Rusty front wheelarches on 4.5yr old 991.1 Turbo S

[angelosk]

Hello

I was shocked to recently discover signs of rust on the front wheelarches of my 4.5yr old 991.1 Turbo S.

I approached West London OPC to see if they are willing to fix it under warranty or as a defect and they pretty much told me to stick it. It is worth mentioning that I have also had 3 different unrelated faults with the car in the last year and a half, all fixed under warranty.

My question is, is this common and to be expected from a relatively new and very expensive vehicle? Has anyone experienced something similar with a 991? I have seen far older and far cheaper cars that do not have this issue.

Am I being unreasonable in expecting them to fix it? I cannot see how I could have avoided this unless I was driving on dry,freshly paved roads. I was frankly expecting more from Porsche and from such a high end car?

Any thoughts much appreciated?

Thanks
Angelos

 

[polar964]

I would be shocked and devastated if I found rust on any Porsche of that age!
I'm surprised that its not covered under warranty. Has the OPC explained why they are not prepared to investigate further?
Where did you purchase the car from?

 

[terry993]

I have a late 991.1 and thought that there is a 10 year paint warranty.

If if a dealer told me where to stick it I would be less than happy regardless of age. Speak to importers or Porsche direct in Germany You could also give the OPC one more chance to try to come to an agreement But if no success go down the legal route and don’t back off make sure you get an independent engineers report prior to getting fixed at your initial expense. All costs should be claimable if you are successful at court.

 

[angelosk]

I bought the car from Porsche Leicester (great people) but as I live in London I have been dealing with Porsche Weat London (not as good) and Porsche GB in Reading.
Their excuse is that the corrosion warranty only covers rust from inside the paint not rust resulting to the paint coming off due to stone chips under the wheel arch.

I have asked them what I should have done to avoid this and whether the car is meant to be only driven on sry and freshly paved roads and then didn’t bother responding to that apart from dodging the question and indirectly telling me to do one.

Frankly I think its poor design

it is not a lot of rust and only on the surface at the moment but still unacceptable IMO.

 

[angelosk]

I would be shocked and devastated if I found rust on any Porsche of that age!
I'm surprised that its not covered under warranty. Has the OPC explained why they are not prepared to investigate further?
Where did you purchase the car from?

The paint warranty apparently doesn’t apply if your paint comes off due to stone chipping.
I have asked Porsche GB customer services whether that is their final response and they said yes.
I am happy to go down the legal route therefore as I am totally livid about this. They should have put rubber there like in the SUVs or more heavy duty stone chip guards.

It will only cost around £450 to repair both sides so not a lot of money but it is a matter of principle to me, it just shouldn’t happen.

Any solicitor recommendations will be much appreciated btw.

I will try first however to contact the centre I bought it from, they are a great bunch on guys and I have a bit more faith in them

 

[polar964]

I think most car manufactures will defend their anti corrosion warranty against corrosion generated from stone chips, unfortunately!
Is the rust surface rust, localized to the stone chips? If this hasn't spread, perhaps immediate attention will prevent further deterioration.
Perhaps pay Porsche Leicester a visit and see whether they can assist.

 

[terry993]

I wonder how long you have had the car it’s mileage now and mileage when you purchased. You could also try speaking to the supplying dealer.

 

[angelosk]

I wonder how long you have had the car it’s mileage now and mileage when you purchased. You could also try speaking to the supplying dealer.

I have had the car since December 2016.
It is a high mileage car, it has almost 52k miles, the vast majority motorway miles from the previous owner. I have only added about 5k miles to it.
I also keep it in an underground car park so it has never sat outside in the rain

I think most car manufactures will defend their anti corrosion warranty against corrosion generated from stone chips, unfortunately!
Is the rust surface rust, localized to the stone chips? If this hasn't spread, perhaps immediate attention will prevent further deterioration.
Perhaps pay Porsche Leicester a visit and see whether they can assist.

It is only surface rust at the moment and not a lot. You are correct, it does need immidiate attention and I have already got a few quotes to get it sorted before it spreads deeper. Apparently you can also add stone chip guards to the area for very little extra money to prevent the paint from coming off again

 

[angelosk]

This is how it looks like. It’s pretty much the same on the other side
https://s15.postimg.cc/5ml9vyxqj/14_DE1_B94-7_B00-4_D12-_BDD4-_DE1706257559.jpg

 

[Motorhead]

I think you'll find that Porsche will defend robustly their paint warranty - in particular where it applies to stone chips - but good luck if you decide to take them on.

The unprotected leading edges of the sills are very vulnerable to stones being thrown up by the big wheels, especially on the 9X1-series cars. Oddly enough, the sills on the 9X7-series cars have some mastic applied which affords limited protection, killed-off presumably by cost savings..!

Once repaired, you may want to consider applying PPF to the sills.

Jeff

Edit: From your picture it looks as though there is some sill protection, so I stand corrected. However, still insufficient cover to prevent chipping where the sill's most vulnerable.

 

[ralphmusic]

All in the last 5k miles?

