Meauxdogs

Hi all! This is going to be an odd and long first post on Rennlist. I took delivery of my first Porsche in mid-November...a new 2022 911 GTS. (My run of 7 consecutive M3/M4s ended with BMW trolling formerly loyal, long-time customers with the beaver grill and many other "new and bold" design themes.) I basically parked the GTS in my garage until I was able to have PPF, ceramic, etc. done.

When I got the car back from the detailer, he pointed out some very odd "splatter" in a couple of locations in the interior. It is quite obvious that the parts that have this splatter on them--which looks like some kind of polishing compound--were not in the car at the time that this substance got on them. One part is the sun/light sensor in the middle of the dash. Not only is the splatter not present in the speaker grill, vents, dash, windshield, etc. around that part, the splatter is on the front of that part which is very close to the windshield, and that appears entirely impossible if that part were in the car at the time of the splatter incident. This substance is also on the backside of the rear view mirror and on the mounting covers behind the mirror, so really not visible from the driver's seat unless you are looking for it. But it is not on the overhead console (overhead lights, annoyingly bright airbag light, etc.), headliner, windshield, etc. It is also apparent that the mirror was lying face down when this happened based on the complete lack of splatter on the front of the mirror--both the glass and plastic surround. So it is obvious that the mirror could not have been installed in the car at the time of the splattering.

I've been in contact with the selling dealer (they are in California and I'm in metro Atlanta), and they have provided what is supposedly all of the service records related to the car while in their possession: work order related to removal of electric steering adjustment (I think they have to do something regarding memory options that show up in the PCM), pre-delivery inspection, over-inflating the tires, and then detailing the car prior to delivery. They also sent me a dump of all the photos they took of the car for their listing, but all the photos are overexposed, not high resolution, and have a lot of glare from their "studio" lighting. I also had them send me a few photos prior to shipping the car to me, but I think those were taken with a Polaroid and scanned to me. Needless to say, their photos are useless for being able to see the interior splatter.

But I have attached a couple of photos I took, which make the splatter appear screamingly obvious--but I was zoomed in on those areas and using flash on the rear view mirror. That said, had I detailed the car myself and cleaned the windshield, I have no doubt I would have spotted this issue before taking it to the detailer. I believe these photos show how it is impossible that this splatter got on those parts while they were installed in the car.

I have taken the car to the Porsche South Atlanta service center (next to PCNA headquarters). They were also mystified as to what this could be, and they did remove the largest cover around the mirror mounting point and were able to mostly (but not completely) get the substance off with isopropyl alcohol. I had to leave for a doctor's appointment before they could attempt to clean any other parts, but the tech did tell me that he wasn't sure what kind of damage might be done to the sun sensor by cleaning it with alcohol. The (spineless?) service manager also sent the tech out to tell me that the service manager would not approve replacing these parts under warranty since he didn't know how it happened. Which seems entirely ludicrous, and I will revisit with the service manager directly when I can get back over there with the car.

Thanks to my new obsession with rear view mirror, I also noticed when I left the PSA service center that there is a dark area from top to bottom of the rear view mirror--maybe half an inch wide and about an inch left of center. That area also looks slightly distorted. It appears that area of the auto dim mirror is permanently dimmed, maybe due to some physical force that was applied to it. I could not head right back to the service center due to my doctor appt, but I did call back to tell them about it and filmed a video of it that I shared with the selling dealership. Maybe this additional issue will change the service manager's opinion on the warranty replacement of the $800 mirror. The other parts (sun sensor and mirror base covers) cost about $120 in total, so that is more about Porsche standing behind their $170,000 product than the cost of replacing those parts. I also have no interest in self-installing parts that are attached to or next to the lightweight/noise insulated windshield, so certainly expect them to be covering the labor and any risk of damage to the windshield while performing the work.

I've also called PCNA customer "care" to make sure they have this on file and to see what insight they might have, and that call was good for comic relief only--extremely nice young man blowing sunshine up my a$$, but at the same time, entirely useless--as I expected that department would be. I've also asked PCNA customer care, the selling dealer, and the PSA service center about access to records of pre-delivery work done at the port, but that has lead nowhere. I believe the car is still in possession of the manufacturer at that point, so those would be records of Porsche AG, and I can only imagine how willing the Germans would be to share. Anyone have experience with getting port work records from Porsche?

