orca15

If there has to be a "most expensive place for a pebble to hit a Panamera" my vote is the night vision camera window. It looks to be made of sapphire or some sort of coated glass. Requires R&R of whole unit.

$8K including $2K for "calibration." Insurance company has not quite swallowed this yet, but I think they are going to have to.

chaos2984

Man thats serious bad luck. Let us know if insurance covers it. How did you call it in road debris?

orca15

Comprehensive covers it (they have said that much), just told then I was hit by a rock.

skiracer

Assuming that is the rear end of your vehicle, that's a lot of debris that has hit it. Very surprising to see...

orca15

Haha yes I drive 100mph backwards...

That's the front center of the car.Those are bugs. The car has nary a chip or scratch on it other than this window.. Night vision looks out the front for animals and pedestrians.

skiracer

That makes a lot more sense - for some reason I was thinking rearview camera (I have a 970 and still not entirely familiar w/ all of the newer features in the 971). That is one expensive glass replacement for sure! Your insurance company may choke when writing your check, but they should certainly cover this damage. Best of luck!

sac02

Well there's a reason we pay higher premiums on these cars.

Stop whining and give them man his expensive camera, insurance company.

orca15

Here's what happened: Documenting for future unlucky night vision owners

• My dealer gave me an estimate of $7800, including $1800 for "alignment." The insurance company gave me an estimate $1000 less than that but eventually they met near the top. With my deductible, they cut me a $6800 check.
• I got my local indie to order the part, saving most of the deductible in the process. He and I pulled the bumper and replaced the camera...pics below.
• I used the opportunity to replace the engine air filter. I could have done all this myself but it was worth the 3 hours of shop time to have a lift, tools, and experienced Porsche mechanic leading the way.
• The $200+ I saved in labor rate means I broke about even on the deal, even with the deductible.
• Taking her in to the dealer next week for the ridiculously priced alignment, which needs PIWIS and a calibration screen to complete (digitally).

Turns out the camera is a standard Audi part and can be purchased by part number for even less than I got it for with a little shopping, even saw a Aliexpress (knock off??) for $600. I also could have replaced just the lens had I known, although that kit is $1000.

Procedure - standard bumper removal per other DIYs here. Lift the plastic camera shroud up and forward using pry tools as necessary. Detach assembly from car, detach camera from bracket.

The one I had did not have threaded holes in the rear but the 4 OEM screws seemed to make their own threads just fine (self-tapping). Reverse process.

Sorry I didn't take a lot of pictures, but here is the place the thing attaches to, you can see the video cable at the bottom and the washer at the top. Assembly bolts here, then cover snaps on. The other pic is the camera being screwed onto the assembly while tapping the threads.



What is left when you remove the camera assembly

tapping the screws that hold the camera to the bracket

The plastic cover. The stuff at the top of the photo is the front parking camera and comes off with the bumper.

If you would have told me in 1984 that my Porsche bumper would have a space shuttle's worth of tech stuffed up in the bumper I would have laughed.

chaos2984

Just to add on the Audi parts. I found that the cabin air filter can be sourced from Audi as well. I found out its the same as what is in the Audi Etron GT. I bought 2 for the same price as for the Porsche brand.

Glad you were able to save the deductible and have 0 our of pocket cost.

I have a youtube channel which I will be doing video's for things on my panamera turbo. I should of did the air filter but i wanted to do it quick as it happened last minute with some extra free time i just had popup. And i didn't want to set up for filming.

Great Job by the way.

Andy Liu

That aliexpress part isn’t a knock off. It is an oem part that came off another car in China. China source these parts. If it is replica it won’t have the oem part number on it

orca15

I'm interested to understand this - are you saying this is a used part off another car, or a par for another car (Audi for example) that is made in China? I don't really understand "China source this part" because that sounds like the part is made inChina, but it is clearly marked "Made in USA." Would love to understand this - and wish I would have bought this part and saved $3400!

Also, for the experts out there - I have decided to skip "calibration" at the dealer because the system seems to be working just fine. I can understand calibration for the surround cameras, as they have to work together, but this camera is bolted in place and just sends a picture to the display. What are the advantages of calibrating it or the disadvantages of not calibrating it, as long as it appears well-centered in the display?

Andy Liu

i m saying it is a oem part that China is selling. China also piece item together like the oem 360 camera so people can retrofit. China is probably the only country I see that are selling retrofit thing for our car. Cause most people in China buys the basic panamera and then retrofit everything including the turbo spoiler, gts and turbo body kit and etc. so that camera is mostly a retrofit of the night vision camera for car that didn’t oem order.

Dealer will tell you it is impossible to retrofit any option but it is very possible. Even including Porsche inno drive as people were able to retrofit that also.

Andy Liu

ya I would of bought that lmao! If you can find it cheap do it, you shouldn’t be afraid otherwise. I have retrofit 360 camera onto my panamera and I did it for 500 bucks, if I bought all the parts from the dealer it would have been like 5k. If you can save why not

TRITONE

Andy Liu: please tell me a bit more about the "retrofit 360 camera" you got for $500......does this provide you with "surround view" (even if your car was not delivered with it)? Or did your car already have surround view? I need this....mine lacks surround view and I want it!!
TIA

Andy Liu

Yes I retrofit it, the OEM style is more expensive, but I went with their aftermarket, which work the same but you got a bluetooth button, but the benefit is that you can record while driving also.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/E2gGDNgShZuvpDhX8

Here is a video of it.

I also did the Sportdesign bumper kit retrofit. I am going to do the 971.2 tail light soon, and going to upgrade to the dual screen as found in the new 24 panamera and taycan with the dual screen co pilot