Wheel Alignment

[divezic]

What is involved in a rear wheel alignment? I took my '75 914 to my local shop for a rear and front alignment and they looked at me like I was nuts. Should any tire shop be able to do it or do I need to talk to a Porsche shop?

[Wayne 962]

Most shops don't know how to do a rear wheel alignment, although several will tell you that they do. You need to place a set of shims underneath the traling arm mounts to get the proper alignment. As far as I know, this is not a easy job. We usually have a shop around here do 914 alignments for $80, front and rear.

-Wayne

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Wayne is right, at least as far as the rear camber is concerned. The camber is indeed changed by adding or removing shims of different thickness. These shims go between the mounting bracket for the outer end of the trailing arm and the body, up "above" the bracket.

Toe is adjusted by loosening the bolts on that outer trailing arm bracket (the same bolts that go through the shims), and shoving on the arm in the direction you want it to go. Then you torque down the bolts.

There's a good set of DIY alignment procedures around on the net somewhere--some british-car-oriented Web page. Wish I still had it bookmarked... You might be able to find it if you do a web search.

--DD

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Found the URL in my archives. I checked, it still has the info.

http://www.vtr.org/maintain/diy-alignment.html

It can get a bit involved, particularly for setting the toe, but pretty reasonable all in all.

--DD

[Randy Clark]

I am currently in the process of restoring a
73 - 2.0 with the special edition package-
sway bars etc.Replaced the rear springs with
100 lb units, and Bilsteins all around. The
rear bilsteins have adjustable spring plates-
back on the ground now - rear tire camber off
Left side 1/4" in at the top, right side 3/8" -1/2" measured at the rim.Question: what are
costs for the shims,(what thicknesses), according to the Haynes manual, I may need to shim about 3/8 to 1/2 inch, and also what grade bolts should replace the the short stock ones which are now installed?