Alignment Report: is it that bad?

[rollandburn]

Hi everyone....I've had my 85' RoW 911 for almost a year and have started to notice suspect wear on my tires. I was told that the Honda dealer in my little city had the best equipment and most other shops take any alignment jobs to them. So, I took my baby in and was presented with the following diagram.

The service manager told me that it would take 4 hours to do a 4-wheel alignment and because my car's alignment was so far off spec that he would have to take parts off in order to install shims etc.... he said even if he maxed out the adjustment bolts trying to get things back in line there still wouldn't be enough thread.

I am not confident these guys are being straight with me and wonder if anyone could take a look at the following alignment report to tell me just how 'far out' the alignment is.

Thanks.

[Elombard]

Run

Its pretty good. I suspect it may have been set up in the past with drivers weight and that would probably make the rear cambers closer.

The right front is barely off in toe.

I believe he is looking at the camber and thinking that is bad. for a performance occasional track car the camber is good. It does cause a bit of tire wear.

Do you daily drive? My tires always go bad before they wear out any way so a little camber wear is no big deal.

Do some searching on peoples recommended alignment settings. It depends a lot on your use.

Also, if your corner weights are way out of wack it will make the car pull and wear the tires. They wont be able to help with that. Do a search for tri pod method to check that on your car.

most of that camber is within the factory adjustment but most shops dont know how to mess with the rear camber plates.

If you were closer I would fix it for you.

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that lighter performance cars should NOT be aligned without looking at the corner weights. Especially if you have higher rate T bars.

[Peter Zimmermann]

Shims? Don't walk away - RUN!!! Better yet - drive - FAST!

Need some info - is the car set at what is normally referred to as Euro ride height, or is it lower than that? Euro height is car on level floor, measure vertically from the floor through the wheel center to the first painted surface on the wheel arch. Rear should be about 25", front should be about 25.5". Basically the camber & caster are pretty good, the front toe needs a slight correction on the RF, the RR camber needs a slight correction, and the toe on the rear is a little aggressive.

[Quicksilver]

Where are you located? You need to find a shop that known Porsches so you need to give people a location so someone can recommend a good Porsche shop.

Oh and to add a bit to Mr. Zimmerman's response: What shims? A 911 has an adjustable suspension. It doesn't use shims. They are totally lost on your car...

[Rot 911]

What the others said. Your alignment is not that far off at all.

[rollandburn]

wow.... well in that case I'll tell everybody ....

DON'T GO TO AUTO HOUSE HONDA IN SARNIA, ONTARIO, CANADA!!!

I guess that answers the question of where I am located. Sarnia is about 1 hour from Detroit, 3 hours from Toronto.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=sarnia,on&ie=UTF8&ll=42.968482,-81.513062&spn=2.709114,6.635742&t=h&z=8&iwloc=addr

@Elombard - She is a daily driver that I took autocrossing once..... I don't plan on racing the car. Corner weights....jeez I have a lot to learn. I'll have to do some reading up on that, I'll probably be back with questions. =]

And yes Peter, it should be at Euro height, but I will confirm the actual distances in a few hours when I get home from work and post them here.

I really appreciate all the input. Thanks!!!

[rollandburn]

ps.... when checking ride height, should I have a full tank with no one in it?

[4sd911]

A good rule is don't let someone work on a Porsche that doesn't work on Porsche's. I had an alignment shop tell me in order to align the rear they would need to bend the trailing arms!

[Pazuzu]

Now I wanna take my p-car to all of the local shops and see what interesting things they can come up with to get it aligned!

I could make a book out of the quotes, sell it here, make meeeellions, and buy my OWN alignment rack then!!

Haha!!

[Elombard]

Oops I said rear camber plates I meant rear spring plates.

[barney911rs]

If someone can recommend a good shop in Detroit, it would be worth the drive. I know of some shops in the Clevland area, but that's a bit of a drive. You need the Lake Erie bridge. You should be able to find a good Porsche shop somewhere in the Mich area.

[Paulporsche]

Rolandburn,

Peter Z's description of Euro ride height is based on stock sized tires, ie +/- 25 1/8" dia.

[dshepp806]

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

Now I wanna take my p-car to all of the local shops and see what interesting things they can come up with to get it aligned!

I could make a book out of the quotes, sell it here, make meeeellions, and buy my OWN alignment rack then!!

Haha!!

FUNNY AS HELLLLL!! Great idea......would be a good read,..I'm in tears now.....
...you would want to film each encounter, occasionally panning to yourself trying to keep a straight face,..absolutely hilarious.

Best...

[rollandburn]

well, I made the height check and found that I am 25" even in the rear with the front being 26" on the right and 25.75" on the left.

The tires are PilotSports 225/50's in the rear, 205/55's up front.

I have an appointment tomorrow at the local BMW shop. We'll see how things go!

Thanks everybody.

[gtc]

Originally Posted by barney911rs

If someone can recommend a good shop in Detroit, it would be worth the drive. ... You should be able to find a good Porsche shop somewhere in the Mich area.

+1 on heading over to MI.
My car was further out of alignment than yours (I had positive camber in the rear, for example), and it still only took the shop 90 minutes to align.

[Gunter]

Originally Posted by rollandburn

well, I made the height check and found that I am 25" even in the rear with the front being 26" on the right and 25.75" on the left.

The tires are PilotSports 225/50's in the rear, 205/55's up front.

I have an appointment tomorrow at the local BMW shop. We'll see how things go!

Thanks everybody.

BMW?
Hmmmmmmmm..................
I guess you're not doing corner balancing along with the alignment?
I wouldn't go anywhere until I made sure that all bushings are good, all shocks and struts are good, any play in the front bearing adjusted and if it still has the OEM tie rods contemplate replacing it with the 930-style.
Is the bump-steer kit installed on the rack?
26" front is a little high, I think.
25" front and 24.5 wouldn't be excessive especially with the spacers under the rack.
A lot of places have a more modern computer that allows for the driver weight electronically instead of placing bags of chicken feed in the driver's seat.
Correct tire pressure and the tank 1/2 full seems to be the minimum.