"aligment" crashed car

[a911]

I had my car at shop to align it properly. And then we discoverd that car was crashed and not done properly together. I spoke to an owner who said that no way it was crashed and we can go to oficial porsce shop to verify. Since i lost trust in seller i dont want even go there to establish wat it was allready established and spent more money on checking.
I had my car from november and done to it many things. I fell in love with it and that was mistake. Now im really sad bout this. It is my fault not to do PPI althou for this i should traveled at least 300 miles to get PPI.
Got my car cheap ( when it will be done will not be as cheap i guess ) so i have litlle extra to spend on it.
And i dont wanna sell car like this and foul another customer that car is straight as is not.
Here is the deal anyway. At rear there were no problem. But front
is like this. ( its all he can do )
caster : left - 1.26 ; right + 0.19 factory : - 0.15 (+-0.15)
camber : left - 0.26 ; right - 1.08 factory : 0 (+-0.10)

At rear there were no problem finding factory setings.
The aligment guy said that car should go to profi who could streetch car into normal position.
Question now is how hard is doing that on 911 and is anyone done this? Or am i losing money and car is write off.
It is strange that on outside there are no visible diferences left//right and all gaps are almost perfect. There is no sign that car is been hit. Guess it was quality job and i dont understand why they didnt doit on aligment. Or is that maybe imposible?
Anyway im totaly down by this and it looks like my first 911 will not be as i though it will.

[Thomas Owen]

If it was me, and I liked the car, here is what I would do:
determine:
1. has the car been lowered? What is the current ride height?
2. the car may be twisted due to improper setup and a corner balance way off.
3. verify that there has been an accident repair. Even though the alignment tech could not get the settings you need I would ask to see evidence that the car has had serious front end damage/repair.
Once you are convinced there is no repair damage keeping you from aligning the car, it will probably make sense why the settings are off. Maybe you should take it to a chassis shop or Porsche shop and get their take on it.
Either way, do not give up until you know WHY.
Then tell us!
Good luck

[cstreit]

Someting as simple as a bent strut or a-arm from a big pothole could cause settings that vary that much. I wouldn't necessarily assume that there was an accident.

[yasir]

Take the car to a body shop and have them inspect the paint & the body for any repair work also have them put the car on a lift and inspect the undercarriage for evidence of repair work.I am prettty sure it deosn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out.
Any way if the car was in an accident and the PO didn't disclose that to you then surely he is accountable for that and at that stage i will pursue the case further.
Hope that helps.
Later

[obrut]

i second what chris said: check all the bolt on bits first and only then track down a body shop with porsche frame jigs to check the tub.

[a911]

Thanks for sugestions.
Previus owner said that at ofical porsche they said that many 911 had this problem ( my right wheel is sticking more out of fender then left )
So is he bs me or Porsche service bs him. I checked and two mechanics checked under car and is not visible serius damage. Since the car is 16 years old underside is very clean. If there was damage it was good repair work. Except aligment.
Trouble is i really like the car and everything is now in perfect runing order, engine is almost as strong as my 265hp TT. Almost no oil consuption, no rust........
Just that aligment. The car is puling slightly to left. And after seing castor is no brainer aswhy is it. At aligment shop they said that is best that they can do as is in maximum and they could not set castor properly and camber also.
Guess it should be driven to really good P shop to check it and see what they can do. I really dont wanna give this car away.
I have S.Wong chip ready to install and next week my friend will bring me other stuff from our host to me.
Thanks for replays

[Steve87-911]

Originally posted by yasir
Take the car to a body shop and have them inspect the paint & the body for any repair work also have them put the car on a lift and inspect the undercarriage for evidence of repair work.I am prettty sure it deosn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out...

I would agree. If it was wrecked wouldn't the undercoating give that away? I understand that most repair folks can't match the factory undercoating very well so that when they try to cover up crash evidence, you can usually tell that the repaired area undercoating texture doesn't match the rest of the factory undercoating.

[a911]

Has any1 try to straighten 911 on frame jig? The aligment guy said it need some 4mm. Is frame very hard to put it back into spec? Just trying to estimate what are possibilites, and how long will it take.
If it was wrecked i thnk it was only minor crash and front frame it was the worst. My very expirience mechanic ( althou not in 911 ) was not sure as is from age or repair work. But texture under the car really looks clean and even, except minor scraches that would be from stones and other road stuff.
He said he is not 100 percent sure either way, but as he looked aligment results he could not acept that car is not crashed as it would be hard to leave the car from factory in that state. If it was crash it was in early life of this car.
Main problem is castor as left wheel is in - and right in +.
And right wheel is visible sticking out of front fender.

[450knotOffice]

Even in a worst case scenario, if your frame is bent, a good Porsche body shop will be able to pull it straight. Mine looked perfect from the outside and then it became apparent that the car had been wrecked in the front at some point in its 20 year history.

Anyway, I my mechanic recommended a good body shop. They looked at it and said "no problem". It may not be bent but they said that if it is, they'll pull it straight. It's going in for the body work in a week.

I went through the whole range of emotions and then finally realized that the all is not lost and I still love that damn beautiful black cab of mine. It'll cost me a couple thousand to fix it but that's what credit cards are for, I suppose (or a 2nd mortgage that was timed perfectly).

Funny thing is my car aligned and corner balanced perfectly. Go figure.

The car will be fine. The worst thing that can happen is that when you decide to sell the car and a buyer asks if the car was in an accident, you will say "yes, but it's been fixed proprly". You may not get as much for the sale, but then again Porsche ownership has never been about financial gain. These things are money pits, as you know.

[a911]

Thanks for reply. Im feeling beter now. I love the car and i bought it to never has to sale it as for me is the last proper 911.
Maybe in future i will go into 993 teritory or maybe 997 but this 911 will stay with me forever.
Will go to body shop to fix this. Will inform you what results may be.
THANKS

[Thomas Owen]

One other thing just came to mind in reference to the front tire sticking out past the fender. I know there have been many stories here about people buying cars and finding that there were different width wheels on all 4 corners. Check the two front wheels and make sure they are the same - if you can not tell, simply switch the front wheels and see if the other side now sticks out too far.
Good luck -

[a911]

Wheels are same. Im sure i checked that even before i went to aligment.
I can not think of anything other then car is being hit. Just hoping that it could be repaired.

[Thomas Owen]

Post some pictures if you can - I would like to see some side shots showing wheels and tire angles.

[a911]

Ok here are some pic

[a911]

It doesnt look that much from this pic but anyway.........
Next week will go to body shop

[a911]

here are some more. Car is in garage so pic are litlle off

[a911]

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