? about alignment problem

[Shepper]

I just got off the phone with a shop here in the Denver area. I brought my '83 944 to them a couple of days ago to have it aligned.

They claim that they can't get it to align correctly due to something being "wacked" (exact terminology used by them) in the rear of the car. I asked what exactly was wack with the rear suspension and they claim to not know.

They claimed that I should go through all of the rear suspension and replace all of the bushings. What do you guys think the main culprit could be?

I must admit that I am a bit dissapointed that I am spending a good "chunk-o-change" on an alignment and it's not going to be perfect. It makes it even worse that they can't tell me WHY it's not going to be perfect.

Any thoughts?

[Scott R]

Which shop? I want to know so that I can avoid them.

I don't know where you have it, but in Denver the absolute BEST place to get a P-car aligned is "Eurosport Limited." They have a Bosch alignment rack, and they also do coner balancing and weighting.

[interglossa]

Considering "wacked" or "whacked" or "wack" is the terminology they used to describe your "problem" you may want to seek another shop. Most run of the mill alignment shops will soil themselves at the sight of a 944, especially if it needs rear alignment. You have to have a special porsche tool back there from what i've been told...something to do with the spring plates.
Of course IF your sway bar bushings are bad, you should replace them, but not on the advise of the wack shop. (theme music?)

[Shepper]

Originally posted by Scott R
Which shop? I want to know so that I can avoid them.

I don't know where you have it, but in Denver the absolute BEST place to get a P-car aligned is "Eurosport Limited." They have a Bosch alignment rack, and they also do coner balancing and weighting.

It's the shop you referred me to and the same one you list in this post. Eurosport Ltd.

I just spoke with Greg again and now he claims that he's having a problem with something else. I'm going to go down there right now so I can see first hand waht he's talking about.

This appears to be a rather odd problem I assume, since no one has offered any similar experiences?

[ae1969]

Originally posted by Shepper
It's the shop you referred me to and the same one you list in this post. Eurosport Ltd.

LOLOLOLOLOLOL

ooooooopssss...

I took my 944 in to get aligned at the dealer last summer...and he said the same thing?? one of the wheels would not align properly (it was "whacked").
It must be in the troubleshooting shop manual...or some German slang.....either way he could not get it quite to spec.......but said it would be fine....

Good luck.

[Scott R]

That sucks! Greg has been wrenching on P-cars for 30 years! I can't belive that he said that! Even worse I was just there today picking up the seals to replace my turbo charger with.

Anyway I know he will get it corrected, they are by far the most repitable shop in town. I don't think anyone else in town has the correct tools to do the job, at least not that I have found.

Look, I am really sorry for the bad recomendation. Let me know if they don't resolve this so I can stop recomending them in the future.

[Shepper]

I wasn't really trying to put the shop down at all, I was just saying that that's how he described it. I went in this evening and got the car back. I was very happy with the work they did, I even noticed they got my door lock working a little better and replaced some little parts I knew were bad and easy fixes, but just hadn't got to them yet.

After driving the car, I have realized that the problems Greg was concerned about are very minute. If he wouldn't have mentioned the problems, I probably wouldn't have really thought twice about them.

Here are the two problems and the assumed fix.

1. One of the rear wheels was not aligning perfectly so they had to compensate. Greg said this may be caused by a slightly bent arm or any number of small problems possibly caused by something as minor as hitting a pothole hard. He said to visually find something so minor, would be almost impossible.

2. When the steering wheel is turned all the way one way, it doesn't straighten out completely when you turn it back even thought the car is traveling straight. And, if it is turned the other way, the steering wheel then is off in the other direction. It's almost like the steering knuckles are loose, however, if they are, they just barely are. Greg said they went through and torqued everything in the suspension and it was still doing it. Again, it is very minimal. I personally think it is the result of some bad tires. I have some road huggers that the previous owner installed and I have read reviews about them "tracking" really bad. Greg said he has never seen a 944 do that before, but he's probably never seen a 944 with !@itty road huggers on it either.

So, my point is that they actually went above and beyond with my car at Eurosports Ltd., and they really didn't over charge me at all even with the extra problems.

If anyone has had similar problems and found a fix, please let me know.

-Matt

[Scott R]

Oh, sorry I was just concerned. They have always given me such great service.

I too have noticed that they will do some small extra things here and there for me as well.

[interglossa]

Well, then. Disregard my post and send my apologies to Eurosport Ltd.
InterG jumping to conclusions. Doh!