Do these alignment results look OK?

cmcfaul · cmcfaul's Garage

Upgraded to the Turbo tie rods and replaced all the front bushings. Took it to the alignment shop and following are the results.

Front camber and rear toe look pretty off the mark. Or is that within specs?

Thanks,

Chris
89 Carrera

Travis Neff · 03-16-2020, 08:44 AM

Looks like they only adjusted the toe in the front. Did you go to a tire shop and have them do the work or a specialty alignment shop?

Driven97 · 03-16-2020, 08:56 AM

The alignment shop didn't touch the back end of your car. Measurements are the same before and after.

Alignment shop also did not touch the front camber /caster, which is adjusted at the camber plate (strut top.)

All they did was put about 1/4 turn into each tie rod, 10 minutes of work. Looks like they did a pretty good job of that, the light touch of toe in up front should give you good highway tracking and low tire wear. Hope you didn't pay more than $75 for that.

cmcfaul · cmcfaul's Garage

Was $120 ($100 after $20 coupon). Local chain, Tire and Auto place. Have taken my cars there for years. Is it worth taking it back, going to a Porsche specific place or is it close enough? Can rear toe be adjusted?

Chris

Driven97 · 03-16-2020, 09:53 AM

If the car drives fine to you, then I wouldn't bother. In the range of "not prefect but close enough" IMO. Others may disagree.

The rear is a bear to adjust (two cam bolts that cross talk), and I doubt a tire shop would do a good job unless you got lucky with a tech who was just really interested in figuring out how it works.

T77911S · 03-16-2020, 09:58 AM

I asked around who did porsches

was sent to a tire shop.
the guy had the latest and greatest machine.
i asked if he had done porches before.
he did my 930 for $70.
was very happy.

you don't need a "specialist" shop that charges $500 if the end result is still the same.

I have taken all my cars to this guy.

cmcfaul · cmcfaul's Garage

Bringing it back to the shop. Initially they told me the items in brown that are out of spec are not adjustable. Then spoke the the "lead Tech" and he said he could do it.

Hopefully he is not learning on my car.

Chris

Bill Verburg · Bill Verburg's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmcfaul

Upgraded to the Turbo tie rods and replaced all the front bushings. Took it to the alignment shop and following are the results.

Front camber and rear toe look pretty off the mark. Or is that within specs?

Thanks,

Chris
89 Carrera

I'd want my money back, that's a joke

cmcfaul · cmcfaul's Garage

The areas that are mostly out of spec is too much negative camber. That's a good thing performance wise.....right? Should I tell them to leave the back alone and fix the front caster and even out the camber. Or make it all in factory specs?

Thanks again,

Chris

ryans65 · 03-16-2020, 11:03 AM

Its not hard to get these cars where you want them unless you are corner balancing. I'd take that back and show them where the adjusters are. All they did was a "toe N go" alignment so it doesn't pull.

r lane · 03-16-2020, 11:21 AM

If this is a street car, for camber .5* is the most I want on any corner. Unless one doesn't mind premature replacement. It will feel and handle fine. I prefer a little less on the front. 30 min toe on the front, and 22min toe on each wheel in the rear. If you track it, then a total different story. Bob

shoooo32 · shoooo32's Garage

You should be able to remove some camber from the rear. My SC is an inch lower than Euro height and has less rear camber than negative 1.7/2 degrees.

It takes 5min/side to adjust once it's on the rack - for the $100 you spent I'd take it back and make them do it right.

cmcfaul · cmcfaul's Garage

Had a 73 911E and the only way to fit 205's on all corners was to max out the negative camber. Could get close to 2 degrees. Handled GREAT!! on and off the track. Would wear the tires but not many miles were put on it compared to a daily driver so did not really matter.

No plans to DE this car yet so will tell them to get everything within spec.

Chris

Stimorolgum · Stimorolgum's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by r lane

If this is a street car, for camber .5* is the most I want on any corner. Unless one doesn't mind premature replacement. It will feel and handle fine. I prefer a little less on the front. 30 min toe on the front, and 22min toe on each wheel in the rear. If you track it, then a total different story. Bob

I tried to adjust the camber on my -73 but maxed out on the strut top.
From what I understand the strut towers sag inboard with time and we have to accept this camber?

cmcfaul · cmcfaul's Garage

I took it back and they got the rear perfect. 1 degree of negative camber. They could not get the shocks to move in the front. Did not know how to deal with the black stuff at the top of the shock towers so caster and camber is slightly out of spec.

Chris

stlrj · 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmcfaul

Bringing it back to the shop. Initially they told me the items in brown that are out of spec are not adjustable. Then spoke the the "lead Tech" and he said he could do it.

Hopefully he is not learning on my car.

Chris

The lead tech could easily have raised the front end an inch and put the front camber and caster in the green. Why didn't he? I guess he never realized how easy it was for us to lower our rides to get the right stance without regards to how it affects alignment.

ryans65 · 03-19-2020, 11:10 AM

Then need to unload the front suspension in order to adjust the camber, nearly all reputable alignment shops have a lift cradle they can use during the alignment to lift the front or rear off the rack to accomplish this. The tar will just flake off mostly when the "adjustment" is made (smacking the strut top with a rubber mallet.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmcfaul

I took it back and they got the rear perfect. 1 degree of negative camber. They could not get the shocks to move in the front. Did not know how to deal with the black stuff at the top of the shock towers so caster and camber is slightly out of spec.

Chris

stlrj · 03-19-2020, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryans65

Then need to unload the front suspension in order to adjust the camber, nearly all reputable alignment shops have a lift cradle they can use during the alignment to lift the front or rear off the rack to accomplish this. The tar will just flake off mostly when the "adjustment" is made (smacking the strut top with a rubber mallet.)

You can knock all the tar off and try to move the strut ever so slight until you come to realize the amount of adjustment is nothing more than a joke. The only real way to get the camber in the green is to raise the front end back to factory specs or as high as you can tolerate.

Remember: looks are more important than anything anyway, right?

cmcfaul · cmcfaul's Garage

Looks? Handles better the lower it goes. Put some 15 inch Fuchs with low profile tires and go to the track. When i replaced all the bushings i did purposefully lower it a bit. I can live with the front end as it is. Back is perfect.

stlrj · 04:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmcfaul

Looks? Handles better the lower it goes. Put some 15 inch Fuchs with low profile tires and go to the track. When i replaced all the bushings i did purposefully lower it a bit. I can live with the front end as it is. Back is perfect.

So what's the point of alignment specs anyway? I guess Porsche must have designed these cars to handle like crap and maybe we could show them how we all know more than them engineers. I'll make sure and email this to Zuffenhausen and let them hear how us amateurs make them look silly and maybe they could follow us here on Pelican so we could learn them a thing or two. And maybe if they didn't make them look so dorky from the factory they might handle better.