I had my Cayman S for approx 2-3 months then I unfortunately had a high speed aquaplane/hydroplane incident... the car was going in a straight line when the aquaplane occurred it caused the car to veer to the right on a five lane highway (luckily with no traffic - late at night). At which stage the brakes may have been applied which was definately the wrong thing to do, it caused the car to spin a few times, crossing all 5 lanes, and into some landscaping which consisted of large rocks/bricks, this is where most of the damage occurred, it then went past this and ended up in wet sand. It must be stressed that the car did not hit any large objects directly, most if not all damage was caused by going over the bricks/rocks. Below is a pic of where most of the damage occurred:
Three other pics can be found here:
http://www.planet-9.com/gallery/files/3/6/1/5/damagedcay2.JPG
http://www.planet-9.com/gallery/files/3/6/1/5/damagedcay3.JPG
http://www.planet-9.com/gallery/files/3/6/1/5/damagedcay4.JPG
The damage caused was about Dhs80,000 or USD$22,000 all repairs were performed at the Al Naboodah Body Shop in Dubai, this is the authorised porsche dealer body shop. The repairs took 5-6 weeks.
When receiving the car back from the body shop after being told it was in "perfect condition" it was found that the Air Conditioning was not working at all and the Door that had been removed (due to repairs) was not alligned properly. These were fixed in a couple of hours and the car was taken.
After driving for a couple of weeks I have these problems, which did not exist prior to the accident (in order of importance) - (car has done 13,000Kms):
1) At around 4,000 rpms in 2nd gear or above when the accelerator is sharply tapped and then removed quickly there is what can be described as an air gushing or liquid spraying sound from the engine.. I have taken this to the porsche service centre today and was told that this is totally normal for porsches.. but still want further clarification...?
2) The brakes; After using the car and brakes for 15 mins and above, sometimes when braking from high speeds the car appears to judder (shimmer), the brakes are being applied quite firmly but are not being slammed on (not emergency braking). I was also told by the service centre today that this is normal ABS kicking in, but again am still not sure?
3) The AC cooling works perfectly, however, it is a lot more noisey at times than it used to be, what could this be caused by and how can it be fixed?
4) There is a flapping sound coming from below the drivers foot at speeds over 160-180 kph, this has been repaired by the service centre once but still happens in certain conditions....?
Any suggestions would be much appreciated, I might be over paranoid about some of these problems.
Thanks
was this car a special order or did you buy? Lease off of the dealers lot
Did the shop replace the pads on the brakes? They may have sand imbedded in them. You may need the pads and rotors replaced.
Sapple; the car was bought directly from the porsche dealer in dubai and has 18 months left of a 24 month warranty (unlimited kms).
Hardtop; I'm not sure if the brakes were replaced as the guy at the body shop would not give me a copy of the replacemnt parts list, I am still trying to get hold of this. Would it be easy for sand to get embedded into the pads?
Anymore help would be appreciated.
I'm not sure if it's the brake pads itself, I tend to suspect the rotors.
In a panic stop situation, braking hard would heat up the rotors. The rain water would immediately cool down the rotors again causing them to warp. Might want to have the rotors checked out.
I would also suspect the rotors. Warping may occur in those types of situations.
Sorry to hear that - glad the damage is to the car only.
As others have chimed in, #2 is no biggie. #1 is normal - you don't have to be at high revs, e.g. 2500 rpm in 5th and give a bit of gas, FWHOOOP, flap opening, air gushing in sound. I think it actually is the sound of air gushing in.
Yes i'm beginning to realise that no.1 (engine air filter noise) is normal, think i'm getting very paranoid about the car since the accident
Anyway i'm going to test drive my friends standard cayman (non S) 07 soon hopefully, then I can compare. I'm almost certain there is something up with the brakes, I was told by a friend that one of the rotors may have been damaged and not replaced. It is a point to note that the shuddering (while braking) is more apparent on rough road surfaces compared with smooth road surfaces, could someone kindly tell me why this is? In addition, on some occasions the brakes squeek a bit...
The AC noise is also getting quite annoying, from what the mechanic at the service centre said, there is a generator for the AC on the right hand side of the car and the AC unit is on the left hand side. I believe the loud humming noise is coming from the generator, there is also frequent loud AC gas noises from the vents (hard to explain)... any suggestions?
Hey,
I believe you are being overly sensitive to your car after the accident. The engine "gooshing" sound as stated above is 100% normal.
The brake problem you describe sounds like the ABS. I have the ABS engage once in a while (especially when temperatures are colder and when over rough roads). The ABS engaging does feel like a quick shudder, clicking, or vibration on the brake pedal.
I think your car is fine. The air conditioning may be extra loud but just ask your dealer to give you a test drive in a Cayman S and compare your car to the "test" vehicles car.
Shane
