Gack! Car too low, local shop can't do the alignment!
10-15-2002, 07:31 PM
#2
Kim... Great to see that you got the suspension install finished. 
If you raised the ride height up an inch, could they do the alignment then?? You don't have to take the shock off to do height adjustment, do you???
Jeff
If you raised the ride height up an inch, could they do the alignment then?? You don't have to take the shock off to do height adjustment, do you???
Jeff
10-15-2002, 07:35 PM
#3
Burning Brakes
Kim,
My exact height numbers at each corner where within about 2-3 mm of your numbers before my align and corner balance. I know my shop uses a Hunter setup and it's not a 'rack' per se. They lift the whole car on a conventional 2 post asymetric lift and then place levelled stands under each wheel that have turntables and slip plates on each corner. Then the laser align heads go on each wheel. So there is no rack to drive onto.
My exact height numbers at each corner where within about 2-3 mm of your numbers before my align and corner balance. I know my shop uses a Hunter setup and it's not a 'rack' per se. They lift the whole car on a conventional 2 post asymetric lift and then place levelled stands under each wheel that have turntables and slip plates on each corner. Then the laser align heads go on each wheel. So there is no rack to drive onto.
10-15-2002, 07:39 PM
#4
Burning Brakes
Oh, by the way Kim, did you notice that the RS spec is 124mm front and 107mm rear (+/- 10mm) with a max difference between front to rear of 10mm. So if you set it perfect in the middle of the range you are not in the front to rear spec. Isn't that odd? Who wrote that manual anyway?
10-15-2002, 08:08 PM
#5
When I used to work at the dealer; I made plywood
ramps that I would use to get the lower then ROW cars onto the Hunter rack. I can't understand why the car would be too low to align once it was on the rack? Befor you rase the car I would check another dealer in the area.
ramps that I would use to get the lower then ROW cars onto the Hunter rack. I can't understand why the car would be too low to align once it was on the rack? Befor you rase the car I would check another dealer in the area.
10-15-2002, 09:16 PM
#6
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Kim,
Sorry to hear about your problem. <img src="graemlins/crying.gif" border="0" alt="[crying]" />
I know Monterey isn't a big metropolis but I would think/hope someone there could do it.
Have you checked with the guys out at Laguna Seca for references?
Sorry to hear about your problem. <img src="graemlins/crying.gif" border="0" alt="[crying]" />
I know Monterey isn't a big metropolis but I would think/hope someone there could do it.
Have you checked with the guys out at Laguna Seca for references?
10-15-2002, 09:23 PM
#7
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Kim,
The car looks great. My guess is the dealer was overwhelmed with your "race car". This is probably a blessing in disquise since, in my experience, dealers aren't very good at track set up. Find a shop that understands and does set up on race cars, not just Boxsters and 996's. If you happen to be up at Sears have TRG do it right before you have a track day.
See you in March for the Tracquest event. I am going to send you a email for lodging suggestions.
Greg
The car looks great. My guess is the dealer was overwhelmed with your "race car". This is probably a blessing in disquise since, in my experience, dealers aren't very good at track set up. Find a shop that understands and does set up on race cars, not just Boxsters and 996's. If you happen to be up at Sears have TRG do it right before you have a track day.
See you in March for the Tracquest event. I am going to send you a email for lodging suggestions.
Greg
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10-16-2002, 12:52 AM
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Kim
If you can't find anything closer to you, I would recommend Alan at the Stable in SF. He aligned and corner-balanced my RS spec'd cab with no problem after installing my PSS9's. He does a lot of race and autotox setup porsches.
If you need his number, email me.
If you can't find anything closer to you, I would recommend Alan at the Stable in SF. He aligned and corner-balanced my RS spec'd cab with no problem after installing my PSS9's. He does a lot of race and autotox setup porsches.
If you need his number, email me.
10-16-2002, 02:44 AM
#12
Kim,
My car was a bit lower than yours when I took it to Custom Alignment in Mountain View. They raised the ride height to about 110mm (R) and 120mm (F), aligned it on a laser aligment rack and corner balanced the car for $180. I've never heard a bad word about them and will offer my personal endorsement of their services.
I scheduled my appointment in advance and they did it all while I waited (walked around the neighborhood, etc...) and allowed me to observe them working as well.
The shop that did the PSS-9 installation (****werks) had it all wrong and Custom Alignment made it all RIGHT! Good people, good work, great price. They have done dozens if not hundreds of Porsche's and offer a 100% satisfaction gaurantee.
MC
My car was a bit lower than yours when I took it to Custom Alignment in Mountain View. They raised the ride height to about 110mm (R) and 120mm (F), aligned it on a laser aligment rack and corner balanced the car for $180. I've never heard a bad word about them and will offer my personal endorsement of their services.
I scheduled my appointment in advance and they did it all while I waited (walked around the neighborhood, etc...) and allowed me to observe them working as well.
The shop that did the PSS-9 installation (****werks) had it all wrong and Custom Alignment made it all RIGHT! Good people, good work, great price. They have done dozens if not hundreds of Porsche's and offer a 100% satisfaction gaurantee.
MC
10-16-2002, 04:19 AM
#13
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JC, Kim, the max front to rear difference spec refers to the differences from nominal front and rear rather than the absolute value, i.e. if front was 10mm above spec and rear was also 10mm above spec the diff would be zero, if front was +10 and rear was -10 the diff would be 20 so out of spec.
10-16-2002, 09:43 AM
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FWIW
I once had a dealer install H&R springs on stanard shocks and asked them to align to RS specs if they could. They also had "rack problems". It wasn't a problem with physically getting th car on the rack. The problem was that once on the rack, their alignment tooling (optical or whatever) could not see past some obstructions on the lower chassis. They had to contact the alignment rack supplier and order additional tooling to do the job.
After this I learned 2 very important things that others had mentioned:
1. RS settings are too low for use where I live.
2. H&R springs combined with stock shocks made the car "porpoise" on the highway or when hitting small bumps or undulations.
Next year, I ordered the ROW M030 from Gert and had a race shop align the car. Guess what! They screwed up the kinmatic toe on one rear wheel so I had to have another shop realign the car.
It must be nice to live in an area with several competent race shops close by.
I once had a dealer install H&R springs on stanard shocks and asked them to align to RS specs if they could. They also had "rack problems". It wasn't a problem with physically getting th car on the rack. The problem was that once on the rack, their alignment tooling (optical or whatever) could not see past some obstructions on the lower chassis. They had to contact the alignment rack supplier and order additional tooling to do the job.
After this I learned 2 very important things that others had mentioned:
1. RS settings are too low for use where I live.
2. H&R springs combined with stock shocks made the car "porpoise" on the highway or when hitting small bumps or undulations.
Next year, I ordered the ROW M030 from Gert and had a race shop align the car. Guess what! They screwed up the kinmatic toe on one rear wheel so I had to have another shop realign the car.
It must be nice to live in an area with several competent race shops close by.
10-16-2002, 10:19 AM
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Kim,
FWIW, Maybe you could remove the front bumper at the dealer and do the alignment and then replace the front bumper. This is assuming the front was too low for the alignment machine to read.
Regards,
FWIW, Maybe you could remove the front bumper at the dealer and do the alignment and then replace the front bumper. This is assuming the front was too low for the alignment machine to read.
Regards,