 

[angelosk]

I think you'll find that Porsche will defend robustly their paint warranty - in particular where it applies to stone chips - but good luck if you decide to take them on.

The unprotected leading edges of the sills are very vulnerable to stones being thrown up by the big wheels, especially on the 9X1-series cars. Oddly enough, the sills on the 9X7-series cars have some mastic applied which affords limited protection, killed-off presumably by cost savings..!

Once repaired, you may want to consider applying PPF to the sills.

Jeff

My argument would not be about paint warranty. I would argue that the car has a defect and is not fit for purpose. There is no way you can avoid this unless you drive on a freshly paved road when it is dry. This is of course unreasonable. The manufacturer therefore should have taken steps to prevent that from happening. Most cars haven unprotected leading edges on the sills and they don't have this issue. Porsche should have sorted it out. They could have applied for example a stoneguard like on the rear wheelarches or cover the whole thing in rubber like it is in the Cayenne and Macan.

Agreed about the PPF to the sills, it has to be done otherwise it will happen again.

All in the last 5k miles?

Yes, the car was immaculate when I got it. I did specifically check the areas under the wheel arches. I guess the damage happened slowly over time but the paint came off after I got it....

 

[Lancerlot]

That area is aluminium and plastic - so no rust. It is exposed to road gravel thrown up from the front tyres, - not something that would be covered by any warranty.

Save yourself al lot of anguish, forget about legal action - you don't stand a chance. Better to use the cash to get your pride and joy repaired (should be much less than £450 at a friendly paint shop), then have those areas ppf'd.

Enjoy your car it's a terrific piece of kit! [] []

Regards,

Clive

 

[angelosk]

That area is aluminium and plastic - so no rust. It is exposed to road gravel thrown up from the front tyres, - not something that would be covered by any warranty.

Save yourself al lot of anguish, forget about legal action - you don't stand a chance. Better to use the cash to get your pride and joy repaired (should be much less than £450 at a friendly paint shop), then have those areas ppf'd.

Enjoy your car it's a terrific piece of kit! [] []

Regards,

Clive

You are right I’m afraid.. It’s probably not worth the hassle... do you happen to know of a good paint shop to recommend, it would be very much appreciated!

 

[Lancerlot]

I do, but as I live in North Devon, it's probably not very helpful to you.
Why not ask the RO of your Region for suggestions. There are bound to be recommendations from fellow members - it's one of the joys of being a PCGB member! []
Regards,
Clive

 

[fireblade]

That area is aluminium and plastic - so no rust. It is exposed to road gravel thrown up from the front tyres, - not something that would be covered by any warranty.

Save yourself al lot of anguish, forget about legal action - you don't stand a chance. Better to use the cash to get your pride and joy repaired (should be much less than £450 at a friendly paint shop), then have those areas ppf'd.

Enjoy your car it's a terrific piece of kit! [] []

Regards,

Clive

You are right I’m afraid.. It’s probably not worth the hassle... do you happen to know of a good paint shop to recommend, it would be very much appreciated!

Are you sure it is rust? As Clive says my 2014 991.9 Turbo S seems to be plastic at the lower sills and aluminium where the front wing joins,(plastic rear wing), with decent size linings inside the wheel arch. There are a few paint chips where minor gravel rash has occurred bur nothing worth spraying (nasty French Motorways). I have much more gravel rash on the bonnet (aluminium) and lower valance (plastic) therefore no rust. (I have just touched up temporally cosmetically and found that my Sapphire Blue Metallic touch up from Porsche costs about four time Mazda (MX5) Winning Blue, the latter actually seems a better colour match!

 

[angelosk]

Are you sure it is rust? As Clive says my 2014 991.9 Turbo S seems to be plastic at the lower sills and aluminium where the front wing joins,(plastic rear wing), with decent size linings inside the wheel arch. There are a few paint chips where minor gravel rash has occurred bur nothing worth spraying (nasty French Motorways). I have much more gravel rash on the bonnet (aluminium) and lower valance (plastic) therefore no rust. (I have just touched up temporally cosmetically and found that my Sapphire Blue Metallic touch up from Porsche costs about four time Mazda (MX5) Winning Blue, the latter actually seems a better colour match!

It is unfortunately. (close up image attached)
Aluminium does rust but does not oxidise so essentially the rust will only stay at the surface.
If you zoom in you can see the havoc caused by stone chips further down

https://s15.postimg.cc/fu49rro1n/A1644_E3_A-7_B90-4_BDF-_A997-_D5_D7_F8_A8_CD5_F.jpg

 

[6DW]

Did you have the car from new? I have previously seen this type of corrosion on cars which may have had poor quality painting following panel replacements.

 

[angelosk]

Did you have the car from new? I have previously seen this type of corrosion on cars which may have had poor quality painting following panel replacements.

Not from new no. I got it about a year and a half ago from Leicester OPC as a Porsche Approved Used.

 

[ralphmusic]

How about these?

https://www.suncoastparts.com/product/MUDGUARD.html