Porsche Alignment problems....
 

I'm asking you all the same question I'm going to ask the shop when I bring the car back in bright and early at 8AM in the morning (for the THIRD time):

"After paying $200 for a porsche 4-wheel alignment, is it reasonable to expect the car to drive straight when I hold the wheel in the center position?"

The wheel is a good 10 degrees to the LEFT when the car goes straight. When i hold the wheel in the center position, the car goes RIGHT.


they did the alignment last THURSDAY.....wheel off center problem...I returned the car to the shop today as they offered to fix the problem, I'm driving home tonight, same schit! Problem not fixed.
If something else is going on, I would have appreciated an explaination as to what is going on and what we can do to resolve it but nothing.

where am i going wrong?

(car is 83sc)

It should track straight and true on a flat road. (Keep in mind many roads are "crowned" to help water run-off.)

Maybe the wheel needs to be reset to center on the steering column? (Rotated a few splines to the right.) I think its a 22mm socket but an easy task to do. 10-15 minutes tops.

How are the condition of your tires? When was the last time you had your wheels balanced?

Is this the same shop that you had thought overcharged you on your CV boots and axle assembly work?

yes, same shop.

Tires are 75% there. ....plus, no shaking or vibration at any speed. Car handles and drives well.. just the wheel center is off.

Road crown can indeed pull the car to one side.A good alignment can be done two ways , one adjusts the front end diferrently side to side with the assumption it will usually be operated on a crowned road. The other sets both side exactly the same and you get more predictable steering on all types of roads but it may pull slightly down the crown of a crowned road. If the car drives straight with your hands off the wheel then the steering rack isn,t centered. The proper fix is to lengthen the tie rod on one side and shorten it the same amount on the other to move the center position of the wheel without altering the toe in. Do not remove the wheel and move it on the splines unless you are convinced it has been moved before. Doing so can change the position of the cancelling mechanism for the turn signals as well as altering the relationship of the center of the steering rack,some of which have a high spot at center.

I find that my car's alingment is very sensitive to road camber, most of the roads i use are cambered right so my car usually pulls right. If your car pulls right even if the road is cambered to the left then you have a problem.

Go find a nice wide, long and straight freeway that is cambered on both sides and ride the middle lane, or a big parking garage.

alf

Three times to get it right, and they still can't remember to center the steering wheel? Time to find a new alignment shop.

I wonder if it is as simple as resetting the center of your steering column as has been suggested.

Was your car ever corner balanced? I say this cause an off balanced car could cause pulling and affect braking and handling detrimentally.

I think what you're saying is the car tracks completely straight when you let go of the wheel, its just the wheel thats off-center?

What lame asses! Maybe they centered the rack correctly but didn't reset the steering column/wheel? The rack may have been off center before & the wheel shifted on the splines to make up for it. Even so, after completing the alignment they should recenter the steering wheel.

yes, it tracks straight but the wheel is off-center..... And yes, the wheel was like that before i took it in. It was off-center AND it was pulling to the right, the original reason I believed that it needed an alignment in the first place.

Sounds like for the cost of a 27mm socket you can save the hassle of ever dealing with this shop again. It really is a VERY easy operation to re-center the wheel. Give it a shot and save yourself the grief.

How much do you weigh?

I think you should verify that the alignment is correct before you re-index the wheel. Why would somebody re-index it to fix an alignment issue, there may or may not be more to it? Was the car ever in an accident? Have you ever had it corner balanced?

Take it to another shop and have them check out the alignment, if it’s good you can re-index the wheel in 10 minutes.

Have them check the tie rod lengths and equalize them. You really want the wheel centered but also the tie rods equal length. Reindexing the wheel is the right thing to do if the tie rods are set at equal lengths. I think you'll find that the reindexing won't get it perfectly straight. Each spline may be at 5 degree increments for example and may not put the wheel on center. It'll be better but not where you really want it.