First GT500 Issue? Rocker Moldings Melting

[93_SVT_3503]

I don't think it's heat, but it's feasible it could be the air coming out of the fender well being redirected by the little winglet on the front. High speeds would be putting a lot of down force on those, especially since it looks worse towards the front. As large as the grille opening is, all that air has to escape as well.

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[93_SVT_3503]

The review that just came out a few days ago from Motorweek shows signs of the same issue.

 

[1mic]

That is not melting, this car would need to have a side exhaust to have side moldings melt or change color.

 

[shogun32]

agreed, not melting. But I wonder what the thermal stability of the plastic is vis-a-vis the chassis surface. And did it really start out flat or is the molding process allowing distortions?

 

[BlackandBlue]

That is not melting, this car would need to have a side exhaust to have side moldings melt or change color.

Maybe a combination of very hot plastic and journalists that might use that as a step.

I think this will be addressed in production models. Ford will either use a higher temperature plastic or in true Ford engineering spirit put a no step sticker on.

 

[93_SVT_3503]

That is not melting, this car would need to have a side exhaust to have side moldings melt or change color.

Like I said in post #16, I think it's from the air from the side diffuser and the spacing of how it's fastened to the car.

 

[Wilson & Co]

I'd bet on a shitty designed fastening system/ mounting flange on the part. Should be thicker plastic on that edfe

 

[FastCarFanBoy]

Car must be fast as hell if the rocker moldings are melting off.

 

[GrabberBlue]

If this was caused by stepping on it, you wouldn't be seeing this anomaly uniformly across the whole rocker panel.

I stand by that this is caused by the GT500 generating 230 kilowatts of engine heat and 100 kilowatts of heat from the front brakes.

The lack of a fender vent, and the CFD showing flow routing through the rocker wicker is doing no favors to this issue.

 

[9secondko]

If people were stepping on it, it would have just broke off. Would stepping on it causing them to turn wavy, no. Intense heat coming out of the engine bay and front wheel wells that is likely heating up the plastic moldings causing them to deform, yes.

No. The heat doesn’t hit where the waves and separation exist.
Looks like a case of people stepping on it, causing the clips to extend and the plastic to deform according to the attachment placements due to excess weight places in the part.

 

[jvandy50]

I’m fairly sure even my grandma would know that’s not a step. Whether it’s caused by heat or whatever, who knows, but surely people aren’t actually putting their body weight on it.

 

[Snowwolfe]

Could be something as simple as just needing more mounting points

 

[65Terdlingua]

I’d say no. Doubt it’s a heat issue. You’d see the same issue on s550 and GT350s if it was. These cars don’t heat up anymore than those. Most probably from being kicked or pressed on when coming out of the car.

I'm not here to say heat is causing this. But this engine is producing 760hp, thats 44% more than the GT350. Yes, it is making more heat than the S550 and GT350.

 

[kilobravo]

My take on this is...

The wheel well liners are likely made of the same plastic as the rocker pieces and one would think they would melt before the side skirt.

And, most widely-used polymers are capable of 200 degrees C and higher which is almost 400 degrees F.

I don't see enough thermal energy getting back that far so I believe whatever it is, it isn't heat-related.

 

[GrabberBlue]

No. The heat doesn’t hit where the waves and separation exist.
Looks like a case of people stepping on it, causing the clips to extend and the plastic to deform according to the attachment placements due to excess weight places in the part.

If you step on the rocker panel it is going to deform where you stepped on it not uniformly across the whole rocker panel. The mounting clips are going to break before you even get close to putting your full weight on it.

If this was caused by careless people stepping on it, we would be seeing rental S550s with the same exact damage. I didn't observe a single instance of someone stepping on the rocker panel while at the GT500 Track Tour.

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