Alignment

[Omegablueray]

I have an 85' Carrera. I recently purchased new tires and noted that it was pulling and needed an alignment. Prior to having 911 I always used Sears for this type of service. Have any of you used them for this service on your Porsche? I did go by Sears and ask them if they did this type of service on my model car and they said yes. Any thoughts.

Ray

[tobluforu]

Personally, I would not bring it to sears as I would bring it to a porsche shop that knows the tricks, but if you are only doing the front toe, then any shop with a semi-new Hunter can do it easily. 4 wheel alignment, I would leave to a porsche shop.

[Gustyones]

I bought tires about 6 months ago and had a Utility alignment at Good Year. The car seemed fine and i didn't know any better. I recently took the car to a Porsche exclusive shop (Motor Werks Racing) the area to get some other work done and after some conversation about the mannerisms of the car they did another alignment and the difference was amazing. I'd recommend taking it to some people who know Porsche so you can get the most out of it.

[Bristol]

Originally Posted by Gustyones

I'd recommend taking it to some people who know Porsche so you can get the most out of it.

Absolutely! I took my Boxster S to Les Schwab and they could not align it right. I had to take it back again and they spent 4 hours on it and still couldn't get it right. After that experience I just bought the equipment (including scales) to do alignments and corner balancing myself. I do a MUCH better job.

I'm in the process of moving now though and don't have my tools. So just recently I had to take my '86 Carrera project to "Discount Wheels and Tire" for a four wheel alignment. The tech insisted that he could not adjust rear camber or toe, there was no provision for it what-so-ever. I pointed directly at the adjusting bolts and showed him where the adjustment was done, but he still insisted that it was impossible. I mostly just needed a simple front wheel alignment, so I compromised and let him at least get the steering wheel tracking straight. It took him four tries and a couple hours to accomplish a simple toe adjustment, camber is still way off.

My experience then is that most every day alignment shops hire unskilled, inexperienced idiots that have no idea how to properly align anything beyond a Toyota Camry or Honda Civic. So I do my own work, but if I went outside, I would most definitely go to a Porsche shop that has experience with our cars.

Kirk

[hcoles]

There should be a person at Custom Alignment , near you, that knows these cars. Talk to Joe Silva there.
There was a Dave (I think that's his name) that worked there, I think he works at the place in San Jose that stores and cares for high end cars. He has probably aligned and corner balanced more 911's than most anyone. Dave aligned my car (89) years ago and it has been perfect since.

Then there is the question of what settings you want. I run 0.9 and I think 1.5 negative camber, no wear issues and seems to work OK for the track and AX. Not sure what the rear toe setting is. There are probably many threads here with better advice.

[Omegablueray]

Thanks guys, I knew that Sears is great for most cars but 911's need specialty shop for many things. I usually go to Carrera Motors for my service in San Mateo, Ca. Anyone have any other recommendations for an alignment shop in the San Francisco area? Thanks again.

Ray