Wheel Alignment Setting?
 

I was looking around for a garage which are good at alignment and suspension which I think i have found locally based on other peoples experiences.

When I asked how long it would take and booking in proceedure, they mentioned that between 2 hrs and 4 hrs depending on the car.

Only thing that got me, was they asked what settings did I want? Not too sure to honest, and they said they would see if they could get this info if I did not provide it.

It this the normal way it happens with suspension alignment, because I would not have a clue what settings I want. These lads have a lot of prepeared rally cars outside and specialise in 4 wheel drive car alignment which is different somehow?

Anyway I'm not going near any track days etc, so just want a good fast road set up with stability at high speed. Does anyone have settings I could use, or is this not the normal question you would expect to be asked by the garage?

Maybe as they are used to dealing with some prepared rally cars they get further in depth that the local tyre shop does when it come to suspension geo.

Can anyone shed light on this for me?

Personally i would go with the standard factory set up. It was good enough for the car to achieve 160+mph originally and i believe Porsche probably know what they are talking about. (If you are not using it for anything other than an occasional track day).

If they don't know what that is i would walk.

Porsche charged me £244. in November 2010 it took 5 hours and very thorough.

Just my opinion

Thanks Unkle,

Yeah I was suprised they asked me to be honest. But I have never been for a geo set up before so not sure what to expect.

Maybe because they are not Porsche that they don't have this info? They had a few rally cars and race looking cars in there carpark so could it be that they offer to set up to specific requirements? Camber etc?

Or is should I look else where? Just that these poeple seem more motor sport specific.

Would love to know what the standard set up should be, as that's what I want once the cars been lowered and new suspension fitted.

Cheers,
Tim

The images below is 1994 information

How accurate it is, whether it has been revised and how it relates compared to the newer Porsche V13 equipment I'm not so sure.

Porsche equip in November checked:

Rear:
camber
cross camber
Individual toe
Setback
Geometrical driving axis

Front:
Castor 20*
Toe out on turns
camber
Cross camber
Individual Toe
total toe
Setback


What half of the above is and whether its adjustable and relevant i don't know, but i was advised to try Porsche and am more than happy that it was probably money well spent. Had tracking work carried out on many cars in the last 20 odd years and i can't say i have every been entirely happy with it, but this seems right for once, but then i have never spent £250 on it before either :D

Wow thanks for the info, far more than I was hoping to get anyway! Take it that this is the 1994 info for the 964 car?

Maybe I will ask Porsche to carry out alignment, not sure if the above remains true when the car has been lowered, i.e. height adjustment would assume that this would be different when new suspension is fitted.

At least I can ask the right questions now anyway from the data you have kindly provided, so that’s good.

(My spelling is terrible on my last post reading is back on the pc now, my bad! Reply was via mobile so it was all over the place...excuses!)

I need to see where else in North Wales / North West who will carry out geo to a good standard, I do have Cheshire Oaks Porsche, so worth asking them too.

Thanks again Unkle for the info, that’s a great help.

Many people are running more than -1'10 camber - both for front & rear. I have -2 front & rear.

I watched the guy do my alignment and he could only get about 2' caster. Not sure about how they spec 4' caster.

No problem Tim.

I'm not really saying the main dealer is the only place, although i would go to them, but i would want them to really know what a 964 should be set to. At the end of the day, if its for road use a standard setting - If you are 30mm approx lower i wouldn't imagine that it won't be vastly different from the factory set up - will provide longer tyre life and very competant handling, all things being equal.

Tim, for geo in the Northwest go to Unit 11 or Ninemeister, both in Warrington. Both really know their onions when it comes to setting up the geo on a 964. You'll save money compared to Cheshire Oaks and get a more personal service - you can watch as they do it. Mine was set up by Unit 11 and is brilliant.

The euro RS settings above NOT the US specs will give you a good set up for both performance and tire wear.

I'm very happy with the Euro RS setting on my car. Much better turn-in.

Thanks Steve, just found them on google and think i will go with unit 11 after reading there profile / web site. Seems like they have a lot to offer in knowledge on these cars.

How long does it usually take them to set it up? Would be nice to be there when they do the geo so i can learn alittle about the car.

I'm having KW V3's fitted next week and I'm thinking of sticking to the factory RS specs for the alignment. I'm adding new sway bars at the same time, but the rest of the suspension will be left stock.

I'm concerned about bump steer by taking the car as low as the RS. What is the general feeling towards this? Should I have the car set up so it rides slightly higher than the RS?

Thanks!

Please don't have a non_Porsche shop do your alignment.

Don't worry - it'll be a Porsche shop that do the work and the alignment. They actually race a 997 GT3, so hopefully they'll know what works, but I wanted to get some feedback from here first!