Alignment - Rear toe out of spec

[franklinstower]

After install of turbo tie rods and rack spacers, I had my '78 sc corner balanced and aligned at shop that specializes in 911 alignments. The owner himself did the alignment, so I am pretty sure it was done as correctly as possible.

Upon picking it up, he said the right rear toe was out of spec and at the limit of adjustment. The right rear is at 5.1 mm Toe. My question is what has caused the toe to be so far out and how do I correct it? No indications of anything bent. All bushings are original, so could that be my culprit?

[T77911S]

if it is lowered too much
something bent- suspension parts
been in a wreck
chassis bent


here is possibly a real dumb Q
how does the machine know the car is sitting straight on the machine.
what if a car is angled. the steering wheel is straight. one rear wheel would be "toed out" the other "toed in". same with front. one out and one in. the car would go down the road "dog tracking"

I hate to ask what a shop that "specializes in Porsche alignments" charges.
I had my 930 done for $80. like your print out shows, if all 4 wheels are in spec then it really does not matter who is turning the bolts. I would look for someone with the latest and greatest machine. BTW the Porsche shop here wanted over 500. tried to tell me how complicated the 930 suspension was.

[gtc]

Which shop did the work?
I would take the results to another shop (Tru-line, Prova, Group 2, for example) and see if they can get it to align.
Could be a bent trailing arm.

[franklinstower]

Originally Posted by gtc

Which shop did the work?
I would take the results to another shop (Tru-line, Prova, Group 2, for example) and see if they can get it to align.
Could be a bent trailing arm.

Pete at Trueline did the alignment.

[BURN-BROS]

I would be looking at a spring plate bushing if it was me.

[Bill Verburg]

Originally Posted by franklinstower

After install of turbo tie rods and rack spacers, I had my '78 sc corner balanced and aligned at shop that specializes in 911 alignments. The owner himself did the alignment, so I am pretty sure it was done as correctly as possible.

Upon picking it up, he said the right rear toe was out of spec and at the limit of adjustment. The right rear is at 5.1 mm Toe. My question is what has caused the toe to be so far out and how do I correct it? No indications of anything bent. All bushings are original, so could that be my culprit?

~40rs ago my '72 had a similar issue, the trailing arm was bent, probably from hitting a curb or pot hole wrong.
solution was to bend it back

[franklinstower]

Originally Posted by Bill Verburg

~40rs ago my '72 had a similar issue, the trailing arm was bent, probably from hitting a curb or pot hole wrong.
solution was to bend it back

1972 must have been steel trailing arms.... All wheels are original showing no signs of damage, I am going to poke around some more, but I think its going to be worn bushings. Although you would think with worn out bushings, you would tend to toe out, not toe in like mine is doing.

[Bill Verburg]

Originally Posted by franklinstower

1972 must have been steel trailing arms.... All wheels are original showing no signs of damage, I am going to poke around some more, but I think its going to be worn bushings. Although you would think with worn out bushings, you would tend to toe out, not toe in like mine is doing.

They all have steel trailing arms, the main difference was a 2 piece design implemented in '77
This is a '77-89, earlier were the same but 1 piece

[franklinstower]

Originally Posted by Bill Verburg

They all have steel trailing arms, the main difference was a 2 piece design implemented in '77
This is a '77-89, earlier were the same but 1 piece

Ohhh, Spring plates...yes steel. When you said trailing arm. I thought you were referring to the "trailing arm". Semantics

[Jeff Alton]

What sort of specs did you ask for, if any? Or was this more of a "get in the green" alignment? Bent arms, worn bushings, worn eccentrics, worn adjustment holes in trailing arm or spring plate could all cause the lack of adjustment in the rear toe. However, you are not going to see much life out of that right rear tire with that alignment...

Does the car drift/pull to the right?

[Jeff Alton]

Originally Posted by T77911S

if it is lowered too much
something bent- suspension parts
been in a wreck
chassis bent


here is possibly a real dumb Q
how does the machine know the car is sitting straight on the machine.
what if a car is angled. the steering wheel is straight. one rear wheel would be "toed out" the other "toed in". same with front. one out and one in. the car would go down the road "dog tracking"

I hate to ask what a shop that "specializes in Porsche alignments" charges.
I had my 930 done for $80. like your print out shows, if all 4 wheels are in spec then it really does not matter who is turning the bolts. I would look for someone with the latest and greatest machine. BTW the Porsche shop here wanted over 500. tried to tell me how complicated the 930 suspension was.

If the car was adjusted at all in the rear, the shop lost money selling you an 80 dollar alignment... 500 is outrageously high by the same margin 80 is outrageously low. In the green and equal are two different things, which may or may not be important to the person doing the alignment and/or the client... Would like to see your before and after print outs.

Cheers

[T77911S]

i watched him do the alignment.
I told him to set it spec.
yes all 4 wheels.
the guy new what he was doing and was done in less than a hour.
he showed me the results. what spec was and what the car was aligned to.

my point is you don't need to pay big money to get the correct alignment.
I have since sent all my cars to him.