I will keep this short: $638.

BUT THEY HAVE TRAINED PORSCHE TECHS!

 

No franchised Porsche dealer or tech is interested in working on 25 to 30 year old cars and that includes 911's . If you ever turned a wrench for a living you would understand ......working on that old shid has only down not upsides when you have mortgage and kids. Thats were the Porsche independent come into play.

 

I assume that's... 6 hours of labor??!?

 

Bend over
My race chassis guy charges me $400 for a zero tolerance alignment/corner balance, it takes him 6-8 hours.
It's perfect when done, EXACTLY to my numbers.

 

Does this include updating all the rubber bushings, new tie rods........reach around?

 

WOW!

You can get our cars corner balanced and aligned to either YOUR specifications or let an expert set up your suspension based on your input towards particular use for much less on a car with Tarrett sways, Elephant Racing bump steer kit, fully adjustable struts with camber plates, etc.

These cars with fairly stock suspensions can be aligned by any competent shop back to OE spec, but I'd bring the spec sheet then check their work prior while it's on the alignment rack prior to driving away, unless you know the shop doing the work. Corner balancing is very time consuming, but worth the extra cost when done from someone familiar with our cars.

 

I've got a tape measure, bring it over and we can get the toe dialed in.
Carpenter's square and protractor for camber...

 

I believe that is code for, "We don't want the job."

Lots of good options for you in the area, Paul. I forget which part of town you're in but there's a few places that set up 944 race cars and will be happy to do it for you.

Midwest Eurosport in Bensenville
Fischer Motorsports in Barrington
There's also my buddy Mark over in Downers Grove, PCA member, club racer, club supporter, does a lot of work on PCA members cars, owns the Cars Plus at 63rd and Cass. PM me if you're interested and I'll get you his contact info.

 

I have a local shop that just charged be $76 for front only....they even hooked it up to the back wheels but since no adjustment was needed they didn't charge me for a 4 wheel alignment. The first time I took it to them they said they couldn't do the rears without out the Porsche tool. I asked if they would do it if I bought the tool. They said sure....we will give it a try. I've had no problems with them. They even store my custom specs in the computer.

 

OK, story time...

My first (and last) experience with a Porsche specialist. This was back when I had just gotten the 951 and was pretty naive. I took her in for an alignment at the local specialist after I got new wheels. They had the car for two days and when it was ready he told me that they were unable to get the specs I wanted for the rear. They still had the audacity to charge me over $500 for it though, and told me it was a really difficult job.

After I got it home, I used a ruler, and a large board and some trigonometry to check the front, and even that didn't match up to what they told me they got. I took it too an actual alignment shop, and they checked my alignment for free with their laser machine. None of the specs on the print out matched what the Porsche shop had told me. So I was pretty furious at having to pay that much for something that wasn't even done right. I took the print out to the Porsche shop and they gave me my $528 back.

My car was still out of alignment though, so I did what I should have done in the first place and educated myself on exactly how to do an alignment on a 944. Van's video's helped a lot here. Turns out it's really not that difficult, the front is just like any other McPherson arrangement, and the rear just needs a special tool to adjust the toe. I bought that tool and then took the car to the local alignment shop who had helped me check the alignment earlier. Those guys even watched Van's video to see how to do it, then we put the car onto the lift with the laser machine and they let me watch them align everything to exactly the specs I wanted. Full track alignment with 3 degrees camber and 2mm toe out either side on the front, 2 degrees camber on the rear with 1mm toe in either side. All done in less than an hour and only for 65 dollars. Moral of the story, anyone who charges 500 bucks just because it is a Porsche, is either grossly incompetent, or a crook.

 

I pay $70 for a standard 4 wheel alignment.

 

Of course I did not bring it to the stealer, but was very surprised to hear the cost. It is being aligned at Chicago Performance and Tuning, they will get it right the first time!

 

My friends shop did mine for 100.00 Canadian.....and it's done properly. That's between 75 and 80 US with the exchange right now.

 

One of the local dealers near me charges $179 (less if I have a coupon) to align it to my (racing) specs. The tech even lets me sit in the car while he does it so the car is properly weighted.

My racing shell is fixed to the floor. I'm 6'5" and the tech is about a foot shorter. He always complains that he can't reach my pedals so he has me drive it on and off his lift.

A few of the younger techs always mill around to check out the 'old' car since they rarely see anything older than a 996.

 

Even in the Netherlands you can have it done at a proper shop for 70-80 euro's!