Car out of alignment

[Travisrt1985]

I just finished installing my sport 1 restoration suspension package from elephant racing and I cannot seem to get my car aligned properly. Does anyone have experience with alignments ? I need to know if my car needs another part. I’ve attached my recent alignment sheet and the parts I put on. It’s a 88 carrera .

[Travisrt1985]

[thetorch]

Are you using stock camber plates?

I would ask Chuck at Elephant. He is very helpful.

[dannobee]

How low is it? Lowering will increase caster and decrease camber.

[rumlyne]

lowering mine sure didn't decrease my camber

[Tyson Schmidt]

Those specs are for 964, not an 88 Carrera

Your caster is what it should be. And your camber is fine at those settings.

[Marc Bixen]

Another shop that doesn't know what they're working on. As Tyson said, wrong specs. I had a tire shop that constantly was getting tire pressures wrong on g body and earlier cars, A VERY well known tire shop in Santa Monica, Ca. I even gave them a Porsche tire pressure guide. They continued to get it wrong, so I went over there. They showed me their industry tire pressure guide, ....starting 1991. Such incompetence!

[Travisrt1985]

So it’s a simple mistake of the shop using the wrong alignment specs?

[Travisrt1985]

Un freaking believable. They ended up keeping the car for an extended period of time over this issue as they made it seem like it was in need of more parts.

[wrxnofx]

Go elsewhere. I took my '87 to a shop for an alignment on a recommendation. I sat there for 3 hours. Finally, they told me they couldn't dial it in, that there was something wrong with the car. I looked at the strut towers - they had never even loosened them.

I went to another place, and he had it dialed in in 10 mins.

[Marc Bixen]

wrxnofx
that sounds familliar too. That same shop in Santa Monica called me one day, their "expert" 20+ years aigning 911's, told me the camber was out of spec on a car he was aligning, I said "yea, so, you can't get enough adjustment?" He says, "911's don't have camber adjustment in the front. It's either in spec, or the car must be bent." OMG, I drove over there, showed him the procedure, then advised my clients to never go there again.

[Walt Fricke]

Marc - really amazing. We here all know from reading that the first 911s were, indeed, designed without alignment adjustment, but Porsche very quickly realized what a mistake that was and provided adjustment. That was in the 1960s. Yet that is what that alignment guy thought?

Some things you just couldn't make up if you tried.

[wrxnofx]

Originally Posted by Walt Fricke

Marc - really amazing. We here all know from reading that the first 911s were, indeed, designed without alignment adjustment, but Porsche very quickly realized what a mistake that was and provided adjustment. That was in the 1960s. Yet that is what that alignment guy thought?

Some things you just couldn't make up if you tried.

I am the 5th or so owner of my 911. When I got it, the black tar stuff that covers the adjustment plates at the top of the strut towers was untouched. This means that for over 30 years either the car had never been aligned or it had never been aligned correctly. I chipped all that garbage off, needless to say...

[wildcat077]

I would purchase front camber plates from Chuck and take your car elsewhere.It is difficult to get matching front camber numbers on a 30 year old car but adjustable camber plates will make it easier for a shop that has even basic knowledge ...
When i bought my 89 911 some 12 years ago , i couldn't get anything more than -1.2 front camber on both sides when i started doing DE's with PCA, anyhow after lots of $$$ to Tarret and ER, etc ... spent upgrading and replacing parts i would say that my car is dialed in very well !

Find a good shop , install adjustable camber plates and with all the new parts you put into your car's suspension , have it corner balanced as well when you go for a real alignment.You won't recognize your car anymore !!!