Reynard38

I lowered my car years ago with Bilsteins/H&R's from Gert. I had the car aligned at Butler here in Atlanta, but it never felt correct.
2 weeks ago I was up at Kinetic Speed Shop in Buford to look at an E36M3 and saw that they support several 993 based race cars. I inquired about a corner balance and alignment and they said that they DO have the Kinematic guages.

I just took the car to them for the work and WOW what a difference. The car feels much more planted in the corners, turn in is much crisper and the car no longer "hunts" on the interstate. They said it was WAY off when I brought it in.
Total cost was $570, but it was worth every penny!

Oh and I did buy a very clean 1998 E36M3 sedan from one of their crew chiefs.

Barney1

Great to hear.. I'm installing my new wheels and tires this week and I also have the PSS9's and lowered. 2 years ago I had the Porsche dealer near me do the work and the car has been terrible. My rear tires were shot in 2,500 miles. NEVER AGAIN. I found a Porsche race shop who has the correct gauges and I can't wait.

matt777

$570! Yikes. A local shop that does sports cars including Porsche's told me that Porsche doesn't recommend changing the rear kinematic alignment any more and the gauges are no longer available. Has anyone heard this?

Robin 993DX

The rear kinematic toe on the 993 makes a huge difference, actually I would consider it to be very important for safety reasons.

When I lived in Atlanta, I only took my 993 to Jim Ellis for alignment no where else. Of course that was prior to the opening of Kinetic Speed shop.

Two best alignment I have ever received for my 993 was from Jim Ellis in Atlanta, and Champions Porsche in FL.

jdistefa

http://www.autometricsmotorsports.co.../ktt/index.htm

MarkD

hmm. sounds like a shop without the tool to do the job?
This is a rather important part of the alignment. The passing of time doesn't change that.

TheOtherEric

OMG! That's an outrageous lie. You should go back and ****-punch that guy. What an ***.

RedlineRay

Reynard 38,

Kinematic Toe is very important for a good handling car. The rearward upper eccentic cam is
used to adjust the Kinematic Toe. Most Alignment shops will incorrectly try to adjust this eccentric
cam to change camber and will unknowingly make the car handle terribly. Here is a picture of the
eccentric cam in its stock location. It is real easy to check this alignment cam.....if it is other than
the stock setting you can have some very poor handling. Most cars (90%) that are within the factory
Stock to RS ride height specifications and have not been in a accident, do not need the Kinematic Toe
adjustment. The price you had paid to correct your Kinematic Toe is a fair price for extra amount
of labor involved.

Hope this helps!

Steve Alarcon
Johnson's Alignment

chris walrod

Steve speaketh the truth ..and I am sure he's seen many camber changes gone wrong as well. I see them frequently as well.

George A

What setting do look for if you use the Autometrics tool? I've got one but I never really got a clear answer as to where to set it.

G.

RedlineRay

George,

I have only used the Factory Tools P9550 and P9549. The Factory Instructions are as
follows:
" Check and adjust kinematic toe-in corrections. To do so, attach Special Tool P9550 to
arm 2 (toe link) and P9549 to arm 5 (lower control arm). The tools are a type of spirit
level with an appropriate scale. The kinematic toe-in correction can be set by adjusting
the eccentric adjuster for arm 4 (upper rearward arm). The object is to match both values
(tolerance + 1.5 scale units). In order to achive this, it may also be necessary to correct
the setting of arm 3 (upper forward arm) (camber eccentric). This adjustment must also
remain within the tolerance range."

The factory specifications:

RoW: Standard .......RoW: Sport ......Carrera 4S RoW ......Carrera RS
(USA: Standard)......(USA: Sport)......(Carrera 4S USA)......M002 / M003

1.5 SKE* .............. 1.5 SKE* ........... 1,5 SKE* ............ 1,5 SKE*

*SKE = scale unit. Measure and read off in the center of bubble level.

It is a bit of work......but I try to get the factory gauge to be same or within 1.0 SKE*
if I have trouble getting the camber to be the same. I have not used the Autometics
Tool, but I would figure by the factory specifications that you would want to have the
same reading on both sides with camber set to the desired specification.

Steve Alarcon
Johnson's Alignment

TheOtherEric

Aren't the instructions something like: "set the KT so that the readings are the same one each side, and preferably to the low-end of the scale." I'm paraphrasing but I think my tech said it was something like that.

George A

Thanks Steve. That's the way we use to set it up, with the factory gages. I've since replaced the carriage mounts to solids (without the tilt kit, big washer). The factory gages no longer fit so I bought the Autometrics tool. We tried it a couple of times but didn't know the desired position.

G.

George A

Yup. The side to side being equal makes perfect sense. It's the low-end of the scale that gets me. How low? Can it be too low?

G.

polaris 993 sport

I share one with my mechanic-cost 350 or so. Makes all the difference.I could not drive the car as it would wonder at 60- now it is straight and true. A must!