DWS964

First, my apologies for yet another alignment/suspension question, but this is a great place to spill one's guts and seek help.

Background: 92 C4, when purchased, PO had recently installed H&R Red Turbo springs and Bilstein HDs . Too low and harsh, so I had a set of ROW M030 springs installed and alignment. Changed out old hard/cracked Pirelliis for new ones. Being still a newbie, didn't know what to expect for "good" vs "bad"; but it certainly rode better and quieter. Yet, it seemed to wander on the road (a lot) more than I thought it should.
Did a quick check of the camber with a level and a angle gauge I use for setting up driveshaft angles on the old hot rods. The quick check showed a lot of negative camber on the fronts, and zero camber on the rears.
So, I took it to an alignment shop on Friday that was highly recommended by a local PCA member. They confirmed that the camber was WAY out on all four corners
LF -1.1deg RF -2.3deg LR 0.0deg RR -0.2deg
The caster and toe were in spec on all corners, however.
They were able to bring the rear camber into spec; but, they said they were unable to bring the front camber into spec without elongating the holes. They blamed it on the car being lowered. But, I told them I wouldn't think this should have been a problem since it was only lowered to ROW height.
After getting home, I reviewed the alignment sheet and discovered that the front camber is still not in spec; so I'm a bit unhappy about that.
LF -0.5deg RF -0.4deg

One other factor that made me lose some/lot of confidence in the shop - I overhead the tech commenting to the service mgr that the tire pressures were all way out of whack, so he set them right. I'm pretty **** about tire pressures, so I was pretty surprised. I blew it off, knowing that I would check when I got home. Checked them a few hours later - guess what - all at 50-52 psi cold. Checked with second gauge, all the same. Put them back to stock, but haven't had a chance to go out for a drive yet. (the spousal unit had me putting up Christmas lights because the weather was so nice... oh, digressing a bit)

Shop was closed today, so I haven't had a chance to talk to them about it all.

Assuming their measurements are good - why would there not have been enough room for adjustment to bring the front camber into spec?
What issues will I have with the camber setting as it is?

springer3

Any collision history on the car? If they really can't get the alignment set correctly, something is bent somewhere.

BGLeduc

I am confused. What amount of camber are you shooting for?

You went from this:

LF -1.1deg RF -2.3deg

To this:

LF -0.5deg RF -0.4deg

Euro RS spec for front Camber is -1.0 deg (+/- 10 min). Many of us use this as a good track/street compromise setting.

Seems they should have been able to get you there, or pretty darn close, given where you say they started and where they finished.

Brian

DWS964

No collision history. I would think that one side would be primarily affected if that were true. I am still surprised/suspicious that both sides are out of spec, equally.
My son works in a body shop - I may have him put the car on his alignment rack to verify the figures, and then on the frame alignment table and check all the dimensions of attachment points, etc., if it goes that far.

Red rooster

Might be worth checking that the front top mounts are the right way round ?

All the best

Geoff

Indycam

Worn bushings ?

dougn

camber is easy to measure with a level and some trig. assuming they are right and it is indeed -.5 degrees....that's ok. hunting and darting can be tow related.

DWS964

I was trying for the standard specs (Porsche 1994 updated): 0 deg +/- 0.2 on the front, -0.4 on the rear

I wondered if I would see anything undesireable, on the street, with the current settings at -0.4 and -0.5 on the front. If not, I willl not push it any further.
But, I would still like to know why some modification was necessary to get it closer to spec. Something must be wrong, somewhere. I will talk with the alignment shop tomorrow, and see what else I can learn.
THANKS for everyone's input.
DWS

DWS964

Yes, the top mounts are on the "inside" position.
THANKS