Alignment question

[Eric H]

The symptom is this: It's easier to turn the steering wheel to the right (when moving) than to the left. The car tracks straight on smooth roads, but if I go over some bumps the wheel will tend to turn to the right. Tires and pressures are good, tie rods are new, and it's been aligned but not corner balanced. Does this sound like a corner balance problem? Or could a bad shock cause this behaviour? Any other ideas? Thanks, Eric H 87 Targa

[nhromyak]

What are you current caster settings?

It sounds like it could be (in order or most likely-hood)
a) Caster incorrect
b) Corner weights
c) old tires/worn tires
d) camber incorrect
e) two or more of the above

Good luck

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Nick Hromyak
'85 Carrera 7 & 9 Fuchs
Havin' Fun in Sacramento

[Eric H]

Thanks for your ideas, Nick. Here's some more info: the car was lowered to 25"/25.5" and realigned with a Hunter digital laser alignment machine. The specs are (L/R):

camber -0deg25'/-0deg20'
caster 6deg02'/5deg53'
toe 1.5mm/1.4mm

Rear:
camber -1deg08'/-1deg06'
toe 2.8mm/1.8mm

I'm running Yoko AVSI's, 205's and 245's on 16x7&8" Fuchs. When I bought the car last year it had no such problem. I had new tires and turbo tie rods put on w/realignment and it had the problem but it was very subtle. Then I had it lowered and aligned again and the problem is now much more noticeable and bothersome. I suspect corner balance is off but I'm trying to rule out other possibilities, like a shock going bad. Eric H 87 Targa

[BRAINIAC]

Definitely sounds like corner imbalance to me. Especially since it became so noticeable after lowering. That is definitely one of the symptoms of corner imbalance. Different handling characteristics between turning left and right are another. Locking up one wheel under panic stops is yet another.

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Tyson Schmidt
72 911 Cabriolet
92 C-2 Cabriolet

[Early_S_Man]

Eric,

Just one thing to check before the corner balance expense ... ball joints.

Since they are permanently lubricated, there is never any 'new' grease forced around those moving parts in the ball-joint assemblies ... and after 14.5+ years, the wear and lack of fresh lubricant may not be identical on both sides. What I suggest is jacking up the front end, unbolting both tie-rod ends, and checking each side to see if the amount of resistance to turning the struts is unequal.

If you find unequal turning resistance, I suggest replacing both ball-joints!

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Warren Hall
1973 911S Targa

[Eric H]

Thanks guys. When I had it lowered I assumed they would corner balance but they didn't. Sounds like I should double check things including ball joints before I get it corner balanced. A search didn't yield much info on ball joint replacement but with 100k miles it probably would be a good idea to just go ahead with it. It sounds like a reasonable DIY project - anybody actually done it themselves? Eric H 87 Targa