RustyRotors

I am heading towards Napa and will be staying in or around St Helena. My 96 993 C2 needs a real good 4 wheel alignment from a Porsche specialist.

Any suggestions. Will be staying there for about a week. Hope to find the time to get it done.

Thanks
Ron
Canada

Jim Morton

Ron:

It's not that near Napa, but is just south within the great SF Bay Area, I would recommend Brandon Kraus at Roger Kraus Racing in Hayward. 510-582-5031

Brandon has use of my kinematic toe gauge and has aligned many local 993's making sure the kinematic toe is set correctly while keeping the other rear specs in range to what the owner requests or OEM.

Hopefully you'll have enough time to venture that far. If not, just make sure the shop you pick has the 993 kinematic tool. (Please do not be fooled by anyone claiming that you simply max out the kine toe setting...)

Cheers.

RustyRotors

I think that the rear toe is my problem. I have installed the H&R springs and sway bars along witht he Bilstein shocks and can not get the normal rear toe or camber anywhere near what the spec says. However, kinematic toe continues to come up and there is nobody locally with the ability to deal with that situation.

How different is the kinematic toe from normal alignment shops?

Could someone please explain the difference between kinematic toe and regular toe?

Thanks
Ron

MarkD

I have used Kraus a few times and Brandon knows what he is doing... and thanks to Jim he has the right tool

I recently heard Rob King, S-car-go racing in San Rafael, is now set up to do alignments on these cars. I haven't talked to him but the rumor is he has the kinematic toe tool also. Rob knows these cars well also. He is close to where you are.

Jim Morton

Ron:

The kinematic toe is an additional link that allows for toe change as the rear suspension moves up and down. Loosely, it's a controlled "bump toe".

I have also heard that S-Car-Go offers 993 alignments, but have yet to confirm that they have one of the 2 different tools needed to properly set the kine toe. If you consider S-Car-Go, do verify that they have the tool and not not using one of the various "fake out" methods.

Having worked with Brandon on several SF Bay Area 993's who's kine toe settings had been faked, it's was amazing to see how far off the settings were, and not just the kinematic toe. This issue is definately Kaveat Emptor.

MarkD

+1
I'd specifically ask if Rob has the tool...
the rumor was that he does. He just expanded his business onto some property adjacent to his (if you have been to S-Car-Go, you know he needed it!) and he added alignment/corner balancing services.
Please let us know what you find out... it's good to know who can align these cars properly. Or I guess I will just call him Monday...

If you do go there, enjoy the "car show" that usually fills his shop. The drool factor is high there.

race911

Haven't talked to Rob for 3-4 years now, but back then he told me he bought (or had the nearby alignment guy buy) the factory tool. So if he's expanded and using it in-house, makes sense that it's in his possession.