Is Porsche using cheap materials?

Chris8536

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Porche uses the best plastics in the industry by far and much better than Tesla who easily is some of the worst short of the Korean low end.

however your Tesla wasn’t as low and aggressively hooded as this. Not to mention it had upper lid lights vs teslas grill forward lights. This attracts a lot more chips. If your never had a sports car you might not be aware how much worse it is. It’s why so many do PPF.
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DerekS

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Porsche headlights and windshields both wear heavily in my experience.

Welcome to Porsche.
 

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Do not PPF Porsche headlights. They already have a protective coating on them. If you later try to remove the PPF, you are likely to peel the coating and destroy what are very expensive headlights.
 

annieland

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Oh wow, thank goodness I read all this stuff here. Sure I have a lot of manual reading left to do, but now I know to nix the headlight PPF.

Stinks though, because in addition to our Michigan sand, salt, and busted roads, I also live less than a mile from a quarry! The rock trucks always hauling up and down my nearest cross street towards the highway every day, and it's so easy to get stuck behind them through to the onramp. But hmmm... maybe this car will allow me to maneuver around them more effectively now... heheh.
 

JAGMAN

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I took the risk on ppf headlights. They all yellow and fail. Maybe this will extend that life.

I was aware of Porsche’s warning ahead of the install. Calculated risk.

The comments, re: lower car are very true.
 


laua

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Between the terrible experience I had at my dealer (apparently I should count myself blessed to grovel and pay $20k to go on a waitlist and this is part of the Porsche experience), broken heaters and potential 6 month delays, and (maybe) fragile headlights….the rational part of me keeps thinking I made a huge mistake. I trust the driving experience is good enough for my heart to silence the brain.
 

Hirschaj

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Between the terrible experience I had at my dealer (apparently I should count myself blessed to grovel and pay $20k to go on a waitlist and this is part of the Porsche experience), broken heaters and potential 6 month delays, and (maybe) fragile headlights….the rational part of me keeps thinking I made a huge mistake. I trust the driving experience is good enough for my heart to silence the brain.
Read this and it should put your mind at ease (hint: most people love their Taycan) … https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/would-you-buy-a-taycan-again.11568/

https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/would-you-buy-your-taycan-again.9469/
 

minstril

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Between the terrible experience I had at my dealer (apparently I should count myself blessed to grovel and pay $20k to go on a waitlist and this is part of the Porsche experience), broken heaters and potential 6 month delays, and (maybe) fragile headlights….the rational part of me keeps thinking I made a huge mistake. I trust the driving experience is good enough for my heart to silence the brain.
I too was stressing every online anecdote before I got my GTS last month. Mine’s been nothing but great. The allegation that Porsche is cheaping out on materials is pretty funny to me, as my previous daily was a Tesla that, when I sit in it now, feels like it was made by fisher price. The Taycan is amazingly solid.
 


XLR82XS

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Do not PPF Porsche headlights. They already have a protective coating on them. If you later try to remove the PPF, you are likely to peel the coating and destroy what are very expensive headlights.
Mine are covered. When they get beat up I'll reinstall film to them. I've had other P-cars with headlight PPF and had it removed with no issues. If the coating gets compromised it's not a big deal since they get recovered. (Xpel Ultimate)
 

Archimedes

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Mine are covered. When they get beat up I'll reinstall film to them. I've had other P-cars with headlight PPF and had it removed with no issues. If the coating gets compromised it's not a big deal since they get recovered. (Xpel Ultimate)
You got lucky. If you’ve ever seen a car that actually peeled the coating, you’d know that you can’t just re-PPF them. The plastic is ruined.
 

