never had an issue before. He said that the Boxster clutch was sensitive.

 

Having problem with newly purchased vehicle ..........HMMmmmm!!!

 

It's a pre-owned vehicle that the dealer was nice enough to check out for me since I had just purchased a new car from them.

they also said that the Cosmoline can take a while to burn off.