aribop

I cannot seem to find a competent alignment shop in the Atlanta area to fix my 993.

The first alignment was performed by a 'factory trained' mechanic who only works on German cars and does all of the work himself. Rear tires lasted about 3k miles and the car was squirmy at speed.

Then I take it to Butler Tire in Marietta after purchasing new tires for the rear. Had to take it back because it pulled and the steering wheel was off center. I will spare everyone all the nasty details of the second go around. It has now been about 3k miles and I'll be lucky to get another thousand out of the rear tires.

What the hell?? Does anyone have any solid recommendations of a shop or individual that can perform a "correct" alignment on my car so it handles like it should and doesn't go through rear tires every 3k miles?

I really need some help please....

ga993

I just had a similar experience. Went through rear tires in 3k miles. It was poor alignment. I bought the same Sumi tires as a replacement and took it to Alan K. at German Car Repair. He takes it around the corner in Roswell to some place, I think called Performance Tire ?. Sergio will know the guy. He uses the Hunter machine. 7k miles later and my tires still look new.

abiazis

I have aligned at Jim Ellis and price was competitive with their discount specials, etc...

C4SJOHN

Did your tires wear on the outside or the inside of the tire?

SFreeman

Call Gran Turismo East in Chamblee: http://www.granturismoeast.com/

That's where the mechanic for my 993 and X5 refers everyone.

Hank Cohn

Gran Tourismo East and Jim Ellis Porsche are good recomendations. I've used them both several times with good results. Bob Sanderson has also opened a new shop called Gold Crest Motorsports. They are located in Kennesaw. He is a Farnbacher Loles two-time Grand Am winning crew chief and a hell of a good mechanic. His e-mail is:

bob@goldcrestmotors.com

He just converted my GT3 back to a street car and did a great job including alignment. He built a 993 RS Replica for me as well and is very familiar with the platform.

HTH,
Hank

AtlJimK

+1 on GTE.

TMc993

+1...Check with Alan...He has my car right now and is doing an alignment... www.germancarrepair.com

T

aribop

Thanks guys! This is exactly what I needed.

I had a guy that did a superb job on my 944 turbo but he doesn't/can't do it anymore due to his job/employer set-up.

When it's time, I will buy a new set of tires and go see one of the guys that was recommended.

Hank, I may have seen your speed yellow RS. If it's the one I'm thinking of, that car is striking!

Many thanks to all!
Albert

Hank Cohn

I no longer own that Speed Yellow RS but it is still here in town. I see it every now and again. I really liked that car. Not saying anything bad about GTE as I think they are great and use them every opportunity I have but, unless something has changed, they lack the ability to check or set the kinematic rear toe on the 993. This is not usually a big deal unless you've changed ride height or significantly changed rear camber. Only the dealership and a few shops have the bubble scale(s) to measure or adjust this. If anyone tells you that they just max them out on a street car, that is not correct. It can work in some cases but more often not.

Lastly, as your car is a '95, make sure they are using the alignment specs for a '96 or later. They should be changed for the entire 993 line but you never know. The original alignment specs were harsh on tires.

HTH

Hank

fast_freddy

Sounds like the toe/kinematic toe settings are messed up. When they are you'll go through rear tires like Kleenex. To get that done properly the shop will need a kinematic toe tool. You can get one from Gert Carnewal for $250~ (I just did) www.carnewal.com to get the shop to do that aspect of the alignment properly. Alignments are not difficult to do. Why shops mess it up so often is a mystery to me, sadly speaking from experience.

Also, shops tend to do what alignment they think is right. Ask for the specs both before and after they align. By doing that they know they wont be able to pull the wool over your eyes. I had a shop do just that, the car felt like it understeered in a straight line, seriously. I busted their chops as previously mentioned, low and behold they whined about it but did it correctly.

Ed Burdell

Perhap Alan takes it to David at Pefect Performance? That's where I get mine done. They can't do kinematic toe (neither can Butler in Marietta). My rears go every 6-7K miles, purportedly due to my WB suspension being lowered to ROW ride height.

If getting the kinematic toe right is the answer to tire longevity, I need to find a place that does that. When I quizzed Butler about it, they downplayed the role it had on tire life, but now I'm not so sure.

MarkD

and another vote for KT neglect by the previous shops.

always ask to see the KT gauge...
And if they don't have one, we know a guy who has them. And they come with instructions

fast_freddy

I had the KT effed up on my car and went through a set of rear tires in 500~ miles.

Hank Cohn

Just to be clear, Kinematic Toe is important but there are other factors that affect tire wear, primarily toe and camber. Kinematic Toe comes in to play as teh rear suspension is compresses and extends. On the highway, it has little if any impact.

It would be interesting to understand more about where and how the tires are worn. 5000 miles is way to few miles for a tire to last. By the way, what tires and what sizes are we talking about?

Worn suspension parts are often a big part of tire wear and occasionally the eccentric adjusters are slopping around in their adjustment wells. You should be able to feel this at it would feel like the wheel is not tightly bolted to the hub. If the eccentrics have not been replaced in a while it may be difficult to maintain the toe settings. They need to grip the subframe tightly. Badly worn rubber bushings in the linkages would make it impossible to maintain toe. These parts, at one time, were not very expensive, and relatively easy to replace as a DIY.

More important than having the Kinematic scales is knowing how to use them. In Atlanta, I know that Jim Ellis has them and I would bet that Gold Crest Motorsports has them or would get them if they don't.

It is important to remember that there is no single fix or silver bullet. The entire front and rear suspension work together in ways that can be very complex to understand especially under race track speeds and conditions.

I would suspect that on a 15 year old car there is a combination of worn rubber bushings, sub optimal settings for toe, camber or kinematic toe and possibly some out of spec eccentric adjusters that can't maintain their settings. This is a lot less expensive than it sounds and much cheaper than 5000 mile tire replacements!

HTH

Hank