Mdoots

Wow, all the stuff I'm learning ... most importantly, I've learnt that I'll keep taking my cars to the porsche centre for service, even if an oil change is $300.

Schnave

I wonder if that explains the mechanic stating he raised the suspension to the highest level? Could it be that this was his first job on a 9Y0 and mistakenly thought it was in jack mode by raising it to Terrain Level and holding the button for 10 seconds? Hmm . . .

PorscheACC

Hahaha.. only if you don't have a clue of what you are doing..

Otherwise, it is the same as any other vehicle.. I started doing mine after my 50,000 mile warranty, when they quoted me $1,000+ up from the normal $500/$600 oil service charges.

With my oil vacuum extractor, I can do the entire process in 45 minutes max, including the engine air filter, which you have to remove any way..

Plenty of Youtube videos explaining the entire process..

And around here, some high school kids are doing several types of services on BMW's, Porsches, etc. for their high school mechanic course shops. Great for them, they don't need to be scammed on simple services, like battery changes, oil services, brake changes, etc.

I was talking at one of them, and he was laughing his @ss off on how much some people were paying for simple services.

He already was thinking to open a high end oil/other services and charge 1/3 of the regular prices, which will be a very profitable bussiness.

Schnave

UPDATE: Picked up the Cayenne from Porsche dealer yesterday with two new front air springs installed and a four wheel alignment. It drives as new and tracks straight as an arrow.

My wife is amazed at how well it drives. I now suspect it was pulling left for quite some time before she mentioned it to me. Theory: Bad alignment caused tires to wear unevenly, magnifying the pull to the left. I think I’ll drive hers a little more often.

Spoke at length with the technician who performed the work. He saw no evidence that the previous work caused the failure. The leaks came from the inner bellows; the outer bellows were undamaged. He stated that failure to set jack mode prior to changing the front tires, while not a good practice, would not necessarily cause the failure either.

Total cost was $4,721.26, of which I paid $500 deductible and Fidelity Platinum Warranty covered the rest.

Since I can't prove the indy mechanic caused the damage, I'll just suck up the $500 and drive on.

Felix

Glad you got to the bottom of the issue and that all is good again.

Do you have any before and after alignment specs you can post?

Schnave

^^^ Here’s the alignment printout. Note that the “Before” is after the air springs were installed and not necessarily the same as before the springs were installed. I don’t have the alignment specs that presumably caused the tires to wear and subsequently pull left.

The rear was off a bit, particularly the toe. Out of spec thrust angle might explain why her Cayenne’s rear end dances around a bit during launch control starts. Mine is more stable during launch control.

Felix

Thank you for posting the sheet. It looks like they didn’t touch the front camber. I also find it odd that the left and right front camber ranges are different? I’ve never seen that before. I have a limited set of alignment specs for Cayennes and the ranges are all symmetrical. The cynic in me says the tech tweaked the right front camber range so that 27 minutes of camber stayed in spec. My (admittedly limited) data says the range used for the left front wheel is correct and the right front has been massaged to fit the measurement.

And not ideal that the front cambers are different by 3/4 of a degree. While both are seemingly in range the variation isn’t ideal. But adjusting it requires moving the front axle carrier. Which a Porsche dealer should be able to do.

That rear toe variation would probably have been noticeable under heavy acceleration as consistently pulling; it should be much more stable now.

MaxLTV

Glad this is resolved! The toe issues before alignment could have caused some left pool - the front wheels have the net angle to the left while the rears have the net angle to the right. Both things would make the car turn left slightly. So it's possible it was adding up to a noticeable pool. The damage to air springs is strange and concerning, especially given it's two at the same time.

I forgot to set jack mode a couple of times, and it did not lead to failures. Of course, it does not mean it cannot break the air springs, but I think it should not. Having one or even two wheels completely in the air happens during normal offroad driving too, and it does not break the car, so jack should be no different.

But setting jack mode is still a great idea! Because otherwise, the car can wake up and start pumping up the suspension at unexpected time, pushing lifted wheels down and potentially pinching tools or even body parts under a lifted wheel (guess how I know). It is much better to keep everything static while working there.