PORSCHE'S STRUT TOWER ISSUE

[@warrenlucier5796]

Hope it helps and they should've just stayed with steel like the 987/997 and earlier cars. I do have a strut brace in my gen 2 Cayman S, just for insurance.

[@sagamotorsports]

@@warrenlucier5796 Porsche, always in pursuit of shaving weight at any cost. This makes me think how new gen GT3 and 3RS have lightweight glass and man are they problematic. All in the pursuit of shaving ounces. Good call on keeping one on your cayman, It also provides a more rigid front end and im sure you feel that through the wheel.

[@ealingj]

Thank you for making this video. It's actually a relief to see the light-hearted nature of this video. Strut tower is something track people have on the back of their minds. Love the content: 1) this could and does happen. 2) it is repairable and not end of the world. 3) there is a potential solution. Awesome.

[@sagamotorsports]

@@ealingj I like this approach alot! You know we have had a friend track a car for 15-20 events, bend multiple sets of wheels, then experience this failure and be mad. How can you, look at all the abuse the car has taken and not skipped a beat, reality is things can break and eventually they will.

[@redzone5655]

This strut brace is designed for improving handling at high speed corners, not a a safety reinforcement. It just improves flexing and gives more contact surface and exits. It is like an upper swaybar. Manufacturer states that. At 1.6k usd is way to expensive given that you can buy one original for 1/3 of that price. This guy is selling snake oil IMHO.

[@timothygould3542]

I recently took a walk through the shop outside of VIR and there was a GT4 in the shop with a strut tower failure. Take it easy on those curbs and pot holes.

[@sagamotorsports]

@@timothygould3542 VIR we love you, but man do you break our hearts! We can only try, but once that helmet is on taking it easy is pretty much out the window…

[@takkr1979]

Great video! Thanks for the explanation. I am a happy owner of a 718 gt4. Do you think that increased camber can also lead to strut tower issues?

[@sagamotorsports]

@@takkr1979 I wish I knew more about stock cars but all our cars have been tracked at max or close to max camber. Then again this issue has happened with people around us who had very tame alignment setups too.

[@analogperformance7666]

I have a 2023 GT4 RS. Was not clear if you said the 718 was or was not affected. But I installed Porsche Motorsport camber plates along with the extra PM strut bracing plates. Have you had any experience with that setup?

[@sagamotorsports]

@@analogperformance7666 Yes your car and generation are affected. Those bracing plates are a good solution and a ton of people around us run them with success. We simply believe this plate/brace combo is a more complete solution.

[@frederickcook87]

The white car with the kw suspension had some sort of bracing and still failed. You did say there was an on track collision with that one but I can’t imagine a scenario where hitting another car would cause the front coil-over to go up through the tower

[@sagamotorsports]

@@frederickcook87 Yes that car had the motorsports plates, and tower still failed. If I best recall this was after the car got squeezed and ended up eating a huge curb. The reason it’s so pronounced is the car actually continued to be driven and finished the race this way. The wheel did not look great either but held air.

[@frederickcook87]

@@sagamotorsportsgotcha 👌🏾

[@generiley355]

How in the hell can Porsche not take responsibility and pay for this? It is their crap materials or design.......the car is built to be driven and driven hard........except for this........

[@sagamotorsports]

Everyone has that opinion too at first, we did too. Then you realize while the car is meant to be driven hard, taking them to the track is more like abusing them.. Most* of the times this happens after a severe impact so being realistic and owning up to your mistake is also big.

[@johnm5131]

Let's be clear: it is not an "issue" that hyper-lowered street cars with coilovers, and bearing strut hats have structural failure after bouncing off curbs for dozens of track events. Every pro-level race-prepped porsche I have ever been associated with, has been reinforced in this area. It's the "add everything from an online catalog and take it to the track"-crowd that has this "issue". So, be safe guys......

[@albertlau5122]

this!!!!

[@sagamotorsports]

@@johnm5131 We have actually seen this happen to cars that were at OEM ride height, but yess from factory they do sit pretty low. Some failures are still a mystery as there was never a direct big impact also. Very much agree that tracking is a very violent sport, especially at a track like cota where you are jumping over curbs looking for that optimal lap time. As in anything motorsports if something can fail, it eventually will fail.

