I felt something "odd" in the rear end of the suspension through the first 600 miles or so and started asking around. One PCA member said "you know, I've heard there have been some problems with alignment fresh from the factory..." So I talked with my dealer and he obtained authorization to check mine out via warranty.

Sure enough, things were very much out of whack. Very cool software they use on their machine that shows the suspension parts and gives green and red highlights to things within specification or not. Wow, lots of red on the existing conditions. Left rear camber was -2 degrees 8 minutes where right rear was -1 and 24. Left rear toe at 21 minutes, right rear 12 (green). Total toe rear was off by 33 minutes. Basically everything was "off", though some worse than others.

So, he dialed in a nice aggressive street setting for me - I'll do more street than DE anyway and I can always tweak later. So, now everything is "correct".

Moral of the story is - if you sense anything (or not and want to be sure), talk with your dealer and see if they can check alignment. Has to be within the first 2,000 miles to be considered a warranty issue...

 

Looks like a trip to Danbury Porsche is due.. Although past the 2K limit.

Deanski

 

I'm doing the 360 miles roundtrip Monday to have mine done. After the first 100 miles of uncontained excitement of finally owning a Porsche, I noticed the steering wheel is slightly off center when going straight down the road and sometimes there is a slight pull to the left. Is it too much to ask for the steering wheel to be centered? My last 3 BMW's as well as 6 or 7 4wd 1/2 ton pickups over the past 12 years (Fords and GM's) have had perfectly centered wheels as well as "no-pull" alignments.

 

I had to have my alignment re-done after delivery too. The car would not steer stright and had a bad pull.

 

I checked out the warranty in the manual. It says they will do an alignment and/or tire balance free in the first 3 months. After that time period it has to be part of a warranty repair.

 

I had my alignment adjusted at about 600 miles. It's been much better ever since.
They did it under warranty.

 

Per the Porsche regional representative - make sure my car had under 2,000 miles in order for it to be covered under warranty. The reason for that, I'm sure, is that after 2,000 miles a perfectly car could become out of alignment depending on what the owner has done with it.

 

Nope, the steering wheel MUST be centered perfectly and aligned no pulling to the left or right. Porsche (handling) perfection!

 

Nope, the steering wheel MUST be centered perfectly and aligned no pulling to the left or right. Porsche (handling) perfection!

 

It would sure make more sense for the "no-cost" alignment to based on mileage rather than time. I'm still good either way.

 

My steering wheel has always been 'very' slightly off centre when driving in a straight line and was exactly the same in a friend's car that I drove. I haven't noticed the car pulling one way or the other, but with the camber of most road surfaces it's difficult to tell. I guess I'm out of luck for a warranty alignment, however, at 11 months and 4600 miles.

 

Not exactly the same thing, but I am getting a little vibration in the steering wheel at 50+. I've been advised by the dealer that it is probably a slight OOR tire and to drive it some more. If it doesn't go away, they will check the balance and tires? No mention by the dealer of 2000 miles, but I didn't ask either.

OTOH, if this vibration doesn't go away in another 200 miles, it's going in to be checked.

 

Perhaps you're new here but we periodically bring this up,--about the 'free inside 2000 mile' alignment to fix anything that may have happened to the vehicle while chained down to the deck inside the transporter. I found that my suspension has handled exactly the same as when I drove it over 3200 miles in Europe,--aside from the better roads over there! I've also been very pleased with the tire-wear,--turning 10,000 miles this weekend and still have plenty of rubber all around!

 

Porsche always sends their cars out set up with understeer. Their intent is to help persuade you to drive more cautiously out of the box. You can't go too fast through a turn if the front tires won't bite.
A more aggressive alignment by a shop well versed with Porsches will pay big dividends.

FWIW, I just installed H & R springs this week and had the car set up by West End Alignment here in So Cal. We maxed out the neg camber at 1.5 front and rear thought the rear will gain a few point neg. as the springs settle under the weight. Factory setting were half of that and too much front toe-in... Car rides and handles much better. I'm going to run my Cup at Cal Speedway Saturday, and the 997S on Sunday. This should be interesting....