GT4 strut top failure
Discussion
TDT said:
Strut Tower Update from Vehicle Villians...
https://youtu.be/YNaFpCseu04
Disappointing result for the lad with Porsche wanting £5,400 to repair plus whatever the cost is of a new wheel. Nothing to say it wont happen again eitherhttps://youtu.be/YNaFpCseu04
On the face of it Glasgow do not come out in a good light....but there is always 2 sides to any story ..If you watch some of the vids going round Knockhill would say not very sympathetic to the car ,understand it is a GT car but who knows how it gets driven 24 hrs a day and what caused the damage to the strut initially .Will be interesting to see what the outcome will be when the car is back on the road again .
woodysnr said:
On the face of it Glasgow do not come out in a good light....but there is always 2 sides to any story ..If you watch some of the vids going round Knockhill would say not very sympathetic to the car ,understand it is a GT car but who knows how it gets driven 24 hrs a day and what caused the damage to the strut initially .Will be interesting to see what the outcome will be when the car is back on the road again .
Well its not a write off... so the car will be repaired, driven for a little bit, and then probably sold on (certainly seems like the plan from the video) - but with likely no disclosure of the repair.... not that you strictly have to in a non-insurance event.woodysnr said:
On the face of it Glasgow do not come out in a good light....but there is always 2 sides to any story ..If you watch some of the vids going round Knockhill would say not very sympathetic to the car ,understand it is a GT car but who knows how it gets driven 24 hrs a day and what caused the damage to the strut initially .Will be interesting to see what the outcome will be when the car is back on the road again .
Out of interest what do you deem to be sympathetic driving on a trackday? All i see in the videos is someone pushing their GT4 round a track like any other person on a trackday does. The only difference is this car has footage of it online. After all these cars were made to be driven round a track not cruising up and down motorways 
Edited by WORRALL. on Wednesday 27th February 15:18
From 12:40
https://youtu.be/z_WpLON3VSk
And if you watch for a little longer they laugh and joke about how abused the car has been “the most abused GT4 in the UK”
The follow up video states the front wheel has buckled and evidence the top strut bolt had failed before the tear.........constant abuse and failure leading to total failure it looks to me......no wonder Porsche where not interested !
https://youtu.be/z_WpLON3VSk
And if you watch for a little longer they laugh and joke about how abused the car has been “the most abused GT4 in the UK”
The follow up video states the front wheel has buckled and evidence the top strut bolt had failed before the tear.........constant abuse and failure leading to total failure it looks to me......no wonder Porsche where not interested !
The tech in the video gives some reasonable explanation as to why this has happened and that is has been seen in a few other manufacturers cars as well - Audi R8, Merc C63.
It really boils down the materials that Porsche have decided to use for this structure in the 9x1 cars. It's designed for certain loads with certain ride height ranges.
The GT cars are right at the lower limit of the ride height range and use stronger suspension parts that can take more load... in an impact event - the load gets transferred and ultimately can be manifested on the relatively weakest link in the chain.
Interestingly, they did take special attention to reinforce the rear.. as per the Service Information..Technical Introduction document for the MY2016 Cayman GT4
The 992 seems to use a different part in this area from the body shell shots that i have seen... would like to see the service information/techincal information document for that - so see if they have used anything different for the new Gen.
It really boils down the materials that Porsche have decided to use for this structure in the 9x1 cars. It's designed for certain loads with certain ride height ranges.
The GT cars are right at the lower limit of the ride height range and use stronger suspension parts that can take more load... in an impact event - the load gets transferred and ultimately can be manifested on the relatively weakest link in the chain.
Interestingly, they did take special attention to reinforce the rear.. as per the Service Information..Technical Introduction document for the MY2016 Cayman GT4
The 992 seems to use a different part in this area from the body shell shots that i have seen... would like to see the service information/techincal information document for that - so see if they have used anything different for the new Gen.
Edited by TDT on Wednesday 27th February 19:55
Porsche911R said:
At the end of the day the car in question has hit something hard enough to bend a wheel !
Now at that point who's fault is it ? , The cars, the drivers, or just bad luck ?
With it happening at night probably just bad luck. Now at that point who's fault is it ? , The cars, the drivers, or just bad luck ?
Now IF he did hit a pothole.. would he be able to claim off the council? They pay out for bent wheels caused by potholes but this isnt just a case of a bent wheel
Porsche911R said:
At the end of the day the car in question has hit something hard enough to bend a wheel !
Now at that point who's fault is it ? , The cars, the drivers, or just bad luck ?
And when he put it in the gravel trap the corner that failed was digging in pretty hard at one point. I like how one of the youtubers comments to the tech about the strut failing and the wheel being fine to which the tech immediately points out the wheel isn't fine. Now at that point who's fault is it ? , The cars, the drivers, or just bad luck ?
Porsche911R said:
At the end of the day the car in question has hit something hard enough to bend a wheel !
Now at that point who's fault is it ? , The cars, the drivers, or just bad luck ?
A couple of years ago I went over a pothole in the dark at a very sedate c.30 mph that wrecked 2 wheels and tyres and put the alignment out.Now at that point who's fault is it ? , The cars, the drivers, or just bad luck ?
Alas the local council didn't want to know. From memory I think from a legal perspective they are only obliged to cover costs if they have previously been informed of the hole and have not fixed within a certain timeframe. That was a bugger for sure....
dunc_sx said:
I agree with most folk, the weakest link path should not be wheel then chassis strut mtg. It should be the last thing to go.
Definitely design/testing error.
Duncan.
Who are most folk? Most folk who have a GT4 have not had this failure. Including a lot that have been on track. The one and only failure on a UK GT4 that is being discussed most recently here has hit something so hard that it bent a wheel. There is no footage of the time that the strut top actually fractured. So we don't know when it happened and what the circumstances were. The owner certainly isn't admitting anything. And there are suggestions in the comments section of the YT video that the front suspension had been stiffened up which would make the turrets even more susceptible to damage from an impact.Definitely design/testing error.
Duncan.
Until there are frequent cases of GT4 turrets fracturing when driven normally on road and track this one has to be put down to user induced.
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