Does anyone have experience with the drive onto alignment racks that are at Big O Tires or like companies?

I know that you have to do the alignment before you have the tires changed. I am wondering if this is the kind of machine that will work with the 928 suspension issues. You drive up onto the rack and then the rack lifts the car up and the little laser thingys go on the wheels and talk to the main machine to tell it where it is.

 

You don't have to change tires before you do an alignment as long as the person doing the alignment uses slip plates. It's ok to lift the car off the ground ON ITS WHEELS, it's not ok to lift the suspension.

 

You don't say what MY your car is, but the fast measurement on front is 27 inches floor to fender lip measured thru center cap, if at factory setting on the S models, did I mention you don't tell us what MY you have? WSM tells you where to measure under car; I'm not sure what your question is. The Hunter 400XX is the only one I am familiar with, but it is not the only one that lifts whole car on wheels, uses laser and shows on CRT monitor exactly what the technician is doing as he changes the settings. YMMV. The manual says some number like 50 or more miles that you have to drive to settle the suspension. The roads in Deutchland are obviously in much better condition than here. Measure the fender lip before lifting, after lifting drive on the roughest local highway or back street that has railroad tracks, measure again, drive til it returns to the first measurement. New tires will most likely change the measurement. It also will change if you change the ride height (some people insist on lowering the car, but Porsche and most people here swear it handles best at factory setting); I've done it in less than 10 miles on a rough road. If you get new tires, don't let the tire changer drive it, he will be back in 5 minutes and you will get a misalignment; you take it and you will know if it has settled. If they are worried you are driving off w/o paying, leave your credit card and gentlly explain to them why. HTH.

 

The fender height is meaningless. The only points from which you can accurately measure your ride height are the machined suspension points.

 

We use a Hunter 611. All you have to do is insure that they do a "rolling compensate" on the wheels without lifting the car. If they unweight the suspension, take it off the lift and drive it home because they don't know how to do a 928.

 

sorry guys I have an 83 S model with AT and is US spec.