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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 itsopinion. Wonder if the first impact even happened in some aspect of the shipping/delivery.
The sense is that the alloy is strong and tough, not brittle. There was no verbal indication of whether they could estimate how long ago the first break was.
The sense is that the alloy is strong and tough, not brittle. There was no verbal indication of whether they could estimate how long ago the first break was.
Very good to know. And makes sense given the pounding this part apparently gets in the various GT4- and GT3-based race cars—it would have to be, even with and maybe especially because of the cage/ties employed in those cars. This is a complex subject, for sure. Maybe the few failures we've seen to date will be joined by very few other exceptions.
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!
I wonder what the cost would be for an official analysis and whether the community would be interested in chipping in if spread wide enough.
Originally Posted by chasen1211
PMNA
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
If you search this thread for my earlier posts, you'll come across a post where I quoted a body shop owner I know (family owned business) who has some definite opinions about precisely what you think should be the case, and agrees. But regardless, this part is tightly controlled by Porsche.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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
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
thanks carl. the passenger side bracket has two "wings". the inner wing does get bolted to the body. so at least there's some added benefit there. the outer wing does not.
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.
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....
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
Interesting to note from the picture you provided that the passenger side gets 2 additional bolts whereas the driver side only 1.
04-26-2017, 11:40 AM
