Maddogoz

Guy's took delivery of my GT3 3 weeks ago in melbourne, had it on the track on saturday and after 2 x 7 lap sessions came in with coolant spewing out the front left radiator.

Car was trucked off to the dealer and they have stated a stone must have been thrown up off the front left tyre and went right through the back of the radiator.

Im quoted $2650 to fix it, sounds like a bad design to me.

Has this been reported on any 996 or 997's ?

on the 991 you can see the back of the radiator from the wheel well.

Should this be a warranty claim or not?

mooty

not warranty
si@t happens
it's already better design than 7.1 and 6
I've been stoned in 7.1 and 6 several times.

aussie jimmy

no warranty at track unless you know people

orthojoe

This is very interesting. When I examined the new gt3 the other day, I noticed that there was NOTHING protecting the backside of the radiator in the wheel well. I thought it was strange it didn't have a cover with vent openings like other cars. To me, the backside of the radiator was at risk for damage. It looks like that has turned out to be true. I will be placing a mesh stone guard over that opening when I get mine. Very strange for Porsche to leave that backside wide open....

24Chromium

orthojoe and I are in agreement here. I was pretty shocked to see that the plastic fender liner does not fully cover the back side of the radiators (same on L and R side of the car).

The 6s didn't come with mesh in the front. The 7.2s did. That's where most, if not all, of radiator damage occurs - from debris being spewed directly at the front of your car. I'm a little surprised that it occurred the other way around. If I understand the scenario, it was your own tire that pinched a rock and shot it forward, directly into the back side of the radiator.

silverrules

Hmmmm, I would call up your insurance agent. Here in US if a rock lodges from another car on the road and hits your car they cover everything and its covered under comprehensive in my case $100. My daughter went through this and insurance paid it all. Not sure about track and your insurance.

Mike in CA

I've noticed that the fans and radiators are exposed from the backside. Maybe they wanted it open for maximum cooling but it seems like a clip on mesh piece might have been a good idea.

Kind of strange that a stone could have been pinched forward from a tire rolling in the other direction. Maybe a rock stuck to the hot tire that flipped off the top....

TRAKCAR

That's why we do this:

Gofishracing

Furnace filter to protect- I was shocked how open the radiators are on new cars

orthojoe

I wonder what their rationale was to leave the backside totally open?

SanDiegoDavid

So where do you get a screen/metal mesh like that? I took a look at mine, the fans and radiator are wide open. Maybe a group buy is in order. Rennline perhaps?

24Chromium

My engineering hat says cooling efficiency. However, they were crazy to leave these areas exposed. Major oversight!

Looks like I'll be doing what Trakcar did.

orthojoe

I hope that doesn't mean the car has cooling issues in extreme conditions. Agree that it looks like an oversight. I'll be following suit with you. The old mezgers had coolant hose failures causing track catastrophes. Last thing I want is a coolant leak on track from a rock puncturing the radiator.

Leigh2

My 7.1 picked a wheel weight up off the track and fired it through the back of the radiator. Screens went on afterwards with no negative affect on the cooling at all. I think it's a pretty good idea to put some screens on right out of the showroom, even if it's just street driven.

TRAKCAR

996 and .1 997 GT3's did not even have screens in the front!
We added front screens, so why not in the back, at least in the back they don't have to look pretty.