My 997.1 4S has PASM. Was out for a nice drive on secondary roads, with PASM in normal mode. Suddenly, BANG! The right front wheel hit a pothole and bottomed out on the rubber stop. The noise was incredibly loud, enough to make me wonder what broke, or what damage might have been incurred. The speed was around 50 mph at the time.

Questions/advice?:

1. At the time of hitting the pothole, PASM was in normal mode (not Sport). Would it have handled the pothole any better or worse if it had been in Sport mode, just to keep in mind for the future?

2. Visual inspection of the rim indicates no bends or visible damage, and the car continues to drive very nicely, without any high speed shakes or balancing issues.

3. I had just put 4 new PS2s on the car, with a complete re-alignment at the dealer, last week, just before hitting the ***pothole! It sickens me to think I should have the alignment re-done.

Any thoughts, thanks...

 

if it drives exactly as it did before i wouldnt bother with another alignment, it it pulls or shimmies or anything it didnt do before then i would get one, if that doesnt fix the issue then maybe a rim is bent

in all likelihood everything is fine, ive hit tons of pot holes and everything has been fine

 

seems like porsches are robust :-)
my easy way to check if alignment is good is to push to car in curves, check if handling is still there.
if car does not have the same traction when pushing it in turns, then it's obvious to me it need alignment.
if handling is still good then you might not need it.

 

I think you answered your questions with #2.
if you notice any changes then have it checked out. otherwise... enjoy the car

 

This unfortunately happens a lot around here (ny). If you didn't bend a wheel you are most likely fine. Doubt that sport setting would have prevented bottoming out. Bent $$ Champion rim this winter for second time in 3 years

 

Its all your fault.
Had you not just gotten new tires and an alignment, you would not have seen a pothole for another 2 years. ;-)

 

That is so true, lol.

I swear I thought the wheel must have broken when I heard that explosive impact, but perhaps those 19" Turbo wheels, which are forged, were what saved my bacon. Whew!!

Thanks to everybody for your inputs...

 

This exactly. Happens numerous times PER drive in NY. One of the things about driving in this minezone of NYC (though it's getting better) is that you learn just how much of a BANG is a signal to potential damage. Driving the 997 I seem to get pretty loud bangs over even some minor (at least to us) potholes. You're probably fine if you notice no change in the drive. Happened once in the CLA and the wheel started doing the shimmy at high speed immediately after. Went to look at the tire and saw part of the sidewall was no longer tucked underneath the wheel

 

OUCH! That looks bad. Road hazard tire warranty I hope....

 

Nope :/... didn't think I'd need it before this winter.. In the past it's been navigable during the winter as you can swerve around the potholes. This year though theyve spanned entire lanes.. so if you're on the highway doing 50 even and run into the below pic and there's traffic next to you, not much you can do lol...

That being said, it has gotten better

 

3rd world roads. Nice.

 

I will say I had an experience here in Northern VA as well. 35mph... Blew a 2" hole through the sidewall. Loudest noise I have ever heard! Talk about robust---Had the car towed to a Pcar dealership (my 996 had a spare but apparently the 997 verts don't )..no bend...no alignment issues...no damage.

PS2 on the other hand...3-4k miles on it....TOAST! I was super p'od....but what can you do....put a set of Dunlops on the front now...very happy with them

Filed a claim with Fairfax County...pretty sure NOTHING will come of it.

 

That sucks, sorry to hear. Even if nothing comes of it, the County will hopefully do something in future, knowing that people suffer real damages as a result of inadequate road maintenance. Thank you, Porsche for making the car one tough cookie!

 

You can't tell if your wheel is slightly bent just by looking at it. In fact, if it's bent it's usually on the inside rim. You need the wheel rotating slowly on a balancer to see the warp. It may not even affect the surface of the tire, so you wouldn't necessarily feel it when driving.

As for PASM, it doesn't really matter much if going straight as it's not as charged and therefore the gas/oil can flow well. It's when the system slows gas/oil (charged) as in cornering, that you have issues if you happen to need some suspension travel at that instant. PASM can't predict bumps nor react to them in a way a conventional shock can, especially one valved for both high and low frequency bumps.

 

Steve997S, thanks for that insight into the workings of PASM, which is what I was wondering about. I ran my fingers along the inner rim as best as I could with the wheels on - seems normal, but I'll have a better look on the balancer next time the car's in the shop.