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@whitex this appears to be the UV coating layer; the underlying acrylic plastic housing should be top quality; glass headlights don’t sound like a good idea as they would shatter and are not as optically-clear as acrylic (glass usually has green cast from iron content)

read:
https://rennlist.com/forums/991/1324503-headlights-pitted-chipped.html#post18454121

also: https://rennlist.com/forums/992/1165244-xpel-on-headlights.html#post16168913

if it bothers you enough, you should reach out to Metropolitan Detail as they use STEK, which from above post mentions using weaker adhesive and would be safer on modern Porsche headlights (BTW, I think they are the nationwide rep for STEK or closely deal with them) and would advise next steps and quote

unrelated- I didn’t see you in Taycan Owner’s Clinic in Bellevue yesterday; still presented by Brandon- food was top; many Taycans in showroom that my son and I got to sit in- I keep thinking about the incredible overall quality and the interiors (chalk/black leather interior especially)
 
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TXSchnee

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Between the terrible experience I had at my dealer (apparently I should count myself blessed to grovel and pay $20k to go on a waitlist and this is part of the Porsche experience), broken heaters and potential 6 month delays, and (maybe) fragile headlights….the rational part of me keeps thinking I made a huge mistake. I trust the driving experience is good enough for my heart to silence the brain.
Sounds like you need a better dealer. I paid $0 to be on the waiting list, $0 for a deposit and paid MSRP when my Taycan was ready. Second ordered vehicle from my local Porsche dealer and they have been fabulous.
 

ismelllikepoop

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I too was stressing every online anecdote before I got my GTS last month. Mine’s been nothing but great. The allegation that Porsche is cheaping out on materials is pretty funny to me, as my previous daily was a Tesla that, when I sit in it now, feels like it was made by fisher price. The Taycan is amazingly solid.
when I installed a dash cam on my 991.2 vs my wife's taycan, the tolerances seemed not as tight on the taycan. not horrible by any means but the 991.2 was very solidly put together. that said, I don't think I would have noticed if I didn't have to pop covers off and reinstall them. curious how it would be for the 992, then again I'd go for the dash cam prep.
 
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whitex

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@whitex this appears to be the UV coating layer; the underlying acrylic plastic housing should be top quality; glass headlights don’t sound like a good idea as they would shatter and are not as optically-clear as acrylic (glass usually has green cast from iron content)

read:
https://rennlist.com/forums/991/1324503-headlights-pitted-chipped.html#post18454121

also: https://rennlist.com/forums/992/1165244-xpel-on-headlights.html#post16168913
You'd think, as a premium car, they would design a better solution. Worst lights wear of all cars I've had, including a 2002 911C4 - perhaps back then they had a better design (whether better material or aero keeping high velocity debris off the lights?).

if it bothers you enough, you should reach out to Metropolitan Detail as they use STEK, which from above post mentions using weaker adhesive and would be safer on modern Porsche headlights (BTW, I think they are the nationwide rep for STEK or closely deal with them) and would advise next steps and quote
Neh, then it would be pitted ppf, so same look, but more expensive (I don't care if plastic underneath is in a better shape if it still looks the same on the outside). Also, as @Tooney mentioned, Porsche says not to cover lights, so I wonder if they'd use it as an excuse to void their warranty. I might polish them myself once a year or two, not a lot of surface area, so shouldn't take long.

unrelated- I didn’t see you in Taycan Owner’s Clinic in Bellevue yesterday; still presented by Brandon- food was top; many Taycans in showroom that my son and I got to sit in- I keep thinking about the incredible overall quality and the interiors (chalk/black leather interior especially)
Busy life. I figured it would just be a replay of last clinic. Maybe next one I will attend to just hang out with the other owners (future or current - last time it was mostly future, but supply of Taycans seems to have improved a lot since then).
 
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whitex

whitex

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@whitex this appears to be the UV coating layer; the underlying acrylic plastic housing should be top quality; glass headlights don’t sound like a good idea as they would shatter and are not as optically-clear as acrylic (glass usually has green cast from iron content)

read:
https://rennlist.com/forums/991/1324503-headlights-pitted-chipped.html#post18454121

also: https://rennlist.com/forums/992/1165244-xpel-on-headlights.html#post16168913
You'd think, as a premium car, they would design a better solution.
My PPF installer would not put PPF on Taycan headlights. Said covering Porsche headlights is a no no. Also, from manual:
1679061946097.png
I wonder if Porsche would use covered lights as an excuse to limit headlight warranty coverage.
 
 




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