Tom 328

I brought my car back today to the local dealer who recently aligned it. I brought it in the first time because it pulled noticeably to the right. They confirmed it was well out of alignment, aligned it for $382 (wow) and sent me on my way with a printout showing everything in spec.

Immediately upon picking the car up I noticed it tracked straighter, but still pulled to the right, so I scheduled to bring it back in.

They confirmed that it was slightly out of spec, dialed it into spec, and attempted to charge me $50 for my trouble (what?!). I politely refused the charge, which they reasoned that in the 50 miles since the car was last in I had thrown it out of alignment. I explained I am a careful driver and didn't encounter any road conditions that would cause a change in alignment and that I noticed it was not right almost immediately upon picking the car up, so they reluctantly removed the charge (ok fine).

As before, moments after driving away, I notice it STILL pulls, though slightly less, to the right. (Are you f-ing kidding me?!)

I reviewed the spec printouts to see if that yielded any insight. The before specs they started with today were slightly different than the after specs from last time. As such, knowing nothing happened to the car, and no it's not the friggin crown of the road, what would cause this? Normal variability in the alignment machine? A faulty alignment machine? Incompetent technician?

Before i call the service advisor back tomorrow, any thoughts would be welcome. I now have little confidence they can get it right and wonder if I just wasted nearly $400 or if I can help guide them to the right solution. One of the best parts of these cars is the steering and until this is sorted the steering sucks!

geolab

Hello Tom, I have lived and felt your worry, but the dealer is in for nothing on this one.
The people handling your car at the dealer are trained to react to a given and not to something unknown.
In other words, your car is pulling to the right due to several factors, and not solely alignment.
Usually you would have a worn bushing somewhere in the A-arms or tie rods in the front, and you could align as much as you want to no avail.
I align my car by myself.
Still with good bushings, the alignment values change as soon as you un-mount the alignment machine.
One thing I learnt is change the old rear toe arms on any 993, if I am having difficulty to tune the kinematic rear toe. A slight bent rear toe arm undetectable ocularly would render alignment figures impossible to achieve.

To resolve your problem, there are givens and unknowns to be taken care of.
The givens is exact correct tire pressures on all four wheels
Wheel balancing done right.
two unknowns that should be taken care of for a no pull alignment.
First is the front A arm bushings.
Second is your front tie rods.
In your case usually, it is more tie rod related than A arm bushings, but I would change both.
This way you could be good for another decade ?

I have known some dealers who would not take in the car a second time, before quoting you a full bushing change.
When I align my car, it goes on and off the alignment machine 3 - 4 times maybe more.
High speed in the rain sometimes is pity-less , so zero tolerance on aquaplaning
good luck

Oh and by the way, an alignment at the dealer here is no where less than 550 euros (+/- $700)

Akerlie

It is also important to do the alignment with weight in the drivers seat. I used 70 kg´s in the drivers seat and it had a big impact on the figures.

I agree with Geolab in putting it up 3-4 times to see that "average measurement" after the first alignment is good. But that is probably not what the average workshop does.

Ash

One other off-shot data point - tires?

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=12

NP993

I would like to see the before and after figures on your car's alignment with and without driver in the car. I understand it for corner-balancing, but this is the first I've heard it recommended for an alignment.

TMc993

+1 Once a set of tires gets "worn in" on an out-of-alignment car, it's nigh on impossible to get the car to track straight even with perfect alignment specs.

certz

I will pile on with the tire comments - ensure proper and even pressures and take a good look at your tires for uneven wear (you may not be able to see this, though). Great comments above about bushings as well.

Akerlie

NP933,

The instructions on the screen of both our old Facom Alignment machine and the new Hunter machine both stated that it should be done this way on the 993 (it even says that the alignment should be done with a full tank).

I am pretty sure I have read this on official porsche paper somewhere as well.
Anyway it makes perfect sense to me to align the car with the weight that is in it when it is driven.

Deadeye

Have you tried rotating the front tires left to right?

cgfen

swap your tires left - right and see what happens.

LexVan

The OP can't do that if his tires are directional, and they probably are.

kjr914

Not a good idea for long term or inclement weather, but for the purpose of sorting out his problem, this shouldn't be an issue to run directionals "backwards" for a short time. Besides, if it fixes the issue or swaps sides, he's getting new tires anyways.

Magdaddy

most obvious question to me, and one that surprisingly hasn't been mentioned yet...how experienced is this "local dealer" with 993's?

Yes, it could be worn in tires.
Yes, tire pressure's can play a role in this also.
Yes, it could be worn control arm bushings...maybe not just pulling to the right though.
Maybe no weight in the driver side is an issue..though I have my car aligned with hub stands, weight in driver seat for corner balance only...and less than 1/2 tank gas too.

I'm leaning toward an incompetent "local dealer" until proven otherwise.

Do they own their own kinematic tool? If they don't have one at all, or have to "borrow" someone's else's to check the kinematic toe...then you need to find another shop.

Stealth 993

I would skip the dealer and find a competent local shop to take care of you.

Sound like they are not getting it aligned properly, or just don't know what they are doing.

Maybe ask them what Kimatic toe is? Then see how they reply.