Hey Folks,
So I bought this boxster with only 22k miles in it but with a dead engine (I couldn't resist). I jacked up the car and inspected the underside when I noticed that one of the bolts that holds this bracket in place was missing.
This piece holds the left and right suspension in place. It's not just a cover, it's an important element of the rear suspension. If you remove this you can't even lower down the car on its wheels because the suspension won't withstand the cars's own weight and the suspension will need to be realigned. Hence the name, "chassis reinforcement plate" .
The car has all the maintenance records and a receipt shows that some service was done in February, including changing out all the fluids and a wheel alignment job on all 4 wheels. First I thought the bolt came loose and fell out, but the plate does not line up with the hole. Most members of this community know that this bracket usually goes back easily if you pull the two suspensions closer to each other, otherwise the holes for the six bolts don't line up.
So, it looks like this shop changed the oil in the tranny then left out one bolt from a critically important part of the rear suspension because they couldn't put it back in. On an almost new performance car. And then did a wheel alignment and charged the owner $2000. How about that? Just wanted to share.