The gap is a vent for the head lights.

 

Interesting. On multiple other vehicles I have owned with xenon headlights, I have never seen a vent that is open to the wheel well or so large as this one.

 

How fast are you driving on a gravel road?

I would never drive so fast on gravel as to throw rocks.

Maybe you need 18" tires?

 

How fast do you think necessary to "throw rocks"? 5 mph? I frequently travel miles at a time on gravel, and do so at 40+mph, which isn't even speeding. I'm not about to go so slow that I can't toss a pebble around; that's not practical.

 

I drive about 15 to 20 mph, no more. If you look carefully at the photos, the issue is not "throwing rocks". The pieces are abut 1/8" to 3/16", small for gravel but very damaging to paint.

Given that the rolling circumference of all the tire options for the Macan are identical, it is not clear what a switch to 18" tires would do. And it is not clear that the suggestion comes with the knowledge of what I am currently using as a tire size.

The tires are OEM summer tires. They are soft and pick up pieces of grit and gravel, especially at 80F to 90F degrees ambient temperature.

 

What do the undersides of your mirrors look like.
I'd be afraid that those would get pummeled too.

I'd ask Porsche for a new Blacktop'd driveway. Under warranty obviously

 

Mirrors are white and they are perfectly fine. The tires not kick the gravel that far at no more than 20 mph. And there is nothing there to trap the pieces either.

 

The size of tires plays more into the trajectory, as the 21"s are notorious for tossing debris out Wider than the 18/19s do.
(so much so that Porsche has wheel arch extenders to prevent rock chips on cars w/ 21s.)

I was simply trying to decide if a smaller tire would lessen the trajectory of the rocks from entering the vent area.

 

I appreciate the effort to explain this but this issue is not tire width in that the debris is not leaving the wheel well. It is that the wheel well has a large "hole" in it that allows this debris to slip between the hood and the front fascia. Macan has a unique hood design that comes right down to the fascia for about 8 inches between the front wheel and the front running lights, and overlaps it a bit. And this design appears to be at the root of the issue I am having. Were the vehicle not advertised for off road use, perhaps it could be overlooked. But Macan is heavily advertised for its ability to run off road as well as on road. btw.... I have yet to be off road per se, just on some gravel and gravel / dirt roads. Even in town, I can now say that the debris is present there as well, as I just picked off a small cinder from the same area. I does not happen as much in town and it did not happen as quickly, but it is still happening.

Could someone confirm that all Macans are designed this way?

 

What happened to the images?

 

Thanks for answering that question. Though I have to admit that I was hoping Porsche had simply neglected to fit some part to my car that would have blocked the route for gravel into the slot between painted parts. It is profoundly disappointing to me that they designed the car this way.

I have this issue reported to my dealer and we'll see what they and or PCNA have to say because the paint will not survive long if this keeps up.

 

I need to see the d a m n pictures.

 

Where are the images???

 

The photos are in the first post. I can see them. Here they are again.

 

I think we are jumping to a number of dubious conclusions here at least on headlamp vents and also on tire sizes:

The headlamp vent tubes are at the very rear. The whole point is to vent downwards to a dry area. I'd be really surprised if that's direclty into the wheel well. And all Xenon headlights have vents as do halogen. They are not pressure vessels and could explode without.

You may not see the vert in cruder designs as it's called an air leak usually at the unsealed bulb mount or at the bottom of the bulb rubber seal if fitted. Only sealed beams have no vent.

And the perforated rubber areas have nothing to do with vents. it's to allow access to mounting or aiming hardware.

Would be nice to see pictures to avoid further guesses

Edit: now the pictures are back this has NOTHING to do with headlights

 

Small rock under body of car

You Sooo should have posted this as the picture...

 

I just went downstairs and I don't have this problem at all. But, judging by the gap size, it's not surprising that you have something stuck between the parts. I have couple mm gap as well and most likely, I will run into the same problem.

My only suggestion is to stop off-roading.

(Having difficulty figure out what I am seeing for the first picture)

 

I just went downstairs and I don't have this problem at all.

So glad to see you are feeling better and able to go downstairs without problem.

 

I'm not sure this issue is limited to off-road use. What about those who live in colder climates where roads are sanded and salted in the winter? Small debris even accumulates periodically on warm/dry roads. Is the necessary step to open the hood periodically to look for and remove any debris that may have accumulated?

