2014 Maserati Ghibli cracked strut tower

CraigWaterman11

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762
Guys just wondering, how many of these cases have you seen over there. It seems to be common over in the U.S. Does anyone have a TSB from Maserati that addresses this? We are doing it for a customer on one side and closer inspection has also proved the other side is starting as well. Here are the photos go to the 6-7th photo of the link and you will see how bad the crack was. I've seen them all the way up through as well:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BdaqdzjFLTL/?hl=en&taken-by=trident456
 

conaero

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34,593
Jeez, thats bad. Did he hit anything for that to happen or did it just fracture?
 

CraigWaterman11

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762
well it's not limited to just this one. There was one written about in Southern CA with only 12k miles on it that had a cracked strut tower as well. I actually found around the stud hole on the other side has a crack on it as well. If you look there is a guy with a 2016 from Co-part that posted a video about it.
 

agooner

Junior Member
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103
Is this a case of early metal fatigue on these models? The metal is too malleable to manage the vertical stresses being applied? just theorizing aloud.
 

Scaf

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6,512
If that was mine, used or new I would be shipping to the nearest main dealer and plonking it on their forecourt. Even in an accident you should not see fractures like that.
 

allandwf

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10,958
Wow! never seen that before. Maybe even worse here with our potholed roads. I'd be out checking right now if I had one of those. Scary.
 

CraigWaterman11

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762
I agree even in an accident situation this shouldn't be happening except for rare scenarios. But look at this video.....skip to 2:33. I don't know this guy but look at the strut tower.
[video=youtube;Uiy6v03bsj0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uiy6v03bsj0[/video]
 

BJL

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1,364
Hold onto the GTSs, GSs and QPs as when this goes viral they could well be sunk.
 

Wattie

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8,640
I agree even in an accident situation this shouldn't be happening except for rare scenarios. But look at this video.....skip to 2:33. I don't know this guy but look at the strut tower.
[video=youtube;Uiy6v03bsj0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uiy6v03bsj0[/video]
Wow, id like to think that he hit some huge hole to do that and that its nothing more than that...................massive damage.

cheers wattie
 

CraigWaterman11

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762
The only way to transfer that type of dynamic force to the strut tower would be what, through the tire, then rim etc, correct? Someone help follow my rationale here. If that was true, what would that dynamic shock force have to be? So wouldn't that at least puncture the tire and/or if not bend the rim? Unless we are saying that the tire and rim are actually stronger than the strut tower, and the impact could be taken by both but not the tower itself. That would lead me to the conclusion it was under-developed or designed incorrectly with the wrong metallurgy. Also check the video at 2:37-8 neither the rim nor tire are out of round, at least from what I could see. Here is an updated designed strut tower:
Ghibli redesign strut tower.jpg
 

Wattie

Member
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8,640
The only way to transfer that type of dynamic force to the strut tower would be what, through the tire, then rim etc, correct? Someone help follow my rationale here. If that was true, what would that dynamic shock force have to be? So wouldn't that at least puncture the tire and/or if not bend the rim? Unless we are saying that the tire and rim are actually stronger than the strut tower, and the impact could be taken by both but not the tower itself. That would lead me to the conclusion it was under-developed or designed incorrectly with the wrong metallurgy. Also check the video at 2:37-8 neither the rim nor tire are out of round, at least from what I could see. Here is an updated designed strut tower:
View attachment 46703
sound logic in my view.....an impact that big.....hitting a hole or the kerb would surely destroy the tyre, wheel.....i’ve Hit potholes that have done that.....cracked the alloy.
Chees Wattie
 

BJL

Member
Messages
1,364
It is very obvious this is a fundamental design error which under no circumstances can go unrectified as a good few are now out of warranty and according to figures released they have built 82,000 Ghiblis to date times the cost of each rectification at say 2k min in house cost = £164,000,000.00.............blinking heck
 

Wattie

Member
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8,640
Hang on a minute...there’s no evidence to suggest that the car when driven normally experiences this...is there?

Seems to me the cars in this thread experienced some sort of huge impact.

Cheers Wattie
Not ideal, but If it is common then you could make an argument that Porsche know about certain engine issues and haven’t fixed them......as an example.
 

Rwc13

Member
Messages
1,668
There were reports of this issue on a few early cars at least 2 years ago. I understand Maserati replaced the strut towers then on the affected cars. I would expect it should not affect later cars.