I believe these strut towers are cast based on the geometry and the markings, some have suggested "thinning" of the metal due to the forming (forging) process, I can assure you these are not forged.



Looking at the base of the tower, the purpose of the integrated gussets is to distribute the stress over a larger area, based on what we have seen it would appear that the gusset design is inadequate.

My suggestion to Porsche would be to modify the gusset design and increase the radius of the bend where the tower transitions from horizontal to vertical plane, both of these changes could be very effective in improving the distribution of stresses.

Having said that, for the current crop of affected owners, I have to believe that someone will develop a simple external reinforcement plate to improve the distribution of stresses by transferring the loads away from the bend/tangent area where the failures appear to occur/originate. The plate would be mounted atop the strut tower and would extend down the vertical walls of the tower approximately 50-75mm, the plate would be mounted to the top of the tower using the existing strut assembly hardware and would be glued and riveted to the horizontal wall of the tower.

 

Same here.. Saw the video as well.. Guess that's why those Brits are so wiry..

On a separate note, took off all the plastic trim around the frunk yesterday to adjust the driver side bumper alignment to the fender by the headlight area (my ocd'ness). Took the opportunity to inspect the strut towers carefully per the video. It took less than 5 mins to pull off the trim.. Well worth it for the piece of mind to ensure you don't have any signs damage.

 

Definitely a casting, now that I see a picture of the inside. The difficulty in reinforcing this, is that the reinforcement needs to be on the inside, and manufacturing a "cup" that fits exactly inside there would be close to impossible to make, unless you have the CAD design of the current casing. Unless a 3D scanning device is accurate enough, but I am not familiar how precise they are? And even if they are, you would then have to make another casing, meaning you have to make molds, which are really expensive and only get cost effective over time, making a lots of parts off of them. The way I see it, we need for Porsche to come up with a fix or recall.

Personally I just hope for the best and that it won't happen to me. Avoid potholes and going off track where I could hit a big bump at all cost. And if it happens then I will make the insurance or Porsche pay for it. No need to have sleepless nights over it. This shouldn't happen, but because they push the envelope making things as light as possible, $hit does happen. GT4 and GT3 are still amazing cars regardless.

 

 

Why would it be installed on the inside? Aesthetics?

Mounting the plate on the top of the strut tower (The outside) would not impact the overall suspension setup.

 

Not ascetics, just strength wise. The pressure is coming from the inside.. Mounting something on the outside would to little to nothing, unless it was glued/riveted

 

They also mentioned wheel damage at the busted corner so not an insignificant impact.....

 

The load is applied to the underside of the tower, anything that takes the load applied to the underside of the tower and distributes it elsewhere (IE: To the vertical plane of the tower) should contribute to a reduction in strut tower failure.

I agree that mounting something on the outside without glue/rivets would be futile, as would mounting anything on the inside without glue/rivets.

It would be very challenging to develop and manufacture a "contoured insert" that would mount inside the strut tower as a interference fit connection. The tolerance that you would need to maintain to effectively distribute the load away from the horizontal plane to the vertical plane would be virtually unachievable due to standard deviation in the manufacturing process of the vehicle/chassis. Assuming you could develop such a clever insert you would then need to resolve other issues such the differential coefficient of thermal expansion between the insert and the chassis under the wide variety of conditions one expects to encounter with a vehicle driven in varying climates and operating conditions.

 

^ redirecting the forces such that they are focused elsewhere other than the strut tower is likely too challenging, which is why I feel, as a non-engineer or even a person who knows anything about this, that changing the characteristics of the force is probably the better route - ie, lengthen the duration of it so the same impact is dispersed over a longer period = lower power on the tower.

 

This is the main issue IMO also. Thanks for wording it so perfectly.

 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/ind...-60-and-beyond

Tony Quinn talking about toilets...

 

Are the shock towers on the 718 the same as in the 981?

Jpr

 

According to this website, yes.
https://nemigaparts.com/cat_spares/pet/porsche/

Left part is 991.501.477.00
Right part is 991.501.478.00

 

Ouch! So much for buying a new GT4 and avoiding this issue.......unless Porsche changes the part before they start production. Maybe that is why things are getting delayed.