Uh Shane.....he needs one in Las Vegas......

P.S. I want more info on the MM 86.5', one of my favorite colors.

 

Dave...

You coulda bought my 86.5 MM, but noooo...

Call Christine. Make her an offer.

 

I was refering to Ron who drove cross country for an alignment! Tacoma is a hell of a lot closer for him.

 

That's the truth. And the wheels are already turning in my head because the Porsche Parade next year is in Portland, just a few short miles down the road from Tacoma. Or I can try someone in LA. I never seem to hear any confusion or complaints about alignment from the 928ers in LA, so someone is doing something right down there. (Jim Bailey, are you listening??)

You know, I am beginning to think it is not the car...it is me. The car seems to become more stable above 80 mph and drastically so. Rock solid above 100. Maybe I am just not accustomed to such a high speed machine that prefers to be driven that way rather than as a grocery getter. I have my Rabbit for that mundane activity, but more often than not I find I seem to just rationalize using the 928 around town. Maybe I just make up all of this in my head and expect perfection from a car not intended to perform under those conditions. Hey, it could be true.. really. I once had a 911-E that I bought new and it had a lean surge. No one believed I should complain about it and said I should just live with it because of its performance. Well, a year or so later I sent the pump to a friend in California who adjusted it and it worked flawlessly thereafter. He said the pumps were set lean on cars sold in California, and the dealers expected the customers to bring them in when they discovered the problem. I lived in Hawaii so I didn't know about that. I was relieved when I discovered it wasn't all in my head. But the 928 situation may be just that way. I will know after I measure the wear pattern on the new tires that just spent 6500 miles on the road.

 

"Call Christine. Make her an offer."

I have a couple of offers for Christine but none that pertain to purchasing her car.......Beautiful woman in a beautiful car!

I did notice the same thing Ron, my car was nervous at 55mph, didn't settle down until above 80mph. Really nice at 150ish. That was with an aggressive high speed track/street alignment. It is extremely stable in hard cornering but kinda' stiff turning at mundane speeds. (5+ degrees of caster, 1.3 degrees of camber and almost no toe.)

Hey Ron, Utah is much closer than the east coast.

 

Dave, I know after passing through Utah a couple of time recently. Did a great drive on Hwy. 12 per Bigs recommendations and took I-70 on thew way back through. Only problem I had was with the limit on such a beautiful and continuous stretch of highway;
I keep asking "why?" I'm sure I'll return to Utah soon; I am looking for an excuse to re-visit Eureka, Nevada where I should have spent the night on the way back to CA. And Eureka is just a short ways from Utah.

I even had a chance to meet one of your smokey bears on I-70. One with a functioning brain.

 

Steve the measurements were taken on level ground.


_________________________
Dave
Las Vegas, Nevada
_________________________
87 Carrera / Blk & Grey (sold)
89 GT/ Black & Tam
03 Mini Cooper / Blk & Red

 

I had "Carl's Place" do a height adjustment & wheel alignment to specs. My Shark now steers straight as an arrow and hugs the road very nicely

As some of you suggested the height was slightly off, however there was no bump steer as I thought but there was a slight pull to the right

Thanx for your help


Dave
Las Vegas, Nevada
_________________________
87 Carrera / Blk & Grey (sold)
89 GT/ Black & Tam
03 Mini Cooper / Blk & Red
98 Montero Dk Grn / Tan

 

Watch your hands as you drive. Try to keep them steady or rest an elbow to stabilize them. Save one eye for the road.

 

Ron--

We (the SoCal group in the L.A. area) have been using Valley Frame with good results. I sat under the car with the tech as we went through the whole thing twice.

A few years ago I did my first ride-height adjust on the car at about 30k, brought the car up about 3/4" to spec in front. Did it again at 60k, another inch in front. After all that, drove it over a few circuits of the local Glendale speed-bump circuit to settle the suspension, measured again to be sure, then off to the alignment shop. It was very close to perfect when brought back up to stock/original ride height. Looks real funny, especially parked among all the sagging cars there at Devek Days on Saturday. Nonetheless, I'm commited to maintaining the ride height at stock/original height now if I want the front tires to last at all.

As elegant as the ground-to-fender-lip method is, it's literally a yard-stick measurement. To get it right, you need to measure from the right spot on the suspension pad to the ground. You need to take into account any tire wear since they were new. Subtract the tread loss from the factory height specs. The goal is really to get the normal ride condition to result in the tie rods sitting pretty much horizontal. That's the point where normal changes in ride height as you drive will cause the least amount of toe change. When the car is low, the tei rods angle up to the stering knuckle and the wheel. A small change in height means a big change in toe-in. As the car sags over time, the tie rods go from level to angled, effectively getting shorter. Gives you toe-out and the inner tire wear we all love. Be sure to maintain the car at whatever the ride height was when you had the alignment done. This is the only chance to hold the settings.

 

Thanks Bob. I am planning to check my height very soon because I just put on new front tires. The backs are wearing on the inside edge. The fronts are almost evenly worn since the last alignment. That leads me to believe that the settings are getting close. It is the wandering at slow speeds that gets me irritated. I think I need more caster for self centering and resistance to irregularities in the road; Marc explained why he opposes such drastic caster settings: less feel at higher speeds. During a recent excursion into such realms, I might tend to agree with him. It was dead solid at 1XX mph for many miles. But it drives me up the wall at slow speeds as I find myself constantly correcting back and forth. Height is the next thing on the To Do list.