Getting Alignment done for Euro Height SC

[OsoMoore]

Will my local shop need any special data to do an alignment on my SC which has been lowered to Euro ride height? Also, when I called they noted the Porsche does factory alignments with the car weight-loaded, which they will not be able to do.

Should I worry about that? Its my first alignment and I'm kind of edgy. What if something goes wrong!

[Oh Haha]

If they don't add YOUR weight to the driver's seat, they are not doing it properly. Are they a Porsche shop or just a regular place?

If they don't know 911s, don't let them touch it.

Seriously.

[Peter Zimmermann]

Originally Posted by Oh Haha

If they don't add YOUR weight to the driver's seat, they are not doing it properly. Are they a Porsche shop or just a regular place?

If they don't know 911s, don't let them touch it.

Exactly! Don't let anyone work on the car unless they have good equipment, know the difference between a street set-up and autocross settings, and are willing to let you sit in the car while it's being aligned. Also, a half tank of gas is preferable. A computer print out of the final settings is mandatory.

[sparkle84]

Search alignment specs & you'll get more info than you want or need. There should be Pelicans in your area who can tell you where to go. You want a shop that can answer the question you asked here. If they can't you need to go somewhere else. Tell them how you drive & they should know how to set up your car. Get it corner balanced 1st. Won't be a lot of money if they know what they're doing. As far as I know weight loading is simply adding weight in the drivers seat equivalent to your weight when corner balancing & aligning the car. A general rule of thumb is 1 degree more negative camber in the rear in relation to the front. Given that with a lot of SC's it's difficult to obtain much neg. camber in the front it's desirable to set the front 1st & then go 1 degree more in the rear. 0 toe is fine in the rear. What you want in the front depends on driving habits. I personally do a lot of highway driving so I have a slight amount of toe in. That way the car tracks straighter with less corrections. 0 or slight toe out will give better turn in on corners. Castor should be 5 + to help stability.

Good Luck, Steve

[OsoMoore]

Thanks for the input. I grabbed the list of places our local PCA lists, and I'm going to give some of them a call. One place so far quoted me $300, which I'm hoping is on the high side.

[Oh Haha]

Originally Posted by OsoMoore

Thanks for the input. I grabbed the list of places our local PCA lists, and I'm going to give some of them a call. One place so far quoted me $300, which I'm hoping is on the high side.

That's a good start.

I think(based on your first post) what you want is:


Lowered to "Euro" Spec(they may not know so be prepared to give them the specs)


Corner Balanced(even as possible handling in right and left turns,braking,etc.)


4 wheel alignment(not a track only setup but mainly for street driving)


Depending on the hourly rate of the area, $300 may be the lower end of costs.

Doing these jobs right can take some time even for an experienced technician.

Done correctly and the difference will amaze you.

[stlrj]

Since your car has been lowered, be prepared to see the printout results to be mostly in the red or beyond spec range.

[sparkle84]

300 for strictly an alignment is a little on the high side IMO. Aligning a car is not rocket science, it's a pretty straight forward process. I'm just a backyard mechanic but I lowered, corner balanced & aligned my SC in approx. 5 hours. The alignment part only took about an hour. What takes time is if you have to reindex your torsion bars to achieve lowering the height &/or corner balancing. I was lucky in that I didn't need to do that. Was also lucky in that I'm right down the street & friends with Mark Nadler of Exotech. (Exotechpower.com). One of the most knowledgeble Porsche guys around. Used his shop, tools & equipment. He directed me & set up the scales & alignment equipment but I did the work.
Your car is already lowered & if all you want is alignment then as I said it's a fairly quick, easy procedure. Once again, just tell them your driving habits & useage & they should recommend what you need. If they can't, go elsewhere. If you opt for corner balancing & your adjustment eccentrics are maxed out then it may require reindexing torsion bars which could drive the bill up considerably. But that's also something that can be played with a little bit to get things close. So what if the side to side heights are off 1/4" here or there. Personally I wouldn't care if it allowed for a decent corner balance without reindexing. If the person doing the work knows what they're doing then they can get everything 90-95% for short money but the extra 5-10% may cost 3X as much. Only you can decide if it's worth it.
Does your car track straight & feel stable at speeds up to 100-110 mph? When cornering hard can you control direction with the throttle? If so, unless you're experiencing abnormal tire wear I wouldn't touch it.

Good Luck, Steve