 

Okay, now that I see the photos, I completely concur with @gir it has nothing to do with the headlights. It's just the body design. Every car has creases, folds, slits, you name it, where body parts come together. I've had rocks hit the bumper, the hood, you name it. Not much one can do about it except grin and bear it, or install that plastic film everywhere to the tune of thousands.


I always open the hood when I detail my car. It's the easy way to get to and clean the front edge of the front doors.


I'm going to look more closely at that edge and see if any rocks are caught. If so, I'll carefully clear them out. I don't think one will even see any damage they may cause, but if it's that bothersome, I would think a strip of weatherseal on the inner portion would take care of it.

 

I'm not actually off-roading. Short sections of the roads I must travel are gravel / dirt and surface sealed asphalt using hot mix binder and small scale gravel, which is causing the major problem. Even in town on city streets the issue will occur, but less quickly.

The first pic is of a piece of small gravel stuck / embedded into the paint on the underside of the edge of the hood.

 

Can't see the pics...

 

and I thought it was just me, still not showing up here.

 

see this post for the pics

Porsche Macan Forum - View Single Post - Poor design of the hood / bumper interface?

 

Many hatchbacks seem to create a vortex of air up and all over the rear. That's been discussed here that the rear gets very dirty, kind of like a magnet.

As far as engineering that you are speaking of, with the creases being susceptible to gravel thrown by the tires which you deem unacceptable, we are for ya, not against ya.

Trouble is, nothing is perfect. There will always be small compromises due to engineering reality, aesthetics or what have you.

This may seem like a poor segue, but think of the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger, where o-rings got cold, brittle, allowed hot gas to pass through resulting in catastrophic failure and 7 deaths. Look at the brilliant minds that initially designed that and the billions of dollars that went into it.

Sorry, but what you are describing is a minor inconvenience that as I stated above can easily be cured with a small strip of rubber strategically placed, or weather stripping which they've placed under the hood to stop squeaks in some Macans.

 

See photos of the rear windshield after 15 miles of very slow speed (5 to 20 mph) not particularly dusty (it was a shaded forest service road on the way to the Blue Ridge Parkway in NC) gravel road driving and about 7 miles of pavement driving at 50 mph. The aerodynamics of this vehicle deposit dirt there in a way I am not used to. And it does not come off driving at speed unless you drive really fast for a long while. Even then the rear of the car remains filthy. More then normal.

 

Aerodynamics is the reason. The cut-off rear of a station wagon, hatchback or SUV, creates an area of negative pressure which facilitates dirt deposition.

This is why sedans (such as your 540i) don't typically have wipers on their rear screens, whereas your Macan does. A 911 sort of sits in the middle. No getting around this it's a shape thing.

That said the Macan does seem to be the number one best performing dirt magnet in its class

 

No one is disputing that. Many CUVs of similar shape suffer the same ignominy.

Thing is if you look for fault you will find it anywhere.

As @grim told me, go out, enjoy a sunset, have a good meal, take a drive and concentrate on the positive.

 

Thanks for your point of view. I am not generally unrealistic and realize that in life, almost everything has tradeoffs. This one is not particularly attractive. The clamshell hood design seems to be more of a monument Porsche built to honor themselves with the attendant disadvantage that my paint will depart from the vehicle early in its life. I would much rather have had a traditional hood seam and front quarter panel design without the gravel-in-the-paint problem. So it goes. PCNA now knows about this as does my dealer who has opened up a formal engineering issue with PCNA. We'll see if they can come up with a simple solution. Lest there be any doubt, this vehicle is quite amazing in many, many ways. I do not want to diminish that and I want to hope that a good solution will be found that does not void my warranty. It seems to be within the realm of possibility. Doesn't it?

 

And it does not come off driving at speed unless you drive really fast for a long while. QUOTE]
Well, there ya go. Problem solved....>


Yes, it's a hatch-thing. My previous hatch got dirty too, but not quite so much.
Probably the little spoiler thing creates a vortex.

 

I can't wait until mataa realizes that only one of his rear fog lights actually works...

 

@mataa... We all know that nothing in this world is perfect! If this problem is confirmed as a "design flaw" or simply a one-in-a-million anomaly, I'm confident that Porsche will make it right with a cost-free solution.

As others have recommended, best to focus on the positive, and know that a car is just a machine that will eventually deteriorate, and shouldn't define your life!!