So this may be a little longer read.

During my 40k Inspection it was noted that my Inner tie rods had excessive play and needed to be replaced. The invoice reads that they replaced the inner and outer tie rods.

Is there a way to test and see if in fact it was necessary to have the tie rods (the inner and outer) replaced due to excessive play as they mentioned.

I need to give you a little background as to why I am concerned that this job was not needed at all so please read on.

Just about a year prior during the safety Inspection which was done at a different Dealer (that has now since been sold - that is the reason I went to the other Dealer) they seemed to be in good shape and I passed the Safety Inspection. I had also just bought the car that August and nothing was noted about these. Since that Inspection I had put only about 3500 miles on it.

I became suspicious after they had damaged my car while they had it for 44 days (this is a hole other story in it self).
When I picked up my car there was damage to the right rear wheel well.
Prior to paying and taking possession of my car I was given a written note on the back of the Business Card stating that the damaged would be repaired. After going back and forth they now claimed that I caused the damage and I was the one that covered it up with some type of paint and clear coat.
That obviously did not sit well with me.
They where able to remove the paint / substance on the damage but refused to take care of the two dents. It is very hard to take pictures of it and I have tried many times but these dents just do not show up.
I took the car to three different Body shops in my area and the cost to fix ranged from $1000 to $1500+.

I was also told my front breaks needed to be replaced. I agreed to this but ask them to keep the rotors and pads. The car had 36685 miles on it at this time while in the shop.
They did not return the rotor or the pads to me so I could not verify if this was really needed.
You may wonder why I did not do a check myself. I live very rural and the Dealer is located about 1.5 hours from me and I was not able to make it up there to check. Which I now regret. I also believed them that this was for sure needed.

I also found out later while at home that they damaged my dashboard on the passenger side while installing my new Windshield and also damaged my front bumper wrap.

Since I have not gotten a satisfactory resolution to this I am very suspicious about these tie rods and also the breaks which I can not verify.
I do however have the tie rods and want to see if there is way to test them to be 100% sure they where damaged as stated.

The problem here is that Plaza Motors where this all took place has sold the Porsche rights to the INDIGO Group aka Porsche of St. Louis now - they basically bought two dealerships in a span of three month Plaza Motors and Parktown Imports. They are now the only Porsche Dealership in Town.

I am trying to gather as much information as I can. To make a decision as to what I will do next.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

thank you

 

Its very unlikely the rods themselves are damaged. So looking, measuring, the new and old will be identical. Instead what happens is the rubber bushings at each end wear out. Usually this is a long gradual process, but it could also get a lot worse after a big impact or unusually hard use. Either way, there is no test, it is a judgment call. You replace them, and if the car feels better, then they needed to be replaced.

Now you have the old ones out, you can check to see if they're obviously worn. Clamp in vise, put a big screwdriver in one end, see how hard it is to move it around. Check both ends. Without a new one for comparison it could be hard to tell, but it should be very hard to flex the bushing at all. If it moves around easy or if cracks show up at all then it was worn and needed to be replaced. If it was me, if even one bushing was worn like this I'd replace the set in order to maintain balanced handling.

 

thanks for the reply

I never asked them to replace them they told me it would not pass Safety Inspection and they had to be replaced.
I did not feel any issues with this car at all. Also after the news once where installed the car was the same no difference at all in handling or driving.
I just did what you said and I can move them but with resistance but they do move. Both sides are the same. There are no cracks in the rubber and they look to be in pretty good shape. I guess the only way to find out would be to get my hands on a new set to compare.
I am just not trusting them.

again thanks for taking the time to reply

 

We used channel locks to see if we could get compression. If we could then that indicated wear. It's a judgement call, of course. Even a new rod has some compression. And we always demonstrated our findings to the customer and discussed implications and options. Moving forward with billable repairs without pre-approval is absurd.

It is important to me that I trust and have confidence in anyone who touches my car. It sounds like you need to find an alternative to what sounds like a developing local Porsche Empire.

What is past is past. It sucks, but try to move forward.

 

That's the way to do it, Wayne. Being designed to move (twist, compress) in the first place then the only thing you can do is compare the ones you have with brand new, and really also with ones known to be shot to hell. A tech working on these will have seen enough to know, but a customer seeing for the first time really has no idea.

In this case, there were no initial handling problems to indicate replacement. There were also no handling improvements to indicate that replacement changed anything. (i.e., sometimes it might not feel bad before, yet feels better after, that didn't happen.) A bench check indicates normal bushings. Safety Inspections are visual, with maybe at the most a tech grabbing and pulling, nowhere near enough force to reveal worn bushings. The idea of there being so much obvious slop that the car is unsafe to drive, yet not steer funny, and have bushings that check out fine, is complete nonsense. In other words everything points to the OP being taken for unnecessary work.

Just so you know Louis, these rods and bushings control steering inputs. Worn or damaged bushings can allow one or both wheels to turn under load, like when you are braking, cornering, or going over a bump. When this happens you would feel it in the steering, maybe even feel the car trying to turn on its own when it shouldn't. When they get really bad (and remember, they're saying this was a safety issue, that means really bad) you would notice the car wandering left and right, maybe even just driving straight down the road. If you didn't notice anything like that then there was no reason for replacing those parts.

 

thanks to the both of you again for your replies

the car for sure was straight and had no problems with the steering at all.
I could take my hands of the wheel and it stayed straight with no deviation at all.
I got a copy of the alignment that shows before and after. - see below -
Here is the result. I am no expert but it does not look much different to me except the toe.

This cost me $2k in repairs that in my opinion was not needed at all. Especially since the car got a clean bill of health less than a year prior and with only 3+k miles driven since. On top of the damage they cause and refuse to honor what they promised in writing.

I guess Wayne you may be correct I may just let this go and use this as another lesson learned. I should have taken the time to drive to the dealer to make sure. It just really shady and a shame that they are no longer in the Porsche business. If they where I would send a letter to Porsche but now this would mean nothing to Plaza Motors.


Does anybody see a problem?

 

This past summer, a very respected Porsche independent shop inadvertently caused an "issue" with my car that ended up costing me nearly $7K. When I asked for a partial $2K reimbursement, I being willing to absorb the remainder, their reply was that there was no way they could have made the mistake.

So I just decided to "get over it", and let it all lie in the past. I had to go back to part time work to pay for it, but in the end, just resolved to let it go, and enjoy my car. The less I agonized about their error, the more I got on with life.

I suppose I could have tried some legal remedy, but that would have kept the whole memory active for me, and I did want to do that.

My suggestion is to just chalk your experience up to one of those unpleasant events we all have from time to time, and try to forget it. There will always be shady, untrustworthy business out there, and all we can do is learn about them, and stay away from them.

The next nice day, just go out and drive your car.

All the best....