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To orig poster. I see you are in Texas. Do you think the heat in Texas has anything to do with the warping? Does your car sit outside in the sun for long periods of time?.
In the case of my door panels, there is nothing visible in the way of metal reinforcement or anything otherwise added in that area, so I'm not concerned at all about future airbag deployment. They look proper inside and out.
You should call or email Pedro Bonilla with your questions/concerns after you go on his website and check out his credentials. I believe he knows what he is doing. www.pedrosgarage.com I believe he told me that he had about 6 sets of door panels a day coming through his shop.
i saw the picture on his website, the lined aluminum reinforcement look like it can very well interfere with the flexibility of the panel where curtain airbags deploy.
To orig poster. I see you are in Texas. Do you think the heat in Texas has anything to do with the warping? Does your car sit outside in the sun for long periods of time?.
My car is always garaged unless it's being driven or washed. I think time is the major factor, but think that temperature would be also a factor. At this point, causation is irrelevant to me - the question is how to get them fixed, and for how much?
i saw the picture on his website, the lined aluminum reinforcement look like it can very well interfere with the flexibility of the panel where curtain airbags deploy.
I don't see what you are seeing. You could call Pedro Bonilla and get to the bottom of your question/concern and report back what you find out. Again, the repairs are imperceptible on my door panels - inside and out.
i saw the picture on his website, the lined aluminum reinforcement look like it can very well interfere with the flexibility of the panel where curtain airbags deploy.
Straight from Pedro:
"Depending on the particular door panel (987/997 or 981/991) the failure is different and so is the fix.
I use aluminum reinforcement where needed and or high-temp epoxies and adhesives and also re-form the deformed OEM parts.
My repair does not compromise in any way the operation or safety of the airbag, but in my opinion, this is not a DIY job hence my not posting it here or on the DIY pages of my website.
Many people have attempted to fix (I've seen the remnants of botched jobs) these panels but generally they delaminate again or warp even worse in a few months, especially during the summer.
It's not an extremely difficult job, but it requires materials knowledge and some specialized tools, fasteners and adhesives to make it permanent and safe.
Happy Porsche'ing,
Pedro"
From mtony's post above, straight from Pedro Bonilla: "My repair does not compromise in any way the operation or safety of the airbag." So there you have it.
To orig poster. I see you are in Texas. Do you think the heat in Texas has anything to do with the warping? Does your car sit outside in the sun for long periods of time?.
I bought a 2013 Texas car recently, and the door panels are not warped at all. Don’t know how much time it spent in the sun, but it did have an extremely dark tint on the windows so maybe this problem is temperature related. I removed the tint because I didn’t like the look so we’ll see how it goes from here.
The outer skin of the door panels has 2 layers, a layer of dense foam bonded to the outer layer/surface. The dense foam layer is glued to the hard plastic door panel "core". The problem occurs when the glue between the door panel core and the dense foam layer fails ("de-lamination"), allowing the foam/outer layer/surface to deform ("warp").
Anyone have any idea about how much delamination is needed before a warranty claim will be accepted? Mine are clearly warping but have not gapped the small piece of rubber trim. I can push them down at least a 1/4 inch so they are obviously lifting. I’m under CPO about 11 more months. I could wait and see, but obviously it will get worse. Alternatively I could accelerate the process with heat or gentle persuasion and force the issue.
Seems a little dishonest. You know, kinda like producing a product with a know flaw for the better part of a decade and making the consumer foot the bill.
I understand what you are saying, but chances are the panel will fail and probably after warranty. If is it warping now, it will only get worse, not better. If Porsche really cared about the issue and its customers it would have 1) issued a recall to fix the panel, or 2) fix it free of charge for all customers who have the problem. Porsche asking for "goodwill" of $2,000 to fix an issue that should never have existed in the first place is, well, just scummy, especially when a third party vendor can fix if for a lot less.
It's great that Pedro has stepped up and provided a viable solution, but every one that he fixes is another customer who could have joined the class action, but now will not.
02-22-2020, 12:13 PM
