Hello everyone,

I just recently was fortunate enough to purchase my first brand new 2017 Carrera S. I am loving the car but have been noticing that the panel gaps are kind of off in different places on the car. For instance the panel gap on the drivers door is perfect all the way around which is what I would expect. However the gap on the passenger door is bigger at the top and a little narrower as you go down. Overall, it matches the opening ok and I think if you tried to adjust it, it would probably make things worse. I also noticed that the right and left side of the hood and tail panels are not quite the same on both sides either. I am sure I notice it more since it is a white car, but I am just surprised on such an expensive car. I was at the Porsche dealership for an event over the weekend and didn't notice too many others with the gap issues as extreme.

I used to be in the car business years ago so I can pick up paint work a mile away. Everything seems smooth on the edges and it looks all like factory paint and none of the bolts have been touched. I was just curious if this is pretty normal for these cars? I was concerned maybe someone tweaked the frame or something on a test drive before I got it or lifted incorrectly etc.

Thanks for your input.

 

The gaps should be consistent all around. Please get it checked...it’s a Porsche not a Tesla !

 

This says it all to me .. no worries if the bolts haven’t been touched then it’s factory, I know you are analyzing the fit and finish on your car but everything can be adjusted and more importantly no car is perfect. I used to get crazy over every part of my car and the fit of the panels when I was younger but realized they are NEVER perfect

It just took away from my enjoyment of my new car, enjoy it and stop worrying.

Come to my garage i’ve got 4 2017 cars (bmw,Audi’s and acura) plus my 991 and R8, I guarantee none of them have a perfect fit on every Panel.

 

I know you would hope otherwise but cars do get damaged in transport from Germany and are repaired and sold without any notification to the customer as Porsche feels that they meet Porsche standards.

 

This would bother me too. I recently took a factory tour in conjunction with european delivery, and they do a decent job of checking gaps while it's on the line. They don't check every mm of the car, and there is some leeway tolerance, but they do check it and if they are off by more than a couple of mm's, I'd look into it.

 

When I recently took delivery of my Porsche, it was sitting outside in front of the dealership. Before going in I closely inspected the car without the SA hovering over me. One of the things I checked was uniformity of the various body panel gaps. To my pleasant surprise they appeared in good order. I did however find a small paint blemish which turned out to be caused by the adhesion of the blue plastic tubular bar placed on the front bumper at the factory for front end protection during transport. Luckily it was a quick fix and all is well.

If the gaps are a distraction for you, I'd suggest having the dealer or a Porsche qualified body shop realign the panels. This is a warranty issue so it should be of no cost to you.

 

My 996 Turbo factory reference in the car body repair section has all gaps labeled and a gap width +/- for each.

I bet the factoyr manual for your car has the same section the same drawings.

To give you some idea of the gap widths, and tolerances, I offer the following.

For the gap between the leading edge of the door and the edge of the fender the gap is 4mm +2.5mm. (There's a note: Note: Door only lowered [sic] (max. 1mm)).

The bottom of the door back maybe just 6 inches from the leading door gap the dimension is 4mm +1mm -0.5mm.

At this same location the door panel can only be 1.5mm recessed from the rocker. (There's a note: Doors only lowered [sic].)

Still on the bottom of the door gap about 6 inches from where the door begins to sweep up the gap is 3.5mm +1mm -0.5mm.

At this same location the door panel can only be 2mm recessed from the rocker. (Note: Doors only lowered [sic].)

At about halfway up the trailing edge of the door the gap call out is 4mm +1mm -0.5mm. (Note: Doors only raised [sic].)

Just a few inches below the top of the door (where the glass goes into the door) the gap is 4mm +1mm -.05mm (Note: Door only raised [sic] (max. 1mm).)

 

I would bet dollars to donuts that gaps are inspected and verified within appropriate tolerances before each car leaves the factory. That stuff is all included with quality inspection.
Are you seeing things out of whack by more than 1 mm?

 

[QUOTE=chance6;4680216]I would bet dollars to donuts that gaps are inspected and verified within appropriate tolerances before each car leaves the factory. That stuff is all included with quality inspection.
Are you seeing things out of whack by more than 1 mm?[/QUOTE

The biggest difference so far is +2mm. I am taking it to the dealer next week to get the issue investigated and make sure there is not a bigger issue. They are telling me this should have been caught during the PDI so hopefully we will figure it out. I will let you guys know what I find out.

 

OK, look forward to the news on this. Thanks.

 

[QUOTE=jb1;4680219]If the gaps are out of spec this should have been caught before the car left the assembly line at the Porsche factory.

Search for vidoes of Porsche being made. There's a scene towards the end where body gaps and such are checked.

 

Hi all, just a quick update. I talked with my service advisor (Porsche of Hickory is awesome by the way) and he sent me to a Porsche certified body shop. They agreed that the gaps were off and got me all fixed up under warranty. They confirmed there was no prior damage and that it was just off from the factory.