Porsche Taycan wheel sound issue

blog/nicos-porsche-taycan-experience-part-5-ticktack-wheels.mdwn

@@ -0,0 +1,138 @@
+[[!meta title="Nico's Porsche Taycan Experience - Ticktack wheels"]]
+
+## Introduction
+
+This article is part of the series of
+[Nico's Porsche Taycan Experience](/blog/nico-porsche-taycan-experience/).
+
+## More strange things happening
+
+In August 2023 I was in Italy for a business trip, in the hills
+[nearby
+Porlezza](https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/46695). Suddenly
+while driving down to the city of Porlezza itself, a "ticktack" sound
+appeared, while driving in the corners.
+
+First it came to my mind that maybe a stick or a leave or something
+similar was caught in the wheels and I did not pay too much attention
+to it.
+
+The following days the sound would not vanish and about 2 years later,
+this is still the case.
+
+## The sound
+
+First of all, this is not the noise caused by [the Ackermann
+effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ackermann_steering_geometry)).
+Porsches have the strange behaviour that when the whell is fully
+turned and the tyres and not warm, there is a sound from rubbing.
+
+That's not what I am talking about. Instead it as a coming and going
+"click" sound, as if something is hit by something turning. Imagine a
+plastic slightly bended, that you push to its extreme and the with
+force it gets back into its original position and hits something.
+
+That is roughly the sound I am talking about.
+
+It is temperature, wheel, speed and angle dependent.
+
+## Temperature dependency
+
+Initially the sound would only manifest if it was warm weather. So I
+suspected something might be influenced to be more loose or might have
+grown due to temperature effects.
+
+While in the beginning it was only audible at higher temperatures
+(above 25C), over the two years that the sound came and went, it also
+appeared at all temperatures between 0C and 35C.
+
+## Wheel dependency
+
+Initially only the bigger summer wheels would cause this noise. Later
+in 2024, the winter tyres (different rimms, different tyres) would
+also start to make the same sound.
+
+## Speed and angle dependency
+
+Now this is a simple one. The faster you go, the stronger the angle
+is, the louder the sound is. If I drive straight on a parking lot,
+there is no sound. If I drive left or right on parking lot, the sounds
+is there.
+
+If I exit a highway (long fast corner), the sounds is very loud.
+
+## Repair tries
+
+Since 2023-08-20 the [Porsche Center
+OZS](https://dealer.porsche.com/ch/obererzuerichsee/de-CH)
+has been repairing this and took various approaches:
+
+* Change wheels - to ensure it's not a problem in the wheels.
+  Initially and strangely this helped when switching from summer to
+  winter tyres. Later to be happening on any wheel.
+* Disassemble the summer wheels - the wheels have covers, which can
+  accumulate dirt and according to the Porsche center it is possible
+  that dirty causes that sound
+* Disassemble the brakes - as well as the wheels, the brakes can also
+  collect dirt and again, same story, are potentially making the
+  sound. So in June 2025 the brakes were cleaned.
+
+## Full History
+
+This is a very particular issue, because the failure started on
+**2023-08-20** and has not been fixed as of **2025-05-24**.
+
+In 2023 when the problem first appeared, the car was on summer
+tyres. After several tests the Porsche center concluded that the
+problem must be dirt below the cover of the wheels, because
+the wheels of the Taycan have covers to make it more
+aerodynamic. Great stuff in theory.
+
+The Porsche center disassembled the front wheels, cleaned them, put them
+back together and send me a bill of about 2000 CHF. A few days later,
+the sound reappeared.
+
+Unfortunately I had to change to winter tyres soon after, which are
+are smaller wheels (20" instead of 21"). During the winter the sound
+was gone, so the Porsche repair center reasoned it must have been the
+summer wheels. My assumption was that something of the wheels is
+actually touching other car parts. My assumption has not been rebutted
+yet, however the one of the Porsche repair center has been:
+
+After several repair tries in 2024, a replacement of the front wheels,
+the winter season of 2024 started. And interestlingly, the sound did
+reappear with the winter tyres now as well.
+
+After switching to summer tyres in 2025, the sound was gone for a few
+days, just to reappear. As of writing this article on 2025-05-24, the
+car is again back in the repair center.
+
+A bit more background to the sound: it sounds like a ticktack with
+something stopping (like a plastic), being bended and then popping out
+to make a sound. Almost like an unpleasant instrument. When you drive
+down the mountains of Switzerland and you drive through 180 degree
+corners, it as very loud, even louder than regular radio music.
+
+It is also audible at low speed when the steering wheel is fully
+turned or when one leaves the highway and the highway exit is a
+corner. So essentially one car hear it at a speed of somewhere around
+5 km/h up to somewhere around 100 km/h.
+
+Someone suggested this might be a (known) problem of Porsche ceramic
+brakes, but this theory was rebutted by the Porsche repair center.
+
+As of today, the Porsche repair center did actually clean the brakes
+and says it has been fixed.
+
+## Current state
+
+After the brake cleaning in June 2025, I did not have the possiblity
+to drive the car again, I will report back back here in July 2025.
+
+## Review
+
+So many things wrong and so much effort. It is for me hard to believe
+how difficult it seems to fix such a simple problem.
+
+
+[[!tag porsche car]]

blog/nicos-porsche-taycan-experience.mdwn

@@ -40,6 +40,9 @@ How [does it actually drive, if it
 drives?](/blog/nicos-porsche-taycan-experience-part-3-driving)
 Unfortunately, the driving cannot be enjoyed so much, if there are
 [quite some rattling and squeaking noises](/blog/nicos-porsche-taycan-experience-part-4-rattling-squeaking).
+While those have mostly been fixed, there is unfortunately more to
+fail and generate noise: there is for instance
+the [so far unsolved ticktack sound when turning the wheels]
 
 More to come soon...
 
@@ -51,7 +54,9 @@ For easier access:
 * [Part 2 - The suspension
   failure](/blog/nicos-porsche-taycan-experience-part-2-suspension-failure)
 * [Part 3 - driving](/blog/nicos-porsche-taycan-experience-part-3-driving)
-* [Part 4 - rattling and squeaking](/blog/nicos-porsche-taycan-experience-part-4-rattling-squeaking)
+* [Part 4 - rattling and
+  squeaking](/blog/nicos-porsche-taycan-experience-part-4-rattling-squeaking)
+* [Part 5 - ticktack wheels](/blog/nicos-porsche-taycan-experience-part-5-ticktack-wheels)
 * [The key battery replacement](/blog/nicos-porsche-taycan-experience-key-battery-replacement)