Turbo03

One member is having early failure of a rubber strut mount with a PSS9 derived product.

IS ANYONE ELSE HAVING THIS PROBLEM?

Thanks

Greg

SPR

From what I have heard there is a revised top hat that was released to solve that problem. It was also a problem on the 993tt.

msindi

Where can I buy the revised top??? is it a Porsche part or Bilstein??

SPR

It is a bilstein product, which is supposed to accompany the setup depending on the distributor etc. I just got a set for the 993tt and they were the wrong ones, and did research on this; so I have to buy a set of the originals from bilstein as well.

KPV

Mansoor,
I spoke with Gert. We have the right ones. No worries.

Michael W.

I have the RUF suspension based on PSS-9 and am having a problem. There is a really strange "clanking" sound coming from my front right wheel well when I hit bumps in the road. It actually sounds pretty awful and I have no idea what it is other than it certainly seems related to the suspension. The closest I can approximate the sound to is that of a metal toolbox with a few metal tools inside that is dropped to the ground and the resulting noise of the tools hitting each other and the case. I plan on taking it to my install shop this week to have it diagnosed.

John D II

I had posted this earlier today, but it was lost in the update:

Michael,

I am the east coast customer that Asgar referenced (I see that Asgars post is missing since the update, also). My symptoms were exactly as you described (metal clanging over moderate and large bumps), including down to the right front side. I removed the plastic piece that covers the top strut mount and found the plastic cap forced upward and off the access hole. The strut was approximately 1/2" higher than flush with the access hole and the ground to wheel well measurements were 1/2" off, side to side. In fact, the plastic cover piece was forced so high that it began to get a speed yellow color on it from rubbing the underside of the bonnet. I believe the metal clanging (on bumps) that I heard was the strut banging on the underside of the bonnet. There is no doubt that if I continued to drive the car, the bonnet would have been damaged. Fortunately, I took the car in right away and the bonnet is fine, not even scratched.

We found that the rubber on the top strut mount cracked 360 degrees around the center, allowing the top of the strut to move significantly upward. My technician felt both sides should be replaced and sure enough, when the left side was removed, it had similar damage and was on its way out.

My Ruf PSS-9 had approximately 5,000 miles on it, over a 4 month period. How many miles did you have on yours?

Michael W.

Ok, problem confirmed!!! It is the same problem as John, the upper strut mount has failed pushing up at the upper strut mount point. I have about 1000 - 1500 miles on my PSS-9's.

I talked to Asgar and he has hypothesized that the 3 upper strut mount bolts were not torqued as explicitly stated in the installation instructions. I.E. If the bolts were simply tightened down with an impact wrench or other method that left different torques on each bolt, this could potentially cause problems. He is going to check with my shop about how they tightened these bolts.

John D II

Michael,

Weissachs tech discussed with my tech (10+ year Porsche dealership head technician, Porsche certified, etc.) these same torque issues. It was determined that my tech installed my suspension properly with respect to the works parts torque guidelines (items P1 - P7 in Ruf installation handbook). Parts P1 - P7, which are the factory front and rear strut mounts and associated nuts and washers are simply to be installed and torqued per the manufacturers (Porsche) specifications.

John D II

Asgar,

Could you please re-post the information regarding the updated "top hat", etc.? Your original post was lost in the software upgrade.

Michael W.

Is this a problem that should be limited to the front top strut mounts, or can it be a problem with the rears as well? Does anybody know anything about this revised top hat? How would one determine if they have the old one or new one?

asgar

Good morning all

We lost my original post yesterday and I am reposting it.
The 993tt strut mount issues was a on request basis and was confined to the rear shocks only(as per Bilstien USA)This was really an issue for racers as their load levels required lots of flex.

I had spoken to the RUF technical team and to Gert, both concurred that there have been no issues with the upper front mounts on the pss-9 based systems. Bilstien USA has no experience as they do not yet sell the units in the USA market. for now. Gert did mention an issue that was more install related, rather than of product, we have now 2 car with the RUF set up that have failed upper mounts, so naturally we are very keen to find a proper solution if one is required, there is alway the possibilities of failed parts, and we have warranties in place for this.
they key factor here is to ensure that the system is safe and does what it was set up to do.
the failed upper mounts are on route to us and we will conduct a forensic,
we intend to have a posted response with 14 days for fellow Rennlisters.

In the meanwhile, enjoy your cars and burn lots of gas

Regards

John D II

I spoke with Asgar today and it apperars the problem has been discovered and limited to a very small percentage of kits involving a simple installation instruction omission. I will let Asgar explain, so as to insure accuracy.....

Michael W.

Yes, the shop I am using found the error. The installation instructions my kit came with left out using a thrust washer, from the original shocks, on the upper mount point. This allowed the shock to punch up through the strut mount. With this washer installed it will completely solve the problem. I am just wondering if this is an omission in just some of the installation isntructions or whether most shops just didn't look at the instructions and figured to install the thrust washer since it doesn't make a whole lot of sense not to install it.

asgar

The shop that Micheal was using was in contact with our service team and thru a discussion we concluded that the lower mount washer was omitted in the print material from RUF and not installed causing the shock to apply additional pressure that will result in premature wear. Thank you Joe for working with us, we have relayed this to Herr Lieb in Germany and he concurred, the Translator in Germany was apprehended and warned to re take his english exams.......recurrently he has agreed and the new instructions are in place.

Thanks again for you patience, there is a very small batch that is affected and we are in contact with all of these clients.

WARMEST REGARDS