Troy R

Hi fellow rennlisters. Some may recall a post a month ago about a deer I hit and how I was fortunate to not have any damage. Well, as it turns out I do have some. There was a crack in the clear coat on the bumber, and my left front headlight was pushed into the fender about 3/8". Didn't notice it until I had washed the car one day. The headlight/bracket is actually broke on the back end.

On top of this I notice that when I get the car around 50mph, it has a hell of a shudder. Faster or slower, it goes away. Does anyone have any thoughts on whether this could be related to hitting the deer? The insurance company is saying no way is it possible, but I've never hit a curb or rock or decent size pot hole and I really don't remember this happening before hand. I'm not an expert, or really even knowledgeable on the laws of physics, forces, auto's or engineering, and I know some of you are. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

rbjbbb

Did you make any evasive maneuvers. Does not seem like that slight impact would have thrown the alignment out. Unless the front tire took some of it vs. your front end. That would be my angle with the ins. agency.
ps. I was having shudders on mine (60 to 65 mph) and just had the alignment and road force bal done this w/e, $370 later - sweet and smooth.

RB

Troy R

I was swerving to the right pretty hard when I hit the deer. Probably hit around 25-30mph. The brunt of the force was taken by the headlight, which is secured to the car via bracket into what??? Any way that force traveled down and affected the suspension?

Macster

tire carcass (Detroit Alligator) hard enough to bust a radiator. Left tire ran over debris too. Hit debris hard enough that front bumper cracked down low, but not even to see unless under car so I didn't bother to replace the bumper.

Fortunately, alignment not affected. (Bad enough having to pay a huge tow bill and radiator/bracket replacement bill...)

Hard to believe hitting a deer that did so little damage to the body could affect alignment, unless you ran over the deer and the carcass came up hard against a steering component or front/rear suspension member.

Before I checked alignment I'd check tire pressures and check to see if any weights are missing from any tire. (Check inside wheels to make sure a piece of the deer didn't end up inside the wheel.)

50mph is not very fast, and one would not think of aerodynamics at that speed, but you might consider if the front end - bumper/body work - has been knocked askew that at speed this could cause aerodynamic problems that could possibly account for the symptoms you describe. If you ran over deer some underbody panel back from the front end could be busted, hanging down, and this could affect air flow under car and account for odd symptoms. Farfetched, to be sure, but a good inspection by a knowledgeable Porsche tech of the car in the air would be a good thing.

If you find no other cause of the behavior, and if the car hasn't had an alignment in a while alignment does change over time -- bushings wear, age, springs sag and then factor in the odd curb bump with a tire or cutting a corner too sharp and running over a curb when pulling into or out of a parking lot -- so you might want to spring for an alignment check and adjustment if it is found to be out. I like to use places -- Porsche dealerships mainly -- that can print a before and after printout of the alignment so I can see what was out and by how much. This can provide you with an early warning of some excessive wear at some point in the car's suspension/steering.

Sincerely,

Macster.

Troy R

Thanks Macster.

It's definately getting aligned, and I've had the printouts of before and after too which I like to see. Doesn't sound like the deer could have caused it, which is a good thing. Maybe I just did't notice it before. I usually don't hang in the 50mph range very often but that was the flow of traffic on that particular day and it stood out like a soar thumb.