Windshield Butyl Soft and Gooey

[blueline]

Excellent info Tom - thanks for posting the docs!

My dealer confirmed all of the above when I inquired this past Thursday, specifically outlining the incompatibility and adverse chemical reaction between the windshield seal material and the adhesive as outlined in the first page of your doc posts above.

Mine is still fine and, based on VIN, I am not in the potentially affected group. (Assuming the last six of the VIN are the sequential manufacturing numbers as I believe is the case.)

Anyway, glad you got it taken care of. Great service from your dealer and Porsche!

[ROB III]

Sounds like one supplier didn't check with the other for compatibility and it took the customer base to find the issue. Glad the dealer handled everything for you Tom....good dealer service is worth its weight in gold! I am a bit surprised Porsche didn't reach out to alert you first though once the issue was identified, as they obviously knew what the issue was straight away once you asked them.....

[Tom]

Sounds like one supplier didn't check with the other for compatibility and it took the customer base to find the issue. Glad the dealer handled everything for you Tom....good dealer service is worth its weight in gold! I am a bit surprised Porsche didn't reach out to alert you first though once the issue was identified, as they obviously knew what the issue was straight away once you asked them.....

Yeah, that surprised me too, especially after reading the NHTSA statements about the windshield popping out in an accident and the airbag not working right. Seems like something they'd be forced to pro-actively fix. It also says Porsche recalled the affected vehicles in Feb. '24. I didn't get any recall notice, and the dealer didn't flag it for repair when I was recently in for my 4-year service. The description of the problem is also not entirely consistent between the Porsche doc and the NHTSA doc, but I can only assume they stem from the same issue. It's all a bit curious. Only thing I can figure is that it wasn't common enough, or wasn't bad enough, to fix pro-actively unless a customer flags it. If the issue was inadequate cleaning after a chemical bath, as they say, then one could imagine that some were cleaned properly and others (like mine) weren't. I checked the rear glass, and don't see any gooey sealant, so guess that one's ok.

[Mfibiandriver]

The windshield on my 2020 911 did the goo transformation last year and I talked to my dealership about it at the time. The service department admitted that it's a thing and blamed a reaction to ... soap! Told me they would check with Porsche about replacing the windshield as "goodwill" as I was a couple months out of warranty ... nope. So I'll read through the great info in this thread and perhaps make another pass at them.

[Tom]

The windshield on my 2020 911 did the goo transformation last year and I talked to my dealership about it at the time. The service department admitted that it's a thing and blamed a reaction to ... soap! Told me they would check with Porsche about replacing the windshield as "goodwill" as I was a couple months out of warranty ... nope. So I'll read through the great info in this thread and perhaps make another pass at them.

My car was out of warranty as well (barely, by maybe 4 months) but my service manager didn't blink and said Porsche would cover it. I later researched and found the recall, which made me wonder if it was more about governmental intervention than actual goodwill, but I don't know for sure. I know the service manager well, and am sure he would advocate for me if needed, so maybe it was a bit of both. They did end up charging me like $200, which they said they did so the new windshield would be covered by its own 2-year warranty (rather than being out of warranty the minute it was installed). I'm sure that's a fraction of what it would really cost if you had to pay for all of it. The biggest surprise was that the new windshield is clearer, even though the old one 'seemed' fine. In one of the bulletins, it described the body being washed in a cleaning solution, and that the goo happens when that solution isn't washed off thoroughly and ends up causing a chemical reaction in the seal. So that may be the 'soap' your service dept is referring to. That said, it's worth noting that Porsche also changed the seal material itself according to my service guys....

[Potterjwp]

Tom - that’s so interesting. Mine is a 2021 718 Spyder and I think it’s a mess almost like a poor design and I’m so glad you pointed this out. Mike extended warranty is expiring. I better bring it to the attention of the dealer.

[Mfibiandriver]

I'm more than a little jealous of Tom's relationship with his Service Manager! Most of my service intervals come due thousands of miles from home during long road trips. And Tom has that gorgeous TTS ...

I think I'll start this new round with the dealership where I bought the car, despite it being 50 miles farther away.

[Potterjwp]

Tom - today I stopped at Porsche of Newport Beach with this thread. Within a moment, they asked me to bring in my Spyder and they would R&R as "good will".

Thank you for pointing out this build quality issue.

[ROB III]

Cross referencing and internal sharing on CARPOKES saves the day once again and helps Service departments maintain a positive attitude!

[Tom]

Tom - today I stopped at Porsche of Newport Beach with this thread. Within a moment, they asked me to bring in my Spyder and they would R&R as "good will".

Thank you for pointing out this build quality issue.

I find it weird that Porsche keeps mum on issues like this with potential safety implications. This is the second time with my car that I discovered known problems that Porsche only fixes if the customer complains. Others, like the air bag sensor in the seats, Porsche just does without asking whenever they get their hands on the car. I guess it depends how much of safety issue it really is...?

Did you do any checking to see if there is a parallel recall/NHTSA notice for the Spyder? The notices in this thread specifically list the 911 only, but your experience makes me guess it applies equally to the 718 and that Porsche knows it... At any rate, I'm glad I posted about this and that is was able to help you!! Knowledge it power!