PorscheDoc

Ok, so after trying to get goodyear to align my car a 2nd time, (first time said i needed new tie rod assemblies before they could align it), they now say i need new upper strut bushings and a rear wheel bearing is loose. Of course they said they could replace all that before doing the alignment, for a small fee of 1200 bucks....lol. They quoted me 150 on the rear bearing, 75 on each upper strut bushing...lol, and then they said oh and by the way, "we couldnt do this car for 59 bucks like advertised, this would be more like 260 for the alignment." Even though they said they do these all the time, they never mentioned that fact....so i told them to push it outside and that i do all my own work myself. So now they have kinda pissed me off, because i could have had this other stuff replaced by now had i known it was bad, and had the damn thing aligned. So after i get the rest of this stuff replaced, i am thinking about trying to do my own alignment as a lot of people on the board have done.
1. Can i do it without a lot of special tools, and does anyone have a write up for trying this? If it is overly difficult, i will just find another shop to do an alignment, but goodyear isnt going to get my business anymore.

I tried firestone a couple months back, and they said they do not work on any european cars, but i dont know if that was just a specific location, because i have heard of others using firestone.

Anyone have any input on where to go. I am a grad student, so i am trying to save as much money by doing as much of the work that i can do myself.

And i do have access to a rear wheel bearing tool as well, so i already know about that.

hosrom_951

Karl: My Pirelli tire dealer couldn't align the caster, said that the suspention was messed up (which was bull since the WHOLE front ends were replaced, includingh the arms, rack, rods etc.) But then when i showed when i showed them the specs, they claimed later than they ARE able to do it....sheesh what idiots.......

Anyway, so would you need the alignment specs? i have it somewhere....maybe i can e-mail it to you or something?

PorscheDoc

Yea, if you could find them that would be awsome. I think i have seen them somewhere, probably would just take a little looking. Tonight i am going to see if i can get things adjusted enough so the car doesnt pull so hard to the left, and then go after the upper bushings and rear wheel bearing. Some day it will be back on the road. sh944 keeps telling me..."hey my 87 turbo has been up on stands since the day I bought it".....and i dont feel so bad for a few seconds, then i realize he drives around his 968 in the meantime hehe.

Ski

Karl, you can buy the string gauge instrument in Excellence or Pano, Paragon Products, and also a camber caster gauge. You will need to make or buy the rear suspension tool, weird little thing. I have a track alignment spec from a Koni rep that we're using for the track but I'm away from home but someone here has a set of FSM and give you the spec I'm sure. The above gauges are around $500 total I think from Paragon.
Track Front
-3.0 camber, 3.2 caster, -.20 total toe,
Track Rear
-2.2 camber, .13 total toe

azmi951

The stock specs were in my owners manual.

Go To a good ALIGNMENT shop. not a tire shop. If you walk in and they have a fancy Hunter machine, RUN. The guy I use is great and uses no computers. He charged me $150 for the front and rear.

hosrom_951

Karl: It is included in the workshop manual, i shall try and take that and send it to you, what is your e-mail?

PorscheDoc

If it is in the workshop manual, then i have it. I just havent looked in there yet. I pulled the struts tonight, and will be taking them apart this weekend and seeing what i need. Then will go after the alignment.

What do y'all recommend as far as replacing in the upper strut.
1. The bushing/bearing deal for sure
2. Upper strut housing/plate? Should these be replaced as well, or will just the bushing/bearing do?
3. Anything else?

hosrom_951

My specialist recommended EVREYTHING to be replaced, upper strut mount (w/hardware), there is a upper strut mount seal, basically everything up there.....As long as there is rubber/hardware upthere, just replace it.

jerome951

You have some serious problems if you rear wheel bearing is loose. The torque spec on it is ~350 ft. lbs.

I wouldn't take the Goodyear shop's word on what needs to be replaced. Find someone who knows. Sounds like Goodyear was trying to make a quick buck off a Porsche owner.

BTW, even the Porsche rear wheel bearing is ~$120 w/ my mechanic's markup.

A good 4-wheel alignment will take an experienced technician ~3 hours to complete.

PorscheDoc

Jerome, it probably isnt torque tight enough then, because a few weeks i tightened that nut slightly because i thought it was loose, and i did not torque it to anywhere near 350, so i will go and tighten the hell out of it. I grabbed the wheel when i got it home and up on stands, and i could not budge the wheel side to side at all, so i dont know. Yea the wheel bearing from pelican is 47 bucks.

Dash01

I did the front alignment to factory spec using some yellow thread from wife's sewing kit, four sheets of wax paper, a ~1/16' drill bit, and some masking tape: Park the car with two ~10" X 10" sheets of wax paper under each front tire. This helps the tire to find its comfortable & untwisted position, so it does not squirm and distort the toe-in adjuments. Attach the thread to one rear tire @ its equator with a spot of masking tape, then string the thread around the front tires (also at equators), then back to other rear tire, where it is also taped in position. This gives an excellent visual reference for alignment. The front wheels should be toed in ~1/3 degree (as I recall), which equates to ~1/16" toe in. In other words, the leading side of each front tire should be ~1/16" further inboard than the trailing side. Use a 1/16" drill bit (taped to the leading side of the tire) as an offset gauge, then simply adjust the tie rod until the thread (stretched tight from the rear tire) just barely makes contact with the trailing side of the tire. Sight along the thread to eyeball the adjustment. Do each side independently, but fix the steering wheel in the neutral position before starting. Tighten the tie rod lock nuts to spec.

Set the camber using a spirit level, set vertically on wheel rims while car sitting on level driveway with somebody sitting in driver's seat. If you want, say, 1/4" negative camber, then tape a 1/4' drill bit to the spirit level*, at a point where it will touch the upper side of the rim. Then, adjust the camber cam-bolt so the spirit level reads vertical on each side. Tighten the camber bolts to spec.

I did this last week and went out for test dirve: The car tracks perfectly straight ahead, hands off, steering wheel in neutral position and on a smooth, level highway.

I did this years ago on my Datsun 280Z when I'd installed new front end gear, then (worried that I may have made some error) took it to the best alignment shop in town. They put the car on their fancy machine, but refused to charge me because they said they could not improve on my adjustments.

* The old Automotion Porsche parts catalogue had a digital camber gauge they sold for $300. It's realy just a calibrated spirit level. Calibrate your spirit level by use of drill bits of suitable diameter: Lots cheaper and just as accurate, if you calculate the vetical offset properly.