993 4S

Back in August of last year, I was out on a drive and hit a patch of gravel and dirt in the middle of a turn. To make a long story short, the car fishtailed to the right, then back around to the left and slid off the road. In doing so, I took out most of the front driver's quarterpannel with a fire hydrant and the rear driver's side quarterpannel was smashed in when the car slid backwards into an embankement. Also, the left rear exhaust was shoved back up into the engine (though no engine damage occured besides replacing that). Anyway, I didn't think I hit that hard, but aparently it was hard enought to bend the frame just the slightest bit.

The car was at the shop for the whole winter, being re-painted (we had the whole car done) and having the frame straightened with some program that the body shop recieved through Porsche. Happily the car was returned and it looked brand new.

Today I was washing it and standing behind it I noticed something that seemed horribly wrong. The wheels on the driver's side of the car (side that took the beating) were a good INCH set back under the fender flares than the wheels on the passenger side. The car doesn't drive weird--it doesn't pull to one side, but this can't be right. It's almost as if the whole body of the car is sitting a good inch right of where it should be. I will post pictures, but unfortunately the camera battery died. It doesn't apear that the driver's side wheels are sticking out more than they should be, just that the passenger side wheels are pushed further in than normal. What should I do?!?!

Sorry for the long post!

Phil

ca993twin

Phil,

Take the car immediately to a Porsche dealer, and have it inspected. If there is any damage, you can still file a claim with your insurance company for "hidden damage". I believe that you have 3 years to press further claims, at least here in California. Of course, it may be normal, but it sure doesn't sound right.

I just had an accident, and after all the repair and new wheels and tires, it went to Porsche for a 4-wheel alignment and inspection. In my case, there was no damage. My ins co will also pay for the alignment.

JC in NY

First things first. Get a tape measure and measure from hubcap to hubcap on each side of the car. Are they equal? You do have a problem, let's figure out what to do.

Greg Fishman

It could be the way the car was built originally.
Were there problems getting it aligned?

993 4S

Thankfully from hubcap to hubcap on each side measures the same.

Greg, unfortunately, I don't know (but don't think) that there were any problems when getting it aligned. We've only driven the car 500 miles since we've gotten it back. As for the car being built that way, I'm almost positive it was accident related. I do have some pictures now (if anyone wants to host them) and I think you'll see that Porsche would have made a huge mistake if they originally built the car like this. I also have some before accident pictures, so I'll take a look and see how the wheels looked then. However, in the accident pictures I have, the wheel is clearly pushed back into the wheel well. If anyone can host these (P-base is not letting me for some reason) I'd be happy to e-mail them to you.

Thanks again,
Phil

graham_mitchell

Is one wheel more protrusive than the other, relative to the bodywork, or closer to the rear of the car? I wasn't quite clear.

If one wheel is sticking out more than the other, maybe there is a spacer on one side which might be missing on the other?

If one wheel seems behind the other (relative to the bodywork) but the distance between the hubcaps is the same, then perhaps the bodywork is asymmetrical? Were the rear fenders rolled before the accident? Could you have a rolled fender on one side and not the other? So many possibilities...

tonytaylor

993 4S

You might want to read this thread before panicing too much 964 thread

993 4S

Sorry for any misunderstanding, particularly graham mitchell. The wheels are the same length apart from front to back. The probem is that both wheels on the left side of the car are "intrusive" and they are set back inside the fender flares about an inch more than the wheels on the right side of the car. The car does not have spacers to my knowledge--it has always had the 18" C4S twists and although it rides very low (previous owner tracked a few times and had track suspension) I did not think that constituted spacers. Also, the fenders do not appear to have been rolled at all. If someone can host the pictures, I think you'll clearly see that it's a pretty big problem--something that never existed before the accident, judging by pre-accident pictures. It's the kind of problem that someone could see, even if they knew little about cars.

Thanks again,

Phil

993 4S

Tonytaylor, the instances in the 964 thread are similar if not the same to what I'm seeing. So my understanding from that thread is that the wheels on the driver's (left) side of the car are more "in" (as in, back "into" the wheel wheels) to balance the car considering the weight of the driver. If this is indeed the case, then I truly feel like a moron . However, I've never noticed this in the past (we've had the car for 2 years) and the discrepency between how far "in" the driver's wheels are, to how far "in" the passenger wheels are seems very great.

P.S. - it would be incredibly helpfull if someone could look at their car and see if it's the same way, or even post a picture of the rear or left side of their 993!

tonytaylor

It`s about 1/2 inch on mine and I`ve had mine over 3yrs and didn`t notice until I put on diffent wheels and tyres and got rub on the fender on one side.
There are measurements that will tell if the car is true - these are available direct from Porsche. A good body shop will often have machinery to check wether a car is true or not.

ca993twin

My car (1996TT) looks the same from side-to-side.

TheOtherEric

Phil-
If you REALLY want to figure out exactly what you've got, I'd recommend a shop with a good laser alignment scanner like the new Visualigner Pro. RPM Racing in Long Island has one, and they checked out my car before I bought it (no affiliation, yada yada). Simply amazing. They put laser reflectors on each wheel then take static measurements, roll the car, and even work the steering wheel to get some pretty detailed analyses.

Jack Esposito

Phil,

I checked my 1996 C4S and both sides are the same front & back. Did you replace the
wheels and if so did you get the same offset as before. The fronts should be 52mm offset
and the rears 40mm offset. The narrow body rear wheels would sit in exactly 1 inch on
your C4S. Did they replace all the suspension pieces when you had the car fixed?

Jack

Flying Finn

Probably what Greg suggested and what that 964 thread talks.

Mine's little "in" also, maybe little less than half an inch or so.

Fred R. C4S

Did your crash damage inclide the wheels and their subsequent replacement? If so, did were they replaced by the correct offeset wheel for the C4S, or that for a C2 or C4? Pull the wheel and check the offset.

Cheers,