Cole

Which is exactly why I'm seeking to understand this product.

Not knocking it. But if it were so simple why wasn't it this way from the factory?

linksamui

Interesting might be worth a try. I have a diesel suv with 800ft of torque. The standard driveshaft on it is one huge big piece of metal. I think switch to one piece for the cayenne seem acceptable. a few less parts to worry about.

mtnrat

Just picked up the aluminum version. I will report back when I install it. Looks really nice.

mtnrat

Some pics of aluminum drive shaft

TAch Miami

I got an alumimum driveshaft before for another car and my shop balanced it somehow. Is it good practice to balance this one?

mtnrat

It is already balanced. There are bits of metal on the side of the shaft that you cannot see.

69gaugeman

The engineers at VW/Porsche spent a lot of time and energy determining what drive shaft configuration to use for this vehicle. The parts to replace the worn out components are a couple of hundred dollars.

When you change something, you affect components farther down the chain. If you make this link stronger, you transmit forces to other components. Sometimes (most of the time) this is NOT desirable.

If this was a solution, trust me, the factory would have done it from the get go. Their solution is significantly more expensive than a straight drive shaft. They would in a heart beat make that change.

I wonder why they didn't?

user 83838290

Maybe because is was a shared VW/Audi/ Porsche development? Built at the same plant? Same major parts?

Cole

Which means that it would have saved them VW/Porsche/Audi TONS of money to make a one piece driveshaft!

There was obviously a reason they (VW/Porsche/Audi) decided to spend that pile of money to keep a 2 piece driveshaft.

At some level, you had engineers from every company see this.

So why spend all the money if there wasn't a good reason for it?

hahnmgh63

Who knows. They also spent some engineering on a crappy center bearing bushing design which fails at a much higher rate than what one would expect (my '84 Ford F-250 is on it's original). And they did some Engineering on the wonderful plastic Coolant pipes that they had to completely re-engineer after a few years. The list goes on, Porsche does some great work or we wouldn't be here but they are definitely not perfect.

mtnrat

Well, I am going to put it in and see how it goes. I have put different drive shafts in my landcruiser as well as different suspensions. Depending on what I wanted some of the after market suspensions drove, rode and handled quantum leaps above what was stock, and that was on the, at the time flagship Lexus LX 450. So I am not too worried. Might not get it installed for a bit as I am getting some new turbo S lower control arms and will put them on at the same time.

69gaugeman

Which would mean that a less expensive solution would be the desired choice.

I have worked in the automotive industry since 1995. I have been privy to some very interesting meetings on continuous improvement and failure points in most all components used in cars in North America. To say the least these issues that seem minor can be MAJOR to the automaker. The one piece shaft would be at least 20$ each cheaper per vehicle and that is HUGE.

They re-engineered the coolant tubes. They did not re-engineer the drive shaft.

I am not saying it won't work. But I AM saying it is unnecessary. And at $1000. for a drive shaft (vs 300 to repair) I have better things to buy for my Cayenne.

There is zero performance gain, and possible extra wear on other , more expensive components with the only benefit of losing a 150$ center bearing and possibly more noise and vibration. I will pass.

I would like to know how much noise and vibration it adds (if any).

Cole

But....they have fixed the coolant pipe issue on 07+ and offer a simple aluminum replacement set for 03-06!


..and updated the center driveshaft bushing part number a couple of time. Which means they are working on these issues and trying to solve these problems.

If it were as simple as putting a 1 piece driveshaft in it why don't they do it? Porsche has proven they are willing to update and change parts to solve known issues.

There must some reason!!

CaptJim

OMG, I just spent 30 minutes reviewing options and opinions from other blogs and links on this very subject for cars other than Porsche. What common theme I discovered is that shorter is better. Many see a 2 piece an overall performance upgrade, learned from racing.

wrinkledpants

I'm going to guess it has to do with some kind of harmonic resonance, especially if you introduce some road vibrations (gravel or washboard). This has been the case in other instances (not just automotive) where a drive shaft is segmented. You either design an incredible stiff and strong shaft, or just segment it. It's also a lot more difficult to balance a larger 1 piece when they are connecting two objects that can move independently, and there is some kind of joint involved at each end. It's one thing if the drive shaft connects two objects that are bolted solidly to the same larger platform, or they are bolted, damped, and move in the same way. But, that's not the case on a car. The motor and tranny twist and vibrate in completely different ways than the front and rear diffs. Add in a little chassis twisting and it puts a lot of unnecessary stress on everything.

I won't be installing any 1-piece drive shafts on my CTT as I do drive off road. I may consider one if I never left the pavement.