I called a local porsche shop last week to schedule an alignment. The guy offered to do the alignment for $350 and when he heard the shock in my voice (other independents around here charge between $120-$250), he explained that it took him that long to align and corner balance my car.

I told him that I had a stock '06 997S, without any suspension modifications, and with the PASM suspension, but he insisted that he would corner balance the vehicle.

So tell me -- is corner balancing a stock PASM suspensioned 997S possible? Or was this shop trying to take me for a rie?

 

I do not see any reason why it could not be corner balanced (but stand to be corrected). And if you did not ask for it, then do not get it done.

 

Corner balancing involves adjusting the ride height at corners of the car to get the weights more or less even side to side. As far as I know you need shocks with adjustable spring perches to do this. Turn your front wheels so you can see the shock. Does it have a threaded collar and threads on the shock body which allow you to alter the ride height? If so, he can corner balance the car. A good race shop will charge about 350 bucks for a good alignment without corner balance. More with a balance since doing it right involves iteration - changing the ride height alters the alignment. A good shop will take time to calibrate the equipment, make sure tire pressures are spot on and then align the car. A corner balance needs someone of about the right weight sitting in the driver's seat too.

Best,

 

Here's what I learned... One Porsche shop said they would align and corner balance my car, but I had heard you cannot as there are no adjustable perches. Another (higher profile than the 1st) agreed that you cannot corner balance a base 997S with PASM because the suspension is not adjustable. The suggestion was that any shop that says they will align and corner balance a stock suspension 997 / 997S doesn't know the 997 (meaning stay away because they don't know the car).

 

The fact that they are offering to corner balance a non-adjustable suspension leads me to believe either they don't even know what corner balancing is or they're trying to take your money. Either way, I would find another shop to do your alignment.

 

That's what I suspected -- thanks for the advice, guys.

 

Totally agree.

It is beyond the money, it is about a shop that doesn't know what they are doing or they are not very honest.

Regards,

 

As other have said...you can not corner balance a stock 997/997S unless you have after market height adjustable shocks. Then again for street and occasional track use you nor most of the guys on here would not even feel the difference between a corner balanced car or not.

 

Well, I'd hope I'd notice, since I track the 997S almost more than I drive it on the street! Then again, at this point, I don't need an aftermarket suspension, and am happy to keep learning on my stock suspension and street tires. I wasn't initially looking for a corner balance -- I just called a reputable local shop to get a quote on an alignment, and was told $350, in part, because of corner balancing. And seeing as how I thought only those cars with "coilovers" could be corner balanced, I figured I'd confirm that with you fine gentlemen.

 

Yep, no problem but you have to be driving at 10/10ths and be very experianced to know what a good corner balance feels and does for the car. I am no where near this skill level and never will be because I only DE and autoX and never race. Just get a good track alingment for your 997S and work on those braking zones and apexes!

Just so you know....I got a street track alingment and the most camber you can get for the front is -1 so I went with that for the front and -1.5 for the rear. Toe was set to Porsche specs but I need to re-do my rear toe.

 

Got it -- I had Farnbacher Loles give me a "track alignment" at the beginning of the season, but they refused to give me a print out of my alignment specs. So even though I could tell that the car had a very different feeing on the track, I couldn't tell you what amount of negative camber I have. Hence the desire to find a new alignment shop, and hence the discussion with the guy telling me about corner balancing ...

 

I got the same story from FBL about the printout, but it wasn't for proprietary reasons. They said the printer was broken and they didn't need it so it wasn't fixed ??? I was told I'm about -1.8 front and -1.6 rear, but with no other information. I wanted the data to learn from and start to know one setting from another. I asked for track/street with the GT3 control arms they installed. The car handles much better, much crisper inputs, and tire wear looks good in both respects. Still some understeer, but much less.

 

I would NOT put up with not getting a read out. So they think they have some sort seceret info...all you need to do, but it would cost money is to take your Farn-Loles aligned car to another shop and get the read out...simple!

 

Completely agree. The idea of "secret" alignment specs is silly; I'd never patronize a shop that wouldn't give a printout or share information.

Half the fun of finding an alignment setup for your car is sharing it with other guys who have the same car, and then seeing what works best for your individual driving style. It's a team effort, especially considering that the vast majority of us aren't being paid to drive our cars around tracks.

 

That was my outrage as well. I was promised that the next morning the printer would be fixed and they'd send me my print-out. A week, a month, etc. later and no printout and a statement that it's not important, you are -1.8 ish front, -1.6 ish rear.