So far the ONLY complaint I have on my CaymanR is the rear hatch thunking when you hit a good bump in the road. I was told that Porsche did originally consider producing it in aluminum but decided it was cost prohibitive.
Does anyone make a carbon fibre or aluminum replacement?

 

Asuka Design in El Monte, CA can probably make one. I think they have one on their demo car, the yellow and black one in the GMG exhaust video.

 

thanks

 

The source for the thumping/thunking sound is probably not the hatch itself but the acoustic dampener that is mounted on the backside of the hatch, when the car hits a big bump the metal piece of the dampener hits the hatch and generates the sound that you are referring to.

There is a feeler for a CF hatch group buy over at rennlist in the Cayman section of the forum. Personally I would only install a CF hatch on a car with at least a halfcage.

Maybe it might be worthwhile to wait until either the Napleton Interseries Cayman's or the NASA ITC Cayman's decide to go with lightweight hatches.

 

Can the dampener be removed? What is the purpose of it?
p

 

Lot's of threads about the clunk problem over at planet-9, here is one:

http://www.planet-9.com/cayman-boxst...p-related.html

It is an acoustic dampener that is supposed to get rid of resonance of the trunk.

 

I have taken out the harmonic dampener before and advise against it. Without it the drone is increased in the car. A big source of the clunk is the hatch not being correctly aligned and seated on the car. I spent a good deal of time adjusting the hatch and have corrected all the clunks. Its just poor workmanship on Porsche's part.

 

Say it isn't so!

You mean Porsche is just grinding them out on an assembly line? rofl...

Okay enough of that- what specifically did you do to remedy? Any tips?

 

I wish Porsche had constructed the rear hatch from Aluminum. Early on in Cayman production we were told by Porsche that this would be the case.
I also remember attending the dealer training Cayman launch in LA. They showed the car at a local night club and hired all sorts of "young upwardly mobile" locals(models) to be in attendance. They told us that these were the people we could expect to be selling to. The biggest percentage I sell to are men and women(30-60) with track or auto-x experience that want the best handling platform available and love to see that the car is around $65-70K instead of the $100-125K+ price of a CarreraS Coupe or GT3.

 

What have you specifically done to achieve your results.
Please specify each type of clunk and each fix if possible.

 

Below is something I typed up for someone, their questions, and my comments back. Hopefully it is understandable. If not post and I will reply.





NOTE: Porsche has a spacing tool for all of this as it is shown in the Porsche service manual.


1. Remove gas struts and remove bump stop screws
I assume you should leave the middle bumpers on (the ones that are halfway down the hatch rails)?
Correct, middle bumpers stay and should be pushed up against the hatch.
2. Remove the latch hook (hatch)
3. Break loose the 2 bolts on each side of the hatch, not here the hatch attaches to the body (those are recessed behind the plastic weather guard).
If I am happy with the alignment forward/back, left/right, should I still loosen these to adjust the hatch closer to the body (tighter)? If so - are you referring to the two bolts attaching the hatch to the hatch hinge (2 per side)? One screw has the head facing the outside of the car, the 2nd has the head facing the inside of the car, and is concealed by the hatch trim panel? Break these 2 loose (4 total on hatch)?
The forward/back will move when you loosen the pivot bolt to move the hatch closer to the body.
Correct, the 2 bolts on each side attaching hinge to hatch, 2 per side, one on outside and one on inside.
4. Adjust the hatch front to back to correct spacing.
5. tighten 1 of the bolts on each side - If I remember one bolt is a "slider" and one is a "pivoter"
*****BE CAREFUL HERE******
Very slowly open the hatch once you tighten the slider bolt to be sure the hatch does not scrape the roof of the car - as it did mine.Good point - noted
6. Once you are happy with front to back, simply rest the hatch on the car and then tighten the pivoter bolts.
When do you adjust the height, to make it tighter? Is this when the spacer tool would be used? Any suggestions on how tight, or size of a gap?
The weight of the hatch plus the middle bump stops resting on the body seems to be the correct "tightness" - so just tighten the pivot bolt (I think this is the inside bolt). Perimeter gaps seem to only need to be adjusted with the tool.
7. replace hatch hook and ensure the latch side on the body of the car is pushed fully down, just loosen the 2 bolts that hold it in place and push it down and re-tighten.
8. place masking tape in the holes where the screw bump stops fit into. Put the screw bumps back on and apply some type of ink, lip stick etc to the stops and continue to adjust the screw stops until they leave an imprint on the tape.
I assume you're referring to a lip stick imprint when you close the hatch as you normally would, not resting it but rather slamming (to a point)?
Securely close the hatch and then re-open to see if there is an imprint. I have mine set to just leave a mild imprint.

Enjoy the silence.

 

What about laying(soft) pipe insulation in the valleys on either side of the opening(hatch open)? I thought this would work well. If I have to start unbolting things, especially when it comes to body panels I would leave it to a Professional.(service dept)

 

I guess it's up to you and what you can live with. I wanted it done the way it should be have done to begin with. You are only loosening bolts not removing.

I took my car to two dealers to correct this. The maytag repair approach netted me many hours of wasted time, them spraying silicone on the gasket, and telling me "they all make that sound"...

 

Thank you for posting that!

 

Sure thing. I hate to see others go through this type of frustration and wasted time for a 70k car. I hope it helps.