997.1 GT3 RS low speed noise....

[Por911T]

As it says ..... my 997.1 GT3 RS had a very annoying front end rattle prominent at very low speeds (2-5mph) when the road surface is poor - typically when coasting up to traffic light on poor quality tarmac (of which we have loads in Scotland !!) It doesn't seem to be effected by 'wiggling' the steering wheel but seems to more related to vertical(up & down)noise which makes me think front top strut mounts ?? My car has only done 15000 miles .

Issue number 2 : an intermittent steering squeak when turning the steering wheel - sound like a dry bush (??)

Does anyone else have any experience of these two issues.

Thanks for any input.

Regards
Barry

[ttdan]

This is a pretty common fault on gen 1 GT3's. Car usually needs to warm up a bit and then slow speed poor surface and it starts rattling, People will give you various opinions on what the problem is. All i can say is mine and a few i know of, did not resolve itself until the strut was changed.

[PorscheGT4]

top mount bearings at a guess

[Por911T]

Ah thank you gents ...... good to know that I'm not alone ! The car has a Porsche warranty (booked in next week) and your info has been helpful in that if I get fobbed off by the OPC I feel I cant reply with some level of certainty - I have to say to date I've found Porsche Edinburgh to be very good .

Thanks again gents.

Further replied always appreciated.......

[V8KSN]

Por911T said:

As it says ..... my 997.1 GT3 RS had a very annoying front end rattle prominent at very low speeds (2-5mph) when the road surface is poor - typically when coasting up to traffic light on poor quality tarmac (of which we have loads in Scotland !!) It doesn't seem to be effected by 'wiggling' the steering wheel but seems to more related to vertical(up & down)noise which makes me think front top strut mounts ?? My car has only done 15000 miles .

Issue number 2 : an intermittent steering squeak when turning the steering wheel - sound like a dry bush (??)

Does anyone else have any experience of these two issues.

Thanks for any input.

Regards
Barry

Dos it sound like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctK8S8yzxdU

[Por911T]

Yes, the steering squeak is exactly like that - 100% spot on !

Can you shed any further light on this ???

[V8KSN]

Por911T said:

Yes, the steering squeak is exactly like that - 100% spot on !

Can you shed any further light on this ???

Wish I could mate, thats my car, need to find a solution myself but there were a few people on here saying its the washer in the steering wheel behind the airbag that need replacing/fixing.

Planning on asking JZM to check it out when its with them for servicing next week.

[Por911T]

Ok must be a relatively common issue on the GT3/RS then - my car is exactly the same . If you get any feedback from JZM id really appreciate you letting me know. Vvvvery annoying .....

Cheers
Barry

[PR36]

May be totally unrelated but my cayman developed a very annoying rattle over rough jittery tarmac coming from the front end at low speeds. It turned out to be one of the plastic underbody floor tray locating tabs had snapped meaning it was flapping.

Edited by PR36 on Thursday 13th August 12:20

[am0611]

I have a 997 GT2 that has front left suspension creak & steering squeak that started around 20,000 miles. Did not present itself when cold but after some running made a terrible noise, especially at slow speed (parking speeds). Really annoyed the hell out of me for months.

Finally did some research and found the solution to be a replacement of both dampers (spoke to Chris at CG on the subject and he said it was not uncommon on 997.1 GT3 & GT2). You can get the dampers refurbished and CG can do turn-around in 1-2 days if you don't want to replace. I elected to not use CG just because of practicalities. However, dampers changed, car geo set-up again & hey presto the noise has gone.

pm me if you want to discuss the issue further.

Edited by am0611 on Thursday 13th August 15:59

Edited by am0611 on Thursday 13th August 16:14

[Por911T]

Your info has been invaluable - I would add that both issues only seem to occur when the car is very warm after a long run - so I only hope that Porsche Edinburgh have the patience to pin point the problem areas - to date I have found them very good . They hold a few owners club days so its good to get a rapport going with them.

[V8KSN]

Slippydiff said:

Por911T said:

Yes, the steering squeak is exactly like that - 100% spot on !

