vanHunks

I have a 2004 GT3 with about 116K Kms (say 70 000 miles). After a recent wheel-alignment performed at the OPC in Cape Town I was informed the "side sections" (part labelled 1 on page 501-01 in the parts manual) to which the rear suspension links attach were "worn" at the alignment adjustment points and will have to replaced at some point in the future. I'm mystified that something that moves only when it's adjusted can be worn and the workshop was unable to give me a coherent explanation of the problem. I'm not familiar with the details of adjusting the rear suspension but I assume the housings (?) in the side sections for the eccentric washers have become enlarged in some manner. Although it has a good mileage, the car hasn't been raced. I was hoping a fellow-lister with experience in these matters could enlighten me as to how this may have happened and if it's normal wear and tear, as the OPC want me to believe.

996FLT6

U talking about the stock rear toelinks? If so it has an eccentric bolt that can loosen and get undesired toe fluctuation if u track which require frequent alignments/corner balance. There are aftermarket toelinks that prevents that from happening if that is what u are talking about. Mike

vanHunks

I took the car to a specialist (for Cape Town listers, Precision Wheel Alignment) to learn that, as I suspected, there is no wear in the side-sections. The problem is far more mundane - the locking nuts on the adjusters for the track-rods and, to a lesser extent, the wishbones are rounded off. Suspension work has been performed only by OPCs so I assume the story that the side-sections were worn was to avoid the embarrassment of admitting the problem was of their own making.

As an aside I'm no engineer but it does strike me that relying on the friction between the adjustment plate and its seating in the side-section, generated only by the tension in the tightened nut/bolt, to maintain the setting is optimistic; I guess that's why the after market components put the adjustment in the arms.

NXI20

The root cause of the problem is actually that the thread stretches a little each time the eccentric is tightened after adjustment. After about 3 geos it has stretched so much that although the torque is set correctly, it's mostly overcoming the stretch rather than locking down the eccentric. New bolts & nuts are the answer if you don't want to go to motorsport toe arms & locking plates.

vanHunks

Thanks, that makes plenty of sense - certainly more than the OPC's non-explanation ! I have since replaced the nuts but didn't think about the bolts. I'll have a look into fitting the motorsport parts.