Planet 9

Okay so I must say that while my car handles wonderfully in the high winds (40-50 mph winds), it performed horribly when at a stand still. I will explain....

Today, I am loading some groceries into the back trunk and the trunk flap or whatever you call it literally flies back in the wind and the two side bars that hold the trunk in place snapped (yes as in broken). The trunk snapped so far back in the wind that it hit the top of the car, and dented it. You can only imagine how horrified I was! My baby, my wonderful car, dented by the damn wind!

When my emotions subsided I investigated the cause of this catastrophy and realized that the bars are held to the car via plastic rings. This plastic part is the area that snapped and resulted in damage to my car. I have to say that this is unbelievable to me that such a high end vehicle would have such flimsy materials in pivotal places such as this!

I would be open to anyone's comments on this.... as I am at a loss of what happened today.

I'M sorry to hear that happened.Boy that sucks.I really have nothing else to say i have not had my car long enough to have looked into any shortcoming with the hatch attachment other than the trunck clunk/thump problem.But thankyou for posting what had happened to you as it will help me avoid the same situation.I know that that does not help you any but again i hope all will be fixed and she will be up and running again like nothing happened...

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That is horrible! Sorry to hear. I think the call it the rear boot/trunk lid. I am surprised to hear this happening but people often under estimate how powerful wind can be. Still it shouldn't happen. I would try my luck at the dealer if it's still under warranty.

Your misfortune provides a lesson to us all - be careful about opening the rear lid in a strong tail wind.

Hope you get it repaired to your satisfaction.

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Andrew My Blogs My Garage My Articles
2006 Cayman S Tiptronic (Year-round Daily Driver & Part-time Track Toy)
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Oh wow, that really sucks.

Hope t gets covered under the warranty

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2009 Cayman S

PDK, Meteor Grey Metallic, Leather interior in special color Terracotta, 19 inch Carrera S II wheels, Floor mats (terracotta), PASM, Bi-xenon lighting sytem with dynamic cornering lights(include LED's), Sport Seats, LSD, Sport chrono Package, PCM with navigation

Oh man, that stinks... So sorry to read this. That rear hatch has a lot of surface area, so a strong wind gust can deliver a lot of force.

You know, it's funny, I was washing my car a few weeks ago. I had the rear hatch opened and I need to go inside to get my vacuum cleaner. I thought to myself, "Maybe I should close that hatch. It's pretty windy out here and with my luck a strong wind will come by while I'm gone and rip the hatch right off". I closed the hatch and on my way inside I was thining, "Dude, there's something wrong with you... Why are you are so damn paranoid?" Now I don't feel so paranoid.

Thanks for the warning. I'll be careful with mine in the wind, and it has been super windy around here lately.

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Gator Bite
PCA Cayman Register Advocate

This is truly bad luck. Almost unbelievable. I hope the roof is not too damaged. How about the lid, I assume it will be replaced? Thanks for informing us about this. I do agree on such an expensive car, that there are some flimsy materials utilized.

Im in the bay area...so I called Walnut Creek Porsche and they said it is not Porsche's responsiblity to cover something that was caused by an outside force (wind). Gosh this hurts....they quoted me $44.22 for the hinges, and 48.34 for the shocks...now somebody please tell me there is something wrong with this picture. The hinges that can't do **** to hold a trunk are almost the same cost of the shocks !@!@!@ oh man.

Anyways Walnut Creek Porsche said bring it over so we can access the damage...which I am sure there not going to make any fixes the service guy on the phone already is referring me to Cook's body shop there are porsche approved...I might take it to some other place in pleasanton, they guy supposedly works on exotics and does a great job...wish me luck...

What a horror story! I hope everything works out for you.

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Pete
2008 Meteor Grey Cayman S
2007 Blue Slate Infiniti G35s 6-speed

As painful as it is, it isn't a warranty issue.

Check with your auto insurance carrier, as it may be covered by comprehensive - the same as if a tree fell on your car due to high winds or hail damage.

As to repair, I would get a quote for both of those body shops and then call the insurance folks, after reading my policy coverage/exclusions.