I will post a follow up after I revisit the PSA service center with the additional auto dim mirror issue and direct discussion with the service manager on a warranty claim.

In the meantime, does anyone have any thoughts or experience with what may have necessitated both the sun sensor and rear view mirror being removed from the car? The most obvious explanation to me is that those parts were out of the car sitting a workbench, someone was using a polisher or something similar nearby, and some kind of substance was splattered on those parts. As I noted above, if it happened while those parts were in the car, that stuff would be all over the place in all sorts of areas that would be almost impossible to clean--headliner, vents, grills, leather, racetex, stitching, etc. As far as why those parts would have been put back in the car with some foreign substance all over them, my thought there is that they were re-installed to make sure whatever systems had to be worked on were working properly, and the parts were intended to be replaced as whoever worked on the car certainly knew about the splatter issue, but that follow up replacement simply slipped through the cracks. The tech at the PSA service center initially thought the windshield may have been replaced at the port to explain those parts being removed, but if the windshield was replaced at the port, they did an incredible job of making it look like a factory installation (other than the messy splatter).

Thanks for the insights any of you may have. (And I know I should post some photos of the whole car--just need a break in the weather. GT silver on black leather, aerokit, and clear reflectors and GT3 side skirts, which I understood to be obligatory pre-delivery purchases based on following this forum.)

meyecul

I will take a stab at this and say you detective work should start at your detailer and if the truth comes out would very likely end there. As soon as you noted taking it in for PPF, Ceramic Etc, thats the giveaway as to how a substance like a polishing compound could wind up splattered in your new car. You stated you were notified of this splatter by your detailer "after" their work was done and you got the car back. Hmmm I dunno, a little fishy. Exactly how such an accident could happen is anybody's guess, but logic would say they are a likely source as prepping the car for your PPF and ceramic would have involved paint correction using such substances. Based on the location of the splatter, one could assume there was indeed more around that did get cleaned off, but the two areas you are explaining (the lower area on the dash was close to the windshield and other is on the backside of the mirror) could have been easily overlooked and missed especially if the possible tech that could have had the accident was in a hurry to clean it up. Anyway, again this is just a stab at a possible cause and source. I could be totally wrong, but it is where my mind went to first. Hope you get it resolved, I would think if it is a polishing compound of the like, it should hopefully be cleanable. Would start with the least invasive methods to begin and work up from there.

WCE

Machine polishing with the window or door open and **** poor cleanup job!

remington

I would disagree with your assessment that it could not have occurred while the affected parts were in the car. I would guess detailing work.

Meauxdogs

I completely understand why one might think this happened at the detailer it does seem like some kind of polishing compound or something similar. He did make a video of those parts as soon as he noticed it, and there would have been no reason to do that if he was able to 100% clean it off every other inch and nook and cranny and textile material of the interior. I've known and used this detailer for several years, and he wanted to tell me about it and show it to me in person instead of alerting me while I was traveling for the holidays, as he knew my OCD would have put me over the edge. For the same reason, I declined his offer to point out flaws in the factory paint. He did that on my 2018 M4, and I was never able to unsee them for the next 4 years...

As I said, it is impossible to come up with any scenario that involved these parts being in the car when this substance got on them. It is in places it could not have gotten to, such as between the sun sensor and windshield, and you can also see it going down under the sides of the sun sensor without being on any of the parts directly next to the sensor. It is also not possible that you could miss it being on the sensor while methodically cleaning out the vents, speaker grill, not to mention cleaning off the speaker below the grill, etc. The sun sensor isn't a small part--basically the same size as the speaker grill, but even if you missed cleaning the sun sensor, you certainly would have had to have accidentally cleaned off part of it while cleaning the directly adjoining parts. There is also no reason the detailer would have removed the sun sensor and rear view mirror from the car. There was no window tinting, special windshield coating, or anything similar to that being performed. But there could certainly be valid reasons a vehicle prep center would have removed those parts, and a prep center is also a place where all kinds of paint and body work is taking place. So in this case, a prep center incident seems to be by far the simplest and most likely explanation.

