roman944

when I got my 944 6 months ago, it came with brand new tires all around; the rear ones wore off a little too fast, but I didn't mind; I ended up getting some used tires from a friend for free, put them on, drove all winter

now, last time my rear tires wore off, my car started feeling a little too loose, once I got tires with better thread, it all went away and it handled like a dream

about 4 days ago we were in snow storm for 3 days in a row; after that I had to get out of a 2ft of snow pile, I got out, and on my way to airport, after 40mph the steering wheel was shaking like crazy; once there, half hour later, drove the car home and it was fine

now my rear is feeling a little loose again, there is DEFINETLY noise coming from rear tire, the one that always wears off faster then the rest; also when going over a large bump, I can hear slight cluncking - but this car being power-steering-less and RWD, I think it's normal; the steering wheel, when in the middle, has slight play, but not bad at all

the car turns fine; it shakes slightly, and I can feel slight vibration at higher speeds, but I think its all because of worn out rear tires?

I don't have a porsche-go-to-guy or a lift, and going to a real mechanic might be a little pricier then I think; in all honesty, every time I thought something major went wrong with the car, it was something not important at all; I'm guessing that having bad tires in the car can do all this stuff I am experiencing now; but I need to know what's the worst that this could be?


I guess my course of actions would be, get brand new rear tires - since I need them anyways, and see if its just tires; and go from there?

PS: that bad shaking I experienced, came from having snow frozen under the body and behind the wheel, I have not experienced that shaking again at all; I do not think I damaged anything while pulling out of that snow pile, except maybe I lost some percentage of the tire thread; but is it possible that I did damage something while pulling out of that snow pile? there was no metal or wood or anything like that under the car after I pulled out

jpk

If both rear tires are wearing evenly, it's likely you have too much toe in or out on the back. when you get a new set of tires, get the car to a good allignment shop and have them take a look. Look for a shop that does european cars and has the Hunter laser allignment rack (and hopefully someone that knows how to use it)
A good allignment will cost you a couple hundred bucks, but it'll make a big difference in the way the car feels. I'm sure if you posted a question asking for a good allignment shop in your area, you'll get some recomendations...

Pcar944

+1 on the alignment

AFTER you get the new tires.

roman944

asides from a dealer, there is only 2-3 more places I could go to; I am not too crazy about getting it done completely pefect though;

my biggest concern is, I am not entirely sure if I could have messed up something with suspension? steering rack? I just did a search and found out that over time the steering wheel but can come loose?

my rear tires look like they have too much negative camber (I think? the top of wheels is pointing noticibly in)

I'm just a little scared to find out what this could be, as of right now I can't really afford to go carless, and it drove great through all witer, but now that summer is getting close, I'm affraid I won't get to enjoy it

I've been also thinking that maybe the wheel that keeps wearing off faster, is bent? the car looks lowered, maybe PO didn't index the rear suspension correctly? the car also has almost 1" thick spacers all around - wheels look pefect along side with fender

I've had cars with bad control arms, bearings, tie rods, this doesn't appear to be the case here; but I haven't had a car w/o power steering before either, so I don't rally know

the play in steering wheel is very light, maybe 4-5 degrees each way from center, but it's become more noticible now, a little too loose; which leads me to think that its tires

also, my fronts are 205 or 215 50 r16

my rears are 225 60 r16

is that a really bad difference?

roman944

yeah , actually I am not sure if PO did alignment when he put new tires/wheels on it ; did say that they were all balanced and everything though

should I try dealer for alignment?

Van

Also remember, it's a sports car - so the rear tires will wear more (both because of the aggressive (stock) rear camber and because it's a little more "spirited" than a ford Taurus).

Also because it's a sports car, if it IS out of alignment (which it likely is), it will feel much better after you have an alignment done. A special tool is required to align the rear, so take it to a shop that knows porsches and 944s - even if you have to drive an hour or 2 away to have it done. The results will be well worth it. (I happen to know the Rochester area has an active porsche community with a fair number of indie shops to choose from).

shiners780

Roman, I get my alignments done at Eksten Motorworks. They are located on Bennington Drive off of Dewey Avenue in Greece. They have lots of Porsche experience and are good people. There are a couple other local places, but I'd go to Eksten's first.

Spidey944

I have seen rear tires get packed with snow and cause all kinda vibrations. Then it falls out and feels fine. I'd bet one of my two nuts that this was the cause of your first vibration issue.

roman944

yup that's what the guys at work said too (maintenance people) , but I didn't think it could cause vibrations that bad lol

Jim - thank you very much! I know of a couple shops that work on european cars only too, like CDI and Sutherland, but not 944

I didn't hear about that one before; I'll try and stop by, are they open saturday? I could use a quotes on stuff like tune-up, t-belt, and clutch

thank you very much!

btw, any place for tires? I've been dealing with TireWorld in Webster alot, they have been doing great job for me for last couple of years

shiners780

Snow packed wheels will cause killer vibrations! You'll get used to that living in Western New York...................unfortunately.

I have heard good things about CDI as well, but never been there myself. Not sure about Saturdays at Eksten's, you'll have to call them. A tuneup is easy to do yourself, I can show you how to do some of this stuff. Better than giving all your money to repair shops!

You can't beat Dunn Tire for prices on street tires. I get all my tires from online sources, no one carries r-comps locally.

roman944

I'll look for them this weekend. My guess is that I am over reacting on the whole steering wheel thing, I probably never noticed it before; there is a slight clunk - but its at the very end of steering wheel turning freely, right at the point when it actually starts to turn - so I'm pretty sure it's normal

I'm looking around for tires right now!

by the way, what color is your 951? I wonder if I have seen it. We have a little Euro car club @ RIT - a few guys with VW and Audi's started it, and the meets should resume in next couple of weeks. They are on Sunday. So stop by and check us out

link: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6906695778

roman944

I'm still shopping around for tires, but I had a question - how prompt are manual steering racks to breaking? could bad rear tires make steering wheel play more noticible? I'm starting to wonder about that slight knocking I hear

shiners, do you have any free time so I could stop by and maybe you can offer a second opinion?

thanks

roman944

screwed up the link, appologies, just saw that now

damn it