strut tower failure
11-19-2016, 12:41 PM
#76
Sorry to hear. I spoke to another GT4 owner that had a strut failure like this repaired at a California dealer and the total repair cost was $30k. Repair looked factory though, I couldn't tell which side was repaired after the fact! I'll see if I can find what dealer did it so you can go to one with some experience doing this type of repair at least (they outsource the structural repair work to a special certified body shop up here).
Last edited by Mech33; 11-19-2016 at 01:41 PM.
11-19-2016, 01:00 PM
#77
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sorry to hear about this. would be interested to know more details on what was hit and how porsche handles this. i'll guess comprehensive insurance should step in due to a 'road hazard' ???
11-19-2016, 01:09 PM
#78
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Originally Posted by Spyerx
i'll guess comprehensive insurance should step in due to a 'road hazard' ???
Terrible to see these strut tower failures.
11-19-2016, 01:17 PM
#79
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I would not give up on a warranty claim due to structural defect. I would go down that path first. I'd take the service manager for a drive in one of their cars and go visit that dip in the road at freeway speeds.
11-19-2016, 01:20 PM
#80
Sorry to hear. I spoke to another GT4 owner that had a strut failure like this repaired at a California dealer and the total repair cost was $30k. Repair looked factory though, I could tell which side was repaired after the fact! I'll see if I can find what dealer did it so you can go to one with some experience doing this type of repair at least (they outsource the structural repair work to a special certified body shop up here).
If you could tell after the fact I would have questions regarding future structural life expectancy
11-19-2016, 01:32 PM
#81
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Originally Posted by ExMB
If you could tell after the fact I would have questions regarding future structural life expectancy
11-19-2016, 01:44 PM
#82
11-19-2016, 01:53 PM
#83
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Whether or not we see all the circumstances, we are seeing too many examples of a failure we did not see with previous Porsches. The failure creates a safety issue as well as an extraordinary repair bill. The latter will be borne by Porsche, and where it is not, it will be borne by GT4 owners via insurance premiums and/or reduced resale value. That's not a group of brand ambassadors any manufacturer would want to lose.
Hoping Porsche will step up to fix cars affected and come up with a retrofit (steel insert inside or over strut tower?) to prevent these failures.
11-19-2016, 02:41 PM
#84
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Just did a check with the online PET and confirmed several cars have the same part number for the shock tower
991-501-477-00 Left
991-501-478-00 Right
Cost $259.95 each (labor $$$$$$)
These cars all use this identical part: GT4, GT3 (991), Carreras (991.1 and 991.2), 981 Boxsters, probably many more but that's all I checked.
One difference is on the GT4 and GT3 there is no "extra spring" that the Boxsters and non-GT3 Carreras have as shown here:
https://rennlist.com/forums/gt4/9483...l#post13527120
Not saying this makes any difference, just looking at similarities and differences to other P-cars.
991-501-477-00 Left
991-501-478-00 Right
Cost $259.95 each (labor $$$$$$)
These cars all use this identical part: GT4, GT3 (991), Carreras (991.1 and 991.2), 981 Boxsters, probably many more but that's all I checked.
One difference is on the GT4 and GT3 there is no "extra spring" that the Boxsters and non-GT3 Carreras have as shown here:
https://rennlist.com/forums/gt4/9483...l#post13527120
Not saying this makes any difference, just looking at similarities and differences to other P-cars.
11-19-2016, 03:19 PM
#86
I was able to drive it to the next offramp, and into a gas station. The tire did rub a little, only audible during a turn. No difficulty in steering. A yellow suspension warning light went on (don't remember which) and the front suspension felt (understandably) soft and floaty. The chassis is so stiff that it could handle the tripod action, like when you gently go up a curb ramp at an angle, and the outside front wheel lifts off the ground....
11-19-2016, 04:13 PM
#87
I was able to drive it to the next offramp, and into a gas station. The tire did rub a little, only audible during a turn. No difficulty in steering. A yellow suspension warning light went on (don't remember which) and the front suspension felt (understandably) soft and floaty. The chassis is so stiff that it could handle the tripod action, like when you gently go up a curb ramp at an angle, and the outside front wheel lifts off the ground....
11-19-2016, 05:10 PM
#89
Rennlist Member
Here's my theory on this:
front springs too soft
needs thicker or heavier bump stop
soft cast top plate is punched out when shock bottoms out
really not acceptable.
front springs too soft
needs thicker or heavier bump stop
soft cast top plate is punched out when shock bottoms out
really not acceptable.
11-19-2016, 05:49 PM
#90
How hard are people hitting holes or objects to do this?....obviously hit a decent sized object or really big hole at high speed and something is going got to break, hence trying to understand it more.
If I hit something really hard, as a driver I know something simply has to give or likely break...so the engineer in me wonders if this failure at the strut top seems a fairly safe way vs wheels disintegrating at high speed upon impact, or ripping suspension or steering arms off in ways that leave the car uncontrollable post impact and lead to potential massive secondary incidents. Ie...maybe these failures, examined in the context of the scale of the hit, are remarkable in that the cars could even be driven.....there's a contrarian idea.
Joe...you however mention that you only hit a dip, which seems to dispute that theory. However a lot more detail and background would likely help everyone understand this, including whether you had any OFF's or incidents at the front in the car prior that you know about? How big a dip was it, how fast etc?
Tons of unknowns here.
If I hit something really hard, as a driver I know something simply has to give or likely break...so the engineer in me wonders if this failure at the strut top seems a fairly safe way vs wheels disintegrating at high speed upon impact, or ripping suspension or steering arms off in ways that leave the car uncontrollable post impact and lead to potential massive secondary incidents. Ie...maybe these failures, examined in the context of the scale of the hit, are remarkable in that the cars could even be driven.....there's a contrarian idea.
Joe...you however mention that you only hit a dip, which seems to dispute that theory. However a lot more detail and background would likely help everyone understand this, including whether you had any OFF's or incidents at the front in the car prior that you know about? How big a dip was it, how fast etc?
Tons of unknowns here.