[@Xero285]

I worked as a mechanic in an oem porsche center for almost 10 years and never saw this failure one time. Even the porsche repair database tells nothing about this failure. This must be a very rare thing.

[@sagamotorsports]

@@Xero285 In total numbers it is fair to say this is a rare occurrence, but in our circle where 90% of the Porsche Owners track their cars it becomes very common to see this.

[@garrettwilliamson9522]

I heard that lower spring rate would increase the likelihood of this happening not higher spring rates

[@sagamotorsports]

@@garrettwilliamson9522 Honestly there are a lot of factors involved, add to that a cast piece that holds the weight of the car and you have too many variables at hand. I does makes sense how a softer spring could cause the shock to bottom out in a sudden jolt, transferring that impact to the chasis.

[@garrettwilliamson9522]

@@sagamotorsports that’s correct softer spring rates allow the damper to bottom out transferring all the energy into the shock towers. I heard this from Joey seely of E-motion engineering btw

[@sagamotorsports]

@ Makes sense! Joey is definitely a very knowledgeable guy.

[@Enthusiastmotorsport]

Harris hill is BUMPY

[@sagamotorsports]

I heard they may be re-paving again and are hopeful that's the case. The boss has been a member there for about 6 years and we have only attended a handful times. The surface felt amazing when they re-paved a few years ago but it's just a little too bumpy now.

[@alaaelrakaiby2157]

Does this happen to non-GT 991.2 911s?

[@sagamotorsports]

We did have a friend who drove a GTS on track and he was first in line for a Strut Brace. We may just not see as many failures on Non-GT cars as they are "softer sprung" and people don't track them as often.

[@a124as]

Ever since Porsche got bought by VW, they turned into a shit brand

[@sagamotorsports]

Beg to differ, its honestly an amazing brand altogether. It is until you drive them at speed when you get the realization of how amazing and capable machines they are.

[@christan3278]

Where is the link to get more info on this reinforcement

[@sagamotorsports]

We have updated the description of the video to include a link for the emotion engineering brace.

[@Leowavekid]

I live in LA, CA and have a 991.2 GT3 RS…. Any idea who can do a good quality install for me !? Beyond the part u showed .. have u changed anything else on the strut..( someone here mentioned a club-sport strut plate…) Many Thanks….

[@sagamotorsports]

@@Leowavekid Regarding install I would reach out to the company that produces the bar to see if they have a list of preferred installers. I do believe they are out of California aswell. The club sport plate is what the race car variants ran, and as you can see from one of the pictures in the video we still have seen failures with just the plate. We believe this strut brace is a better solution, but only time will prove us right or wrong. A brace like this is very common in motorsports and are pretty confident (and hopeful) this will be the solution to avoid a failure in the future.

[@Leowavekid]

@ Can one do both the braces and the club sport plates or its an overkill and just the braces would be enough ? Many Thanks !!!🙏

[@sagamotorsports]

@@Leowavekid Just the plates would be a first good step in our opinion, but the brace seems to be a more complete solution.

[@DarkTouch]

so i have installed the clubsport tower reinforcement plates. is that not good enough?

[@quocanhphanho8969]

Minute 3 mark, they already installed the reinforcement plate already apparently, but still damaged…

[@frederickcook87]

@@quocanhphanho8969I saw that….😖

[@sagamotorsports]

@@DarkTouch I do believe those reinforcement plates are a step in the right direction but in our opinion this brace is a more complete solution.

[@johngreen8693]

Air filter at the front?

[@warrenlucier5796]

For the cabin or pilot cockpit .

[@sagamotorsports]

@@johngreen8693 Correct, the cabin air filter!

[@TrackAttackRacing]

Great informative video as always! After watching this all cars driving on roads in California should be inspected 🫣😅

[@sagamotorsports]

@@TrackAttackRacing Haha Absolutely! A friend literally cracked both on his drive to the track after hitting an asphalt to concrete transition on the highway.

[@TrackAttackRacing]

@ oh man. New fear unlocked! 😬

[@sagamotorsports]

@@TrackAttackRacing Hopefully this issue no longer lingers in our mind with the brace!