upstate bob

I loved the handling of the Golf II series and did my own alignments. -also used the stick, string and
pencil method to good results. Would it make sense to install a set of crappy old (sacrificial) tires to run for a bit after an alignment? Grinding down new tires is most aggravating.

dr bob

We need a clear flat floor, plus I would have to actually be able to attend. I hit about one of every three events so far, give or take.

STRIKEMASTER

Here's one for ya. Took my shark to the local tire & lube shop for the fall oil change, (I just didn't feel like laying on the cold wet ground) and told them to put in 20-50 synthetic in it, then went and got lunch. When I got back i found they had put 10-30 in it!! I refused to move the car till they drained the oil and filter and put in the right grade oil. The manager sold me **** about it till I asked him if he would rather buy me a NEW engine. I told the kid that did the work "It ain't you'r grandmother's Plymouth" and "I pay the money, YOU work for ME!" I think he was pi$$ed because I wouldn't let him drive it into the service bay.

rgs944

I have just noticed some inner tire wear. I am not real optimistic that I will find a shop locally to do a proper alignment. The car tracks very straight and drives nice. Would it be worth trying a slight adjustment on the toe to compensate for the tire wear without doing a full alignment?

Dave928S

Simple answer ... No.

Alignment should be a very methodical process of making sure that there are no defective components which could be adversely affecting/altering correct alignment ... and then going through the process of correct alignment procedure. Only make changes that you know are going to bring the alignment to measured specs. It could be that a toe adjustment is all that's required ... but you need to know that for sure by going through the whole process.

depami

No personal experience but many on here have stated that Sears Auto does a good job.

And to answer your question, NO, you'd be mearly guessing and would likely make matters worse.

Jfrahm

A non contact thermometer is handy to check for tire wear before it costs you money. Harbor Freight sells one with a laser and backlit display that seems to work well, they have several models from $11 - $36. You can see a big difference in temperature across the tread after driving straight for only a few miles.

I have not yet figured out what temp differences are acceptable for a conservative street alignment but you can check tires that are not wearing improperly and compare. I've just started doing this so I do not have a lot of data yet, but I think 10F difference is going to result in some significant wear. My Audi has some negative front camber (no adjustment for it) and wears the inside edges a bit, and that's what I see there. I should check the rears.

-Joel.

rgs944

The non'contact thermo is a great idea. I pull trailers a lot and would be helpfull in a lot of areas. I will check so see if there is a Sears Shop in Omaha or Lincoln.

928FIXER

I too have always done my own alignments.While even perfect right on the money settings still wear tires on inside edges,I've never had an excessive tire wear issue,at least for a 928

dr bob

Inside-edge wear is almost exclusively a toe issue. But... We set toe at a static ride height whatever that may be. The thing that moves toe most dramatically is changes in suspension height, and the relative geometry of the steering and suspension pieces. In a perfect world, the control arms and tie rods would be relatively level --as you drive--, and move to plus or minus level in a narrow range. As the static height moves from pieces-level, the amount of toe change per mm of change in suspension height increases. Is your car sitting with the LCA and tie rod level? Shocks OK? If the car sits low, and remembering that we seem to compress the suspension over road obstacles more than we seem to fly over them, toe changes are always going to tend towards toe-out from your static measurement even if the car isn't lifted prior to setting static toe.

I know that folks seem to like the lower-in-front look that comes with tired sagging springs and worn shocks. Many are also loathe to invest in new springs and shocks because the old ones "feel OK". Ditto worn suspension and steering parts. But the proof of the problem is the inner-edge wear, and it ultimately costs you more than it might cost for replacements for the worn suspension bits.

My too cents.

docmirror

Absolutely not. Many modern cars, including the Porsche suffer from camber issues. It is even more affected when a wider wheel or different offset is used. As I'm pretty sure you already know, the Weissach axle is notorious for camber related 'issues' as it was designed to minimize deceleration toe changes. While effective, it also places a greater burden on the camber plate, truss, bushing, and trailing articulation joint. In the front, the 928 tends to spread the lower control arm slowly, and the top of the shock often wears inward thus changing the camber of the front wheels. It is not just related to toe, although sometimes toe is used to overcome mistakes or defects in camber.

Not 928 related, but I've had rear camber issues on a GTI, Focus, Mini.

tailpipe

I tend to run my cars with a little more toe in than the specs say just to cut down on the tire wear. The cars doesn't seem to care as long as it is not to much I usually try to shoot for 1/8 to 1/4 measuring from the tread of the tires front and back

BC

Its a difficult situation. I'd love to have the trig calcs needed or to watch a video or something. I loath having to go get alignments. I found a good place but it is not cheap.

On the subject of being there with the techs, getting in their face....

The usual result of this sort of thing is that in SoCal, almost any "normal" place you go, they won't even touch your car. They have had too many "Porsche ******" come in to the shop and tell them they are wrong. So they won't even help you.

Dave928S

Here are a couple of thermal images that show the temps across a front and rear tyre after a flogging (short run) on a very cold night. Temps were fairly good (but had cooled quite a bit in the cold), with the centre temps trending a little bit lower than the outsides, which indicated a bit more pressure was required. The slightly higher inside temp at the front could indicate very minor toe scrub, or more inside flex from camber. The rear tyres were a bit higher in temp either because I'd been working them harder than the fronts, or they were being shrouded from the cold air more at the rear.

Higher ambient temps give more pronounced results.

KenRudd

Very cool! ( pun intended ).
Can't wait for the iPhone 6 with thermal imaging app....