Also, I didn't mention in my original post, but the selling dealership did say they could easily understand that splatter being missed in the pre-delivery inspection as that is not something they would be looking for, and you really don't see it from the driver's seat unless you know to look for it. Not that the sun sensor is hard to see from the driver's seat, but at the angle that you are looking at it from, it just looks like glare on the dash...until you know that isn't what it is. The dealership has never suggested or even hinted in multiple phone calls and emails that the substance got on those parts after the car was delivered to me--they just don't think they did anything while the car was in their possession that would have caused it.

Jimmy-D

Can the Detailer, who noticed this splatter, get the splatter out??

remington

Possibly detailed at the port prior to delivery with windshield out? For shipping damage.

991.1 Guy

Most definitely looks to be machine polish splatter. You might even be able to tell the direction from the "shadows" of polish. Strange that it wouldn't wipe off that plastic though.

Meauxdogs

Detailer said he'd do what he could if Porsche wouldn't take care of it. He tried a nonabrasive cleaner, which didn't do much other than lighten it up a bit. He didn't want to risk damaging any surrounding parts with harsher chemicals. The PSA service center used alcohol on a plastic part they removed from the car, but their tech said he wasn't sure about damage that might cause to the sun sensor. I had no idea what the sun sensor part was (nor did the detailer) until the PSA tech told me. We had looked for it in on-line parts catalogs, but it was nowhere with any dash parts. I was able to find it after the PSA guys gave me the part number and told me to look at headlight parts. It's on the same parts page as the instrument cluster and sport chrono clock. Anyway, its a less than $90 part, and the tech said it just pops out with 2 clips. So I'll get a new one of those no matter who is paying for it. Or I could just roll with this Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur art deco sun sensor.

I just took the below pic for further away, so you can tell how hard it would be to 100% clean up every part other than that sensor. Taking this photo reminded me there was one other spot that the detailer found something that looked the same...and that is the tip of the driver's side windshield wiper, but not on the blade itself or anything else around that area. And obviously on the opposite side of the windshield from the rest of this stuff. I'll point that out to the PSA guys when I go back there.

drcollie

The question becomes - WHO took it to the detailer? If you drove it to him, then you would have had to notice it I would think. The person dropping it off at the Detailer had the last clear chance to see it.

If the detailer picked it up from the dealer, then you will never know who did this. No one is going to assume guilt for it.

The parts are only plastic, how hard can it be to get it off?

991.1 Guy

The first picture makes it look like it was done before the dash was installed

Denny Swift

That's quite a mystery. I don't see how it could be from polishing compound. This isn't a Cabriolet right? I don't see how you could get that kind of splatter up there with an orbital polisher even if you tried. Could something have exploded inside the car? A can of something? It's really strange, but it looks like you were able to remove it all.

Onami

The splatter on all of the mirror parts seems to be in the same direction. It looks to me as if they were all situated as is when they were splattered with that stuff.

Jimmy-D

I have used rubbing alcohol, abrasively, on the leather, pleather, and alcantara sunvisors to get off the stickers and have never had any damage done to any of the 3 materials mentioned.

Richard_Wallace

My 2 cents - Looks like polishing compound (now dried and hardened of course). Drivers window was open, someone walked by with the orbital polisher, kicked on the ON button, and polishing compound came in through the drivers window which was open.

My son did something similar to his Land Rover LR4 when polishing with compound this summer, his windows were up, but he kicked the thing on while walking to the next section he was working below the passenger door. Look like he hit the back door windows and front window, top of car, side mirror, etc. with a paint gun blast - it was literally like it was one of those splatter art pieces - and he pulled the trigger on the orbital polisher for like 2 seconds and a very minimal amount of compound. Fortunately the windows were up (which they should have been if this is what caused it).

We got our cleaned up pretty fast, as it was that second we cleaned it all up, so didn't have time to dry hard.

Oddly there is a product called skin so soft from Avon (I have only used it on cars and such - for those that are wondering :-) . If you want something to try to get it off, start there - I have gotten off the toughest stains (markers on leather, food/liquid spills, etc.) with that stuff, and it will not harm leather, glass, plastics, etc.