Can you shed any further light on this ???

Ah, that squeak, that'll be the steering column top bush/bearing or the horn slip ring/contact that's drier than a nun's crutch.

[mike746]

did you find the cause of this rattle?? mine is doing my head in? please help

[Evolved]

Solution: increase weight to your right foot..

[Slippydiff]

mike746 said:

did you find the cause of this rattle?? mine is doing my head in? please help

It'll be one of the following :

1 The spherical bearings in the strut top mounts are worn .

2 The anti roll bar drop link ends (balljoints) are worn.

3 The front strut damper rod bushings are worn (frequently gets worse after a few miles driving as the dampers heat up)

4 Front coffin arm outer balljoints worn.

5 Anti roll bar bushes worn or dry.

6 Coffin arm inner bushings worn

1,2 & 3 (or combination of all three) are common issues.

Most OPC's will fail to or wrongly diagnose issues 1,2&3. Bite the bullet, book the car in one of the well known and regarded specialist Indys, or if you want the car set up and fettled to a standard few others will attain, book it in with Chris Franklin at Center Gravity.

HTH.

[mike746]

Slippydiff said:

It'll be one of the following :

1 The spherical bearings in the strut top mounts are worn .

2 The anti roll bar drop link ends (balljoints) are worn.

3 The front strut damper rod bushings are worn (frequently gets worse after a few miles driving as the dampers heat up)

4 Front coffin arm outer balljoints worn.

5 Anti roll bar bushes worn or dry.

6 Coffin arm inner bushings worn

thanks i will have a look at these and let you know

1,2 & 3 (or combination of all three) are common issues.

Most OPC's will fail to or wrongly diagnose issues 1,2&3. Bite the bullet, book the car in one of the well known and regarded specialist Indys, or if you want the car set up and fettled to a standard few others will attain, book it in with Chris Franklin at Center Gravity.

HTH.

[dwootton]

Hi
My 997.1 GT3 had the front end rattle (not th squeak). OPC changed moe or less everything on the front end under warranty but as soon as the car got warm it returned.
It drove me mad.
I did a bit of digging on the web and found a post that said it was the front struts, that when the oil in the strut got warm, and therefore thinner, the internals of the strut rattled.
I bit the bullet and bought new struts (not under warrenty) and it fixed the problem. It's now rattle free.
If you are able to, you can remove the struts and get them refurbished by Bilstien as an alternative .

Only thing it stil does is a small squeak when I reverse into the garage, bumping up about a one inch step into the garage, but I can live with that

Hope it helps

[Por911T]

Thanks for all the feedback, by the volume of replies this is clearly a common issue. I have no doubt in my case the issue lies with the struts. Between the feedback here and the GT3 Facebook page there is no question this is where the problem lies. My car is now garaged for the winter and the first job this coming spring will be a front strut refurb by Bilstien .

If anyone needs the UK Bilstien address(for strut refurb) please reply here and I'll dig it out my car file. I don't have it to hand just now .

Kind regards
Barry

[v8ksn]

Por911T said:

Thanks for all the feedback, by the volume of replies this is clearly a common issue. I have no doubt in my case the issue lies with the struts. Between the feedback here and the GT3 Facebook page there is no question this is where the problem lies. My car is now garaged for the winter and the first job this coming spring will be a front strut refurb by Bilstien .

If anyone needs the UK Bilstien address(for strut refurb) please reply here and I'll dig it out my car file. I don't have it to hand just now .

Kind regards
Barry

Barry, I sorted mine out, it no longer rattles or squeaks........ I have replaced the PASM suspension with Ohlins Road and Track suspension

Granted, its the nuclear solution though

The work was done by Chris at Centre Gravity and when he drove the car and heard the squeak (vid link above in a previous post of mine) he immediately stated the squeak was coming from the bushes being worn.

I highly recommend you take your car over to him for a rapid diagnosis and fix.

[Por911T]

Ah brilliant so glad you got it fixed . It really is a major annoyance . I understand Centre Gravity are superb - extremely highly rated. Thanks for the advice and input - together we are stronger !!

Kind regards Barry