alignment issue

[1974nine11]

my 1974 911 pulls to the right, i bought the car lowered, too low for my taste, rear wheels scraped inner fenders, so with help from a mechanic friend we raised it ourselves privately,adjusted rear t-bars and spring plates, front adjustment screws only, had it aligned ( alignment shop installed lower ball joints ) but was unable to make car go straight, pulls right, informed me that it was adjusted all that it could, and possibly have a bent strut ? before, when car was lowered, there was no issue, straight as an arrow. car has larger diameter rear t-bars ( 28 or 29 ) updated spring plates and bilsteins, front has stock struts, turbo tie-rods, rack spacing done with a couple of thick washers ( i was told ) any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, also any recommendations for a good Porsche shop in orange co. ca

[stlrj]

"...had it aligned ( alignment shop installed lower ball joints ) but was unable to make car go straight, pulls right, informed me that it was adjusted all that it could, and possibly have a bent strut ?"

What were the alignment numbers you ended up with?

[rfn026]

Whenever you have a pull to one side the first step is to swap the front tires side to side. Also check the basics like tire pressures. You want to make absolutely certain that the tires aren't creating the pull.

Remember that a good (bad) alignment guy can make an alignment machine read any way they want. Never trust the printouts they hand you, or even the screen. The true test is how the car actually drives down the road.

Richard Newton

Wheel and Tire Performance Handbook

Autocross Performance Handbook

[Quicksilver]

If the alignment shop isn't familiar with 89 and earlier Porsches they probably aren't able to do it right. A shop that knows how to do this right would know the correct steps to fix this and would either give you a car that is working correctly or they would tell you what is wrong with it.

As rfn026 mentioned odd wear on tires could cause this but also if you have odd tire wear it can mess up the alignment process. You want tires that are fairly evenly worn with left and right sides having pretty close to identical tread depths.

On a car that has had the ride hight changed, getting the tires pointed in the right direction is only part of it...
Corner balance is the key. If it hasn't been on a set of scales after a lot of mucking about there is no way the corner balance is right.

They are a number of shops in SoCal that can correctly fix this for you. Seeing that you are in Orange County I would highly recommend Johnsons Alignment up in Torrance (19056 Hawthorne Blvd). Steve Alarcon runs the place and all you need to do is tell him how you drive it and what it is doing and he can make it into the car that you really want. It is a bit out of the way but they are wizards at Porsche suspension setup.

If you can't deal with the drive up there (and I really recommend that you do...) you can go to one of the really good Porsche shops in OC. Scott's Independent in Anaheim, Hergesheimer in Lake Forest, or Haus of Performance in Costa Mesa are all good choices.

[tonythetarga]

Originally Posted by Quicksilver

Corner balance is the key. If it hasn't been on a set of scales after a lot of mucking about there is no way the corner balance is right.

+1. Only way to get the car to handle after reindexing the bars is the corner balance.

[Tom '74 911]

Originally Posted by tonythetarga

+1. Only way to get the car to handle after reindexing the bars is the corner balance.

+2 I had the exact same issue when I bought my '74 - it pulled to the right. After a few alignment shops and no luck, I did some measuring on my own and one of the rear corners was too low causing the pull. Assuming nothing is bent, a corner balance is KEY after raising or lowering one of these cars.

Tom

[1974nine11]

thanks to all who replied