A friend picked up his 997 GT3 from a So. Cal. dealer yesterday and drove it to No. Cal. Upon arrival he noted the following: The car performed wonderfully on the drive. However there is something happening to the rear of the roof of the car near the top of the rear glass panel. When I got home we noticed the damage. What I can tell you is that I didn’t notice any damage to the car at the dealership or at any of our three rest stops. The car was not out of our sight, there was no noise while driving that would indicate something hit the car and the damage appears stress related. That is something is pulling the roof bonnet down causing very visible dents, but no damage to the paint . I took the attached pictures which shows what is occurring all the way across the roof bonnet, but the pictures don’t really show the severity of the situation.

Is this a known issue with the 997 GT3s?

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Until there is some historyof this happening to other cars, it will be very hard to convince Porsche it just happened! Let us know what happens

 

does look like something or someone made the dent. But, unfortunately you cannot take it back to the dealer once you take delivery...

I plan on going over my GT 3 with a fine tooth comb before I take delivery.

 

Take it back to the dealer right away.

 

I agree, take it back to the dealer. If there is an aero/structural problem causing the "dents" it will probably continue. I'd take a grease pen and outline each area and drive it back to see if more occur.

From the pics, it does look like what you'd see with large hail or vandalism or something but your history seems to invalidate that since it wasn't out of your site. Good luck.

 

garage door or transporter lift or vandalism are my guesses

 

picture a hooters girl standing in each door for a picture with there elbow about where those dents are

 

On the bright side, it looks like somebody the dealer or your insurance company will be springing for the sunroof delete mod.

 

Ditto on this. An aero/structural issue usually wouldn't look like that and to be that severe, it would have to continue elsewhere.

 

That should be an easy fix for a qualified paint-less dent removal guy. Remove headliner and pop them out from the inside.

Similar thing happened to a 996GT3 that I previously owned -- cause: someone had put excessive pressure/heavy object on the roof causing some dings/dents. Paintless dent removal tech removed them.

Good luck.

 

Don't try to "pop them out" -- body panels don't "pop" like the TV commercial might suggest, you'll just have a different sent of dents if you try to "pop."

Do take it to the dealer. You're in for a dent-pro repair at least. I'd go straight to sunroof delete, personally, but first, find the cause.

I'd guess that the sunroof runners are not properly secured to the drip rail. Guess.

I'd say the dealer will regret that you closed your garage door on your new car but I expect they'll still accept the time and effort required to pull the head-liner and find the cause. Once they decide, you'll either pay or they'll pay for the dent-pro.


ps. Sorry for the new owner -- this must be tough for them to see, but hopefully they'll put it behind them and it won't reflect (bad pun) on the car.

 

Had something very similar happen with my first Cooper S.

When the roof was warmed up in the sun, it dimpled in, and looked like someone had bounced a basket ball on it.

When I saw it for the first time, I freaked! I really thought it was trashed.

When the roof cooled down, the dimple completely vanished - no trace!

Turned out to be insufficient roof bracing inside the car - they ended up doing a design change to fix it.

2nd Cooper S did not have the problem.

Was the deflection as visible when the car cooled down? - this would be a sign it was a similar issue.

 

So what happened?

Any updates?????

 

It looks like two separate impacts to the roof. I'll bet the car had the damage before it was driven off the lot. Whether it happened in Germany or at the dealer, who knows?

 

PCNA and the dealer are examining and have said the right, good things. More to come.