Alignment messed up at local tire place

[GreenWater]

I little while ago I got new tires put on my car and an alignment. They are a pretty big company so I figured they would know what they are doing. Afterwords I noticed that the car tracked funny. The front end would wonder while driving straight down the freeway. It would be going straight then would shift from right to left a little. I finally got around to checking the alignment myself. I have never tried to align the front wheels before, until now. I used the string method. It works very good. Here is what I found. They aligned the wheels with toe out, about 1/2 inch of toe out. What? Why? After seeing that, I realigned the wheels with about 1/2 inch toe in. It is WAY better now. Why would they do that?

[James Chimney]

take it to a Porsche shop they know our cars, my local shop hook up didn't fit our PD rims, I feel paying the extra to do it right the 1st time not the 2nd time is cheaper

[Tim Hancock]

I have been doing all my own alignments for years using leveled rolling platforms, strings and an electronic level. Last time I paid a shop to do an alignment, the "technician" ruined a tie rod by loosening it without counterholding the cast iron part. I proved it to the manager by showing him that there were no marks in the wrench flats on the tie rod body. Most muffler/tire/alignment shops can no longer be trusted for ANY repairs as their low wage employees do not have the same mechanical experience/know-how as kids did 20 + years ago. Other than tire mounting/balancing, I have not paid a shop to work on any of my cars for many years now. I will likely be buying my own mounting balancing machines someday soon as they even eff that stuff up now when I bring in loose wheels for them. They scratch wheels and do not properly clean the wheels before sticking on the lead weights.

[flash968]

a good alignment tech is worth his weight in gold, and they are very hard to find. mostly you will find the guys who just do a toe set and call it a day.

these cars respond to alignments like no other i've ever dealt with. the difference in the way the car drives with a good alignment versus a bad one is very black and white.

the first thing to do is make sure they are set up to do a rear ride height adjustment. that requires a special tool. that would be a good indicator if they know what they are doing or not.

when doing an alignment, it's best to corner balance first, but if you can't, at least do it with 1/2 tank of fuel, the car loaded as it is normally driven, and the weight of the driver in the driver seat.

it took me a while to find somebody down here, but i finally did, and i am extremely happy with the results.

[billy mild]

I used Tires Plus and they said that the rear couldn't be aligned. I brought the diagram that shows what to do along with the tool and they got it done. I got a lifetime alignment. After I get my front struts replaced I will take it in again to get a ballpark alignment then after that I will get a true good alignment.

[Dantilla]

Some Autocrossers like a bit of toe out for quicker steering response, but it comes at the expense of straight-line stability. My 944 gets aligned at a local race shop.

[GreenWater]

I need to do a little more research on alignments and learn how to adjust everything. Just another thing on my list of stuff to do to my 944.

[krystar]

front:
caster by pushing caster blocks in/out
camber by loosing locking nut on the strut ear and rotating the cammed offset camber bolt.
toe by loosening lock nut on the tie rod end and twisting the tie rod longer/shorter.


rear:
camber by turning the big bolt with threads that rear sway bar attaches onto. forget what that's called.
toe by putting in special porsche tool into the hole on the trailing arm and sliding the two pieces together/apart

[Litesonic]

My last alignment from a national brand tire store was less than stellar.

They didn't even torque down the 1/2 lug nuts. I was pissed.

I only use tire shops for mounting and balancing now (well until I can get my own mounter/balancer).

[Arthropraxis]

Does anyone know of preferred alignment settings for a late offset car with a manual steering rack?

[944sracer]

Russ's Alignment is the best place I found in Utah. They don't use impact wrenches either. For the race car I max the neg camber at the spindle (knuckle) and then let them fine tune it via the top camber plates.

I did once take it to a Goodyear..... First run at Willow Springs yielded an off track excursion before the Omega... Looked under the car and the tech had not even tightened the eccentric (sp?) bolt. It was only finger tight...

[Rasta Monsta]

Originally Posted by 944sracer

First run at Willow Springs yielded an off track excursion...the eccentric bolt. . .was only finger tight

Epic nut/bolt fail.

[GreenWater]

Had almost the same thing happen to me, but on a motorcycle. I was at a track day at willow springs(streets) on a sportbike. I forgot to tighten the bolts that hold on the rear brake master cyclinder. Bolts came off and it took me off the track too, but didn't crash. Yep, Mechanic fail.(me)