Good luck

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Depending on the cost of repair you may want to see if you can make a claim with your insurance company. This will depend on the type of coverage you carry. The worst they can do is say that you are not covered.
I am soooo sorry to hear that this happened. On the other hand, I am very glad that you took the time to let others know and for that I .

Second that on sorry to hear it and thanks for the warning

When I first got the car, I noticed that you could push up the rear hatch to near vertical, and did a search here and realized it was so you access the engine for real work. But the hatch would be almost vertical before it hit any stops and as your misfortune clearly demonstrates, the force at the apex, in a strong wind, considerable.

Another thing I did, without harm, was open the front trunk when I had the window wiper blades pulled back. While nothing happened to me, another member cracked the windshield in the same way. Real careful now about those blades when washing windows, and entering trunk.

So I appreciate your sharing your tale of woe, as I think it will help others avoid a similar outcome. Sorry again, but at least it's fixable.

I'm sorry I cant help with anything, but I'm really sorry this happened to you. Hopefully it will be fixed soon!

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Sorry to hear about your misfortune..will be careful when opeing the trunks!! I just went to check the car and noticed that the shocks are metallic...cannot imagine them "breaking". Is yours a 2008? Did you get yours from Michael stead porsche? Good luck.

Sorry to hear......

I'll play devil's advocate here - instead of being a 'flimsy' part, maybe it is purposely designed that way? The hatch attaches to the car via the hinges and the hydraulic struts. If the strut attachment didn't give, then as the hatch lifts and comes to a stop with a wind driving it, it would produce a significant upward force on the car body via the struts, and an opposite downward force on the hinge area.

Maybe that force would produce even more damage to the car body?? Would like to see pictures of the hinge area and the hatch/body contact area if you could, just to see what type of damage occurred in your instance.

Hope the fix goes well.

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1980 Honda CBX
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Wow, sorry to hear of your misfortune. You can image the Porsche engineers discussing this...."I can add some positive stops to the hatch to prevent overturning in a high wind.....but it will add a kilogram of weight. Well, the odds of this happening are so small we won't add the weight."

Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

I think the issue is the wide range of unimpeded travel to near vertical, with the continued application of lifting force, to allow for pulling the engine.

I used to sail small boats, and in high winds, was amazing at the amount of force generated by very small sails. The rear hatch is cupped, and straight downwind, would maximize the force.

With a 50-60 MPH gust, I'd imagine the rear hatch could lift my wife off the ground....

Not mine!

Same thing happend to me earlier this winter.
Now it surprises me to see that more people actually live in places where winds that severe can occur.

New hinges, new shocks, new shock mounts, the hatch is probably fine, roof must be fixed, which is the most tragic and expensive.

The problem with the hatch seems to be its size, high weight, angle of attack and the fact that the end-stop does not occur until it is vertical.
The solution is, of course, to be careful.

I had one hand on mine, I did not want to let it go because of the wind, and then a severe wind gust took it out of my grip and causede the damage.
Once it gets moving, it does not stop easily due to its weight, and the angle rises more and more perpendicular to the wind.
At first, you do not think it is a complete disaster, you think it is only to reattach the shocks.

It is, after all, only a car, and it can be fixed.

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Øyvind Kvålsvoll

2006 Cayman S
1991 928 GT

Oooh - I hope you have a passworded screen saver.

OP, I'm really sorry to hear this and wish you all the best in resolving it. It's hard to know where to draw the line of what should be a warranty claim in this case ie how much wind should the hatch cope with?
If you end up in the middle, with each saying the other should cover it. Then you should ask for either/both to settle with a part payment.
I suspect this is more of n insurance issue,, than a warranty one. You could ask Porsche to put in writing that the hatch is not covered under warranty for this amount of wind as it is above the design threshold. Which should put the ball firmly in the insurance company's court.
Thanks for letting us all know. I hardly ever use my hatch as it's a pain, because it's adjusted so tightly to avoid the trunk boom issue. But I do live in a windy city, so will now pay special attention to this.
Good luck,
Andy

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