[Fassi]

After hearing from the Chuck and the rest of the board, I asked the mechanic to address the following points:

"With respect, I'm not pleased with the outcome of the suspension work
or your responsiveness to the issues I raised on October 12th and
before. I have contacted the manufacturer of the bushings and sought
the consensus of Porsche community with respect to the problems I've
encountered, and this has raised some concerns:

1. $1750 for installation of bushings (ride height settings and
alignment inclusive) is "generous" at best, especially in the absence
of a proper corner balancing (preferably on electronic scales). It
seems odd that you'd advise against a corner balancing (presumably to
save me money), then turn around and charge me $1750 for the job. I
agreed to your terms, fair enough; but surely for nearly $1800 it
should be done correctly the first time.

2. The manufacturer continues to insist that the bushings could not
have been properly installed without its proprietary tools, as I
told you at the outset. He calls this a "red flag," and his exact
words were that "no way in hell" could the bushings have been
installed without the tools. This is a recognized suspension expert
with a stellar reputation in the marketplace and among enthusiasts.
All his shop does is suspensions. If compromises were made to get
those bushings on, it may account (at least in part) for the
alignment/steering problems I've since encountered. I was willing to
pay you a premium for this work in light of the cost of the parts
themselves. I could have bought very cheap, inferior rubber bushings
that could be installed without special tools; there is a reason I
spent $225 for the Elephant kit. I trusted you not to cut any corners
with any of the parts I supplied. I'd appreciate it if you would
detail exactly how you managed to do it.

3. The suggestion that the bushings need to settle does not appear
credible. According to the manufacturer (who has installed the same
bushings countless times), and everyone else I could find who has had
this work done, the bushings either go in correctly or they don't. In
his view and based on his experience, if they had been installed
properly, there would be no need to have them "settle." Therefore, the
set in period as an explanation for the steering/alignment issues is
not compelling. In fact, it only suggests that the bushings were not
installed correctly.

4. Yesterday, you were unprepared to respond--at least not in a
serious way--to an issue I first raised in early October. This is
despite my call to the shop, my detailed email, and the written
promise that it would be addressed. Why? In fact, I myself had to
bring it up again, and you only reluctantly agreed to test drive the
car. I think your exact words were "it seems fine to me." It doesn't
seem fine to me. At all. I've been unusually patient (it's been
several weeks), but I cannot continue to drive the car in this
condition. You seemed to downplay the obvious pull to the right
despite the safety and wear implications. If the car is switching
lanes when I let go of the steering wheel, there is obviously a major
suspension or alignment issue. It's not a question of tweaking the
settings or corner height a bit. I gave you a car with a documented,
well-sorted alignment. It's not unreasonable to expect a specialist to
get it right, or at a minimum to take my concerns seriously when
mistakes are made. Incidentally, you never gave me a printout of the
alignment settings.

5. It takes more force to turn the wheel to the left than to the
right; and the left front wheel is wobbly at full lock. It is more
pronounced on a flat surface. This is not a "preexisting condition,"
and is most likely related to the pull to the right. I wouldn't
expect something like that to be dismissed casually because it doesn't
bother you personally. This problem feeds into a thesis that something
has gone wrong w/ the installation of the bushings, at least at the
front of the suspension.

6. No serious effort has been made to diagnose the severity of the
rear suspension. If the front of the 911 is sprung more tightly that
the rear, it's unusual for the rear to be harsh where the front is
not, isn't it? It's not inconceivable that you missed something when
you inspected the suspension. I owned another 911 for five years and
have driven several turbos, some with stiffer suspension components; I
am familiar with the ride characteristics of torsion bar suspensions.
There is something wrong.

..."


This morning I received the following response, which I will post verbatim as a matter of full disclosure. In fairness, I did forget to mention the ball joints that he installed. Everything else I noted in my initial post. Here he points out that he got the car through emissions, but seems to forget that I paid $220 in emissions related labor (over two hours of labor, not one), and $50 to pop in the heater control rod, for a total labor cost of $2054. The "nick-nack" is the removal of a tiny screw in the sunroof tab that I had been unable to pry loose. Otherwise, he left the interior of the car covered in grease and a tiny ding in the hood. More importantly, the specific points I raised are not addressed.

"How dare you!..Compare apples to apples......Dont forget to tell
them that I installed these items::Both front and rear A-arm
bushings(Original style) They are installed properly and I did not say
I did not use a special method or my own tools,both ball joints,remove
and clean torsion bars,paint bars and lube,remove upper strut top
mount,cut out original bushings and install new bushings,with upper
strut bar,replace all sway bar bushings front and rear,remove rear
spring blades,cut off original bushings,install new bushings,clean
spring blades and re-center eccentrics,remove and install trailing arm
to torque tube bushings,set ride height,remove upper strut bar to
remove factory sealant to upper struts(yes,I did this when I did the
upper strut bushing install)reinstall strut bar,four wheel
alignment......Also, dont forget to tell them that you supplied all
the parts and you chose the set up of factory rubber bushings up front
and stiffer than stock bushings for the rear trailing arm.....Oh, yea
dont forget to tell them about spending time to get your car through
emissions,and only charging an hour for that whilst spending much more
time than that.I actually went over to the emissions shop to adjust it
to pass,then reset it so the Car would run.. Oh, yea dont forget to
tell them about the heat control repair and the other little nick nack
things I did.."

Is it me, or does this shop not seem especially interested in working things out? It's very disappointing, actually; he seemed like a stand up guy.