Ride hight, corner balance and align question

[oh snap]

I am getting ready to have my car balanced and aligned and have a couple questions. First, I measured the ride height today because when washed it I noticed one side seemed to be higher. I confirmed today that the front and rear arches are 1/4 and 3/8 of an inch higher on the passenger side (with no one in the car). Is this so large a difference that I will need to have the ride height reindexed as well?

I'm also wondering if this is a good time to take care of anything else. I am considering deleting the AC before i go in, but i have also heard that bushings should be redone before an alignment as well. I do not know when they were last done on my car, but it does have newer bilstein sports. Anything else better to do now rather than later?

The car is an 85 911 factory turbo look with 92k miles. Thanks all

[HarryD]

It is worthwhile to inspect your rear springplate bushes to see if they need replacing. If the end of the torsion bar is about to (or already is) touch the torsion bar cover, then they need to go.

Check your tie rods. This is a good time to replace them if they are dying as well.

As far as ride heights, my car is exeprtly corner balanced and the driver side is about 1/2" higher than the the passenger side. The weights are more important than the final ride height.

[DRACO A5OG]

Wow, where can I start, I did the ride height, corner balance and alignment myself, as well as all bushings, upped my sways, torsion bars, ball joints, steering U joints, strut bar, targa body brace, new tires.

My front right spindle was bent so I needed to fix it to get the desired camber adjustment

For you at a minimum I suggest new bushings to take out any factors that may effect the alignment. worn parts will only get worse over time.

While you are changing the rear bushings, you can take that opportunity to adjust the plates or re-index to even out the back. Be warned your corner balance may make your car off.

You have to choose looks over performance. I personally chose Performance. My front right is a bit higher then my driver side due to corner balance but she turns like she is on rails.

Jim

Others more experienced will chime in.

Just lowered and aligned buddy's '86, he chose looks. he is perfectly square, but he claims it handles like a dream. I think it is a Placebo effect, but who am I to rain on his parade.

[Pazuzu]

I wouldn't pay for a CB until you have it finalized. If you do any suspension work afterward, the CB is ruined. If you remove any significant weight (100 pounds) the CB is ruined. Now, by "ruined" I mean "no longer worth the several hundred dollars you spent on it", it'll still be better aligned that 95% of the cars on the road.

Hold off on the expensive alignment stuff until you have everything squared away.

[aston@ultrasw.c]

Here's a thought.

Measuring alignment and corner weights is easy, it's the adjustments that take the time and therefore the money.

So have the car measured. As long as nothing is way out of whack don't do any adjustments. Then you can refurb the suspension, make any mods you want etc...when you are happy with it, have everything adjusted up.

[aston@ultrasw.c]

And another thought!

Any common or garden shop with an alignment rack *should* be able to measure your car. I wouldn't trust them to make any adjustments, use your Porsche guy for that. But you will save a few $ in the process.

[oh snap]

Thanks for the feedback. I would like to re-sort the suspension completely, but I am going to hold off until I can afford to do it all with one of elephant racing's packages (or similar). This corner balance will be to get the car sitting right for at least the life of this set of tires.

It sounds like it is a good time to inspect at least the bushings and tie rods though. If these need replacement is it opening a completely new "while you are in there" can of worms or are they easy enough to change on their own?

Thanks again for your advice

[DRACO A5OG]

Easy to change on your own, just takes time. tie rods may mess up the toe so after you refresh DIY, go to alignment shop asap.

[aston@ultrasw.c]

Of course it's a slippery slope, but why should you be any different