strut tower failure
#406
This is the truly scary part, as is the failure mode analysis (impact you don't remember > subsequent failure with unknown period between). And the mileage on your car wasn't high.
Still, there are a lot of cars out there running with no problem at all. So it seems to be a freak occurrence, or near freak occurrence—but it would be wonderful to understand this better. We may never get there, but your work and the work of others has shed some invaluable light on the incident with your car. Good to hear the piece is made of super strong material, still wondering whether the analysis company can tell us more, politely and off the record (is it brittle? is it a good use of said material? etc) in its opinion. Wonder if the first impact even happened in some aspect of the shipping/delivery.
Still, there are a lot of cars out there running with no problem at all. So it seems to be a freak occurrence, or near freak occurrence—but it would be wonderful to understand this better. We may never get there, but your work and the work of others has shed some invaluable light on the incident with your car. Good to hear the piece is made of super strong material, still wondering whether the analysis company can tell us more, politely and off the record (is it brittle? is it a good use of said material? etc) in its opinion. Wonder if the first impact even happened in some aspect of the shipping/delivery.
#407
Rennlist Member
One very nice thing to know is that the company views the material used as very, very high quality and the damage to your car as impact related rather than the result of a casting flaw. Sorry you had to go through this, but thank you again for doing something very nice for the community!
#410
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Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: On a pygmy pony over by the dental floss bush
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EDIT: I made this post thinking I was replying to comments on the strut tower itself but I think it was about the strut tower bracket after chasen1211 sent me a PM.
Last edited by okie981; 05-01-2017 at 09:22 PM.
#411
I attempted several times to obtain one of the strut towers through 3 different avenues myself, and some other RL members attempted as well, but in every case the result was that Porsche (PNA and Europe) would not release the part to anyone but a Porsche-certified aluminum repair shop and only to a specific VIN number of a damaged vehicle that needed the repair. If anyone figures out a way to get a brand new part, let me know. I was going to buy the part out of my own pocket and do a 3D scan and some FEA with various camber plates and load and impact scenarios to see if there were any interesting patterns revealed.
#412
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are they allowed to restrict the part of car to this degree? Thought laws made sure parts on production cars are readily available? I mean yes producing vin is easy enough but I don't see how they can also dictate who does the work. Of course I am probably 100% wrong just seems like nonsense.
EDIT: I made this post thinking I was replying to comments on the strut tower itself but I think it was about the strut tower bracket after chasen1211 sent me a PM. Color me lazy and blushing.
Last edited by okie981; 05-01-2017 at 09:23 PM.
#413
i was able to source the PMNA tower brackets thru my favorite porsche dealer.
part#: 981.504.283.8A
the install was fairly straightforward though you need to do a couple minor plastic cutting. one on passenger side tower 'cos the bracket extends thru the cabin filter housing and the other on the driver side so that the cowl cover sits flat on the bracket. see pics.
part#: 981.504.283.8A
the install was fairly straightforward though you need to do a couple minor plastic cutting. one on passenger side tower 'cos the bracket extends thru the cabin filter housing and the other on the driver side so that the cowl cover sits flat on the bracket. see pics.
#414
Why does it help to have this bracket mounted to the top of the tower? The force comes from below and the area that is failing is below the bracket. If I am missing something obvious I apologize.
#415
i had the exact same question while putting this on. i'm guessing it helps lessen the stress on the downward direction. not so much on the upward direction as the bracket just sits on the tower. hopefully someone can chime in and make sense of this!
#416
Race Car
in the club sport it bolts to the body with 2 extra bolts so it provides support . just sitting on top provides no benefit. carl
http://i68.tinypic.com/2yybha9.jpg
http://i68.tinypic.com/2yybha9.jpg
#417
in the club sport it bolts to the body with 2 extra bolts so it provides support . just sitting on top provides no benefit. carl
http://i68.tinypic.com/2yybha9.jpg
http://i68.tinypic.com/2yybha9.jpg
on the driver side bracket, there's only an outer wing which doesn't seem to have an obvious place bolt on to. i'm going to check with my parts guy if there's any add-on parts that can be ordered to bolt down the outer wings on both brackets.
passenger side bracket
passenger side bracket outer wing bolt hole
driver side bracket
#419
Guess it wont hurt to have them anyway.....don't have local access to PM parts. Anyone know of a online friendly place or dealer willing to ship them? Maybe SP Motorsports? If you can share pricing also....
#420
in the club sport it bolts to the body with 2 extra bolts so it provides support . just sitting on top provides no benefit. carl
http://i68.tinypic.com/2yybha9.jpg
http://i68.tinypic.com/2yybha9.jpg