Alignment woes....

thrown_hammer · 05-10-2004, 06:45 AM

I had mine aligned at the local tire shop. What a nightmare. First I had to argue with TWO people to get them to set it the way I wanted it.(which they still didnt do) Anyhoo....here are the results. I think I need to redo parts of it.
Front left: camber -2.02, castor 6.18, toe 0
Front right: camber -1.38, castor 5.67, toe 0
Left rear: camber -2.41, toe 0
Right rear: camber -1.34, toe 0

When I sat in the car the front camber both sides settled in around -1.6 Its the differencr between the rear camber that concerns me. The couldnt get any more out of the right rear. Does that seem right? They were rushing me out the door and didnt want to go back and redo the drivers side rear. So I am not sure where the rear camber went if i was sitting in the car.

c2 rower · 05-10-2004, 07:50 AM

I you have time and patience you can do it yourself. It is amazing what can be done with a level, strings, and some math. Do a search on this forum and you will find lots of info. I like being able to do it myself. A modern alinment rig is fast and precise (but not neccesarily acurate).

thrown_hammer · 05-10-2004, 07:55 AM

Charlie,
I have the booklet for home alignment of the 911. I just need to know where to go from here. I think the fronts are good. I may try for more camber on the right rear and bring the left rear back to match it. Then I probably want to back the fronts off till the rears are -.5 more than the fronts? Also will the rear camber change as much as the front with a driver in the car? because if so the rears are more like -2.0 and -1.6 respectivly.

Wil Ferch · 05-10-2004, 08:29 AM

I don't think your "fronts are good".

In fact...I don't think you have a good alignment at all. The fronts are "off" from being equal in camber by almost a full degree. The caster should be nearly equal so the car won't wander or pull to one side. And...unless you're driving in competition, almost 2 degrees of negative camber on one wheel will have the inside inch almost all worn out in no time. Sorry... not meant as a flame, but these numbers would disturb me.

---Wil Ferch

thrown_hammer · 09:43 AM

Wil,
When I sit in the car the front camber value are both -1.6 and I had them MAX out the castor. So I should back the one side off to match.
And as I mentioned above I am not sure if the rear camber changed with me in the car because they were rushing me out the door.

I am shooting for -1.5 camber on the fronts and -2.0 on the rears. Tire wear be D@mned!

Gunter · Gunter's Garage

I go with Wil on this one: None of the numbers make sense. The camber should increase when you sit in it, no??? I found a good, friendly alignment shop and they carefully did what I wanted. You may have to do it yourself or find a different shop.

911pcars · 05-10-2004, 10:00 AM

They should have aligned the car with your equivalent weight in the driver's seat instead of waiting til you got the their store to check.

IMO, Wil is right. Something is wrong. The tire store sounds sloppy. Have them redo it or go to a proper alignment shop, preferably one that knows about alignment.

Sherwood

thrown_hammer · 05-10-2004, 10:07 AM

I think the drivers side camber would decrease as you add weight to the driver seat? Anyhoo....Trust me I learned not to take my car there anymore. I need to find a shop that does race cars and such. Not Farm trucks! I live in Tractorville, IN not alot of choices here....

thrown_hammer · 05-11-2004, 04:12 AM

Okay after reading the home alignment booklet I have decided the only way to get it right is to do it myself. So with me in the car the front camber is -1.6 both fronts. I will measure the rear with equivalent weight in the driver seat and see where that is. I assume it will change as well but didnt get a chance to sit in the car at the tire shop to see.
One thing the booklet doesnt mention is how to measure castor at home. It just says maxed out or middle of the range? They are both maxed out but are .5 degrees different. Is this excessive?

Mike Kast · Mike Kast's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by thrown_hammer
I need to find a shop that does race cars and such. Not Farm trucks! I live in Tractorville, IN not alot of choices here....

Thats funny. Its the old farm boys around here who invented american race cars. I think it all started with the bootleggers who needed to outrun the law having little weekend races. They ended up calling it nascar.

jpachard · 05-11-2004, 04:54 AM

Your rear toe is a concern too. It should be in slightly unless you really like a tail happy car. Your camber #'s shouldn't vary more than a few 1/10ths of a degree.

Cheers, James