Again, I'm more curious if anyone has simply hit a rough patch of road or a pothole and had this happen. If the vehicle isn't at least minimally capable of absorbing standard road conditions without a catastrophic failure like this, it could be a safety matter, possibly NHSTA. I'll admit that's not my speciality area of practice, though. Just thinking out loud. The flying off the track thing (tantamount to 4-wheeling with a GT4) would be a much harder case to make.

 

Minimally capable of absorbing standard road conditions would be a hilarious standard for Porsche to lay claim to.

 

 

Perhaps Porsche has made their forged wheels too strong? (joking) Usually the wheel bends well before any chassis deformity. I know I bent a few forged M3 wheels probably saving something much harder to resolve.

Performance is usually a compromise between light weight and rigidity. You can't have both to an extreme. Cars are also getting heavier and most still want to put a 20 kg wheel on it and expect it to never get out of round. Whatever issues we have, I'm sure more exotic cars are having exponentially more issues with comparable mileage. Anything can happen, but for sure I try to drive avoiding everything I can. Still in the past 2 weeks, I've hit 2 good sized pot holes in my DD on the same wheel (OEM forged btw). Both times in the dark. I seem to have avoided breaking anything, thankfully. The last time I hit something that hard was when Cup 2s were on these wheels, and the blows broke the outer sidewall skin in multiple places. Now with PS4S and no sidewall cracks either time!

 

This is why getting a used 981 in part was a no-go, while the 718 has the same structure in place, at least the car is brand new and unmolested + updates to the PASM / Suspension overall (which I also hope help remedy this issue a bit). I'd hate to be that person who picks up a used 981 GT4 with the strut microcracks that may have started....unlikely? maybe. But I'm willing to spend the extra $15k (new vs new) for all the aero upgrades, engine torque across the RPM range, warranty, updated .2 GT3 suspension components, and speccing it personally...and no ADM. Very few people, if any, picked up a 981 GT4 back then for MSRP (except 918 and Porsche Super car owners...), so pricing is about the same new vs. new.

 

These are some of the very reasons I prefer to buy new, if the car is used you have no real way to tell if it has been abused by the previous owners, and even if not abused then there could still be 'accidental' damage either unknown or undisclosed! I shudder when I hear people say things like it was designed for track use or that they have bested the Porsche engineers and have improved the car with 'their' chosen mods... quite often boosted about just before selling their ride. I don't need the thoughts in the back of my mind about their choices for break-in period and RPM, or that Purple Onion Oil is best, or maybe even skipping some maintenance altogether because it was deemed by them to be unnecessary... no thanks!

So considering the possible unknowns of a used car and the ability to spec an incredible new GT car just the way I want it with all of the latest build components is well worth the price of admission... even if that 'Honey-Do' list is now longer than my arm!

 

I'm buying new because I like new things :P

 

TLDR the other thread, but I have a simple question. Has anyone presented evidence of a strut tower failure on a car that a) was still in its original owner's hands, b) had zero track time and c) (allegedly) didn't hit something hard on the road? More than one like this? All I recall seeing were failures associated with impact from running over curbing on track or running off the track or road, etc.

 

@Archimedes I have not seen any verifiable reports that match your criteria... everything else reported seemed to involve a precipitating event.

 

If you subscribe to the prevailing thought on the 981 GT4 board, the belief is the softer the suspension, the more susceptible to tower failure. They believe the shock doesn't have much travel and therefore is bottoming under hard use (not necessarily road issues) and causing the failures. Therefore their remedy is to stiffen the springs. I don't subscribe to that theory. I've seen no evidence to support it. The best you can do is keep the car on pavement and avoid anything that would result in a loud bang!

 

I ran off the road in my Dad's Mercury when I was a kid and bounced some curbing, destroying the right front suspension. Must've been a flaw in the car...

 

The 981 GT4 strut tower topic may be the biggest overblown issue I have seen on Rennlist in the last few years. If you want to buy new, go for it. Plenty of good reasons, but the strut towers on the 981 shouldnt be one of them.

 

I could debate the opposite, that the harder suspension/ springs / PASM settings on the 981 GT4 could be pulsing additional stresses @ a higher frequency to the strut tower even when it's not bottoming out completely. Somewhat a domino effect. If PASM and stiffer springs harden up enough abruptly/sharply as it compresses, it's almost like it's bottoming out even when it isn't, as those forces would pulse up to the solid top mount.

It's also possible (but who knows) that a more compliant PASM setting that lets the damper compress more (avoiding abrupt damper rigidity and without bottoming out) could reduce the abrupt frequent stresses of a stiffer set up.

 

I heard the shock doesn't have a bump stop. Not sure why Porsche designed it to not have one and why so much shock travel.
If someone knows why please educate us. If I had a 981 I would add a small bump stop. Heck I might think about adding bumps stops to the 718 as well.
To me this makes sense having the extra cushion when bottoming out. if the shock truly needs that extra travel then maybe no bump stop can be added.

 

I've been getting odd noises from my 2021 GTS 4.0 (1100 miles) but I bought it brand new. The dealer couldn't figure out my issue but looking at the strut mount bolts it looks like they might have shifted. I made another appointment with the dealer so let's see what happens