Alignment Questions
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Joined: Jul 2002
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From: Deep in the Heart of Texas!
Alignment Questions
Read through many old posts on wheel alignment and have the following questions after getting the GTS done Saturday (on a Hunter DSP-600 and never lifted off the wheels - hurray!)
1. Rear camber was (and still is) pretty far out of spec ... -1.8 deg on L and -2.4 deg on R. I think the spec is -0.5 deg to -0.83. The service writer said that was "as close as we could get". Have others seen this on their cars? Is ride height, worn bushings, etc. the cause for this? Does it make enough of a difference to go chasing down the cause?
2. Left to right front camber and caster. They said this was deliberate to compensate for not having a 225-lb driver in the car, and would be within spec under actual driving conditions. What seems odd to me is the before and after on these two measures were exactly the same. Does that suggest they just skipped these altogether?
Is it reasonable to expect an alignment shop to get all the angles exactly within the ranges stated in the manual? They spent about two hours on my car and told me afterwards it was "very picky to align". In other people's posts their results seem to be outside of spec somewhat here and there, so how big a deal is this really?
1. Rear camber was (and still is) pretty far out of spec ... -1.8 deg on L and -2.4 deg on R. I think the spec is -0.5 deg to -0.83. The service writer said that was "as close as we could get". Have others seen this on their cars? Is ride height, worn bushings, etc. the cause for this? Does it make enough of a difference to go chasing down the cause?
2. Left to right front camber and caster. They said this was deliberate to compensate for not having a 225-lb driver in the car, and would be within spec under actual driving conditions. What seems odd to me is the before and after on these two measures were exactly the same. Does that suggest they just skipped these altogether?
Is it reasonable to expect an alignment shop to get all the angles exactly within the ranges stated in the manual? They spent about two hours on my car and told me afterwards it was "very picky to align". In other people's posts their results seem to be outside of spec somewhat here and there, so how big a deal is this really?
Drifting
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 2,044
Likes: 1
From: Live Music Capital of the World - Austin, Texas
Where'd you go, Tom?
The NTB store at MoPac and Parmer has a Hunter DSP-600 and got mine to spec but with lots of cursing and excuses. I'm still not satisfied that they did it right even though I was watching the whole time...
The NTB store at MoPac and Parmer has a Hunter DSP-600 and got mine to spec but with lots of cursing and excuses. I'm still not satisfied that they did it right even though I was watching the whole time...
Rennlist Member
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 29,828
Likes: 218
From: saratoga, ca
tell them to re do it to near 1 degree front and rear. slight toe in in front and caster in the 4-5 range. NO excuse to not be able to do this , unless they jacked the car up and the all bets of what you have are off! I remember before i knew about this stuff, the tech saying the same things as your guy said. one time it was so bad i couldnt even push the car there was so much rolling friction from a bad toe setting.
mk
mk
Read through many old posts on wheel alignment and have the following questions after getting the GTS done Saturday (on a Hunter DSP-600 and never lifted off the wheels - hurray!)
1. Rear camber was (and still is) pretty far out of spec ... -1.8 deg on L and -2.4 deg on R. I think the spec is -0.5 deg to -0.83. The service writer said that was "as close as we could get". Have others seen this on their cars? Is ride height, worn bushings, etc. the cause for this? Does it make enough of a difference to go chasing down the cause?
2. Left to right front camber and caster. They said this was deliberate to compensate for not having a 225-lb driver in the car, and would be within spec under actual driving conditions. What seems odd to me is the before and after on these two measures were exactly the same. Does that suggest they just skipped these altogether?
Is it reasonable to expect an alignment shop to get all the angles exactly within the ranges stated in the manual? They spent about two hours on my car and told me afterwards it was "very picky to align". In other people's posts their results seem to be outside of spec somewhat here and there, so how big a deal is this really?
1. Rear camber was (and still is) pretty far out of spec ... -1.8 deg on L and -2.4 deg on R. I think the spec is -0.5 deg to -0.83. The service writer said that was "as close as we could get". Have others seen this on their cars? Is ride height, worn bushings, etc. the cause for this? Does it make enough of a difference to go chasing down the cause?
2. Left to right front camber and caster. They said this was deliberate to compensate for not having a 225-lb driver in the car, and would be within spec under actual driving conditions. What seems odd to me is the before and after on these two measures were exactly the same. Does that suggest they just skipped these altogether?
Is it reasonable to expect an alignment shop to get all the angles exactly within the ranges stated in the manual? They spent about two hours on my car and told me afterwards it was "very picky to align". In other people's posts their results seem to be outside of spec somewhat here and there, so how big a deal is this really?
Drifting
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 2,973
Likes: 1
From: Farmington Hills, MI
Having done one alignment myself on my 928 with a laser alignment rack, I can say they are a PITA to align. The rear is completely straight forward but the front is trial and error since camber and castor are tied together. It can be done, it just takes a longer than it should.
Supercharged
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Joined: May 2002
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From: Back in Michigan - Full time!
It's not uncommon for the rear camber to be out of spec as the bushings seem to fail at about 100k mi and allow the rears to go out of spec. They should have adjusted them to be about the same.
Rennlist Member
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 5,283
Likes: 52
From: Australia
I had mine done not long after I got it, no issues. Shipped it home, towie bent a rear arm, replaced that, re-alignment took an hour tops, guy said it was a piece of cake...Usual issue is frozen bolts/nuts.
jp 83 Euro S AT 51k
jp 83 Euro S AT 51k
