Why is it that every time I get a wheel alignment (on my 996, 997.2 and BMW 650i), I get my car back with the steering wheel off center? Anyone have any ideas? Tech told me this morning that Porsches specs for alignment are "off nationwide!?"

 

Are you getting it done at dealership or indy shop?

 

Dealer.

 

Just got alignment at the dealer...steering wheel feels centered

 

Mine is no joke or exaggeration one inch off to the left

 

Reads like an improper alignment. Steering wheel center -- there's even a special tool (level) IIRC to help the tech center the wheel -- is part of a proper alignment.

However, you have to be careful. The car has wide tires and depending upon the road surface the car can require some steering correction to counter a pull and this can make the car's wheel look uncentered.

Also, if you are using the dash to gage the wheel's centering, note the dash may not be level. My Boxster's dash has a slight downward tilt or bias which every once in a while has me thinking the wheel is no longer centered when it is in fact centered.

 

Proper wheel alignment, centered steering wheel. Dealer shi..ing you. P car needs 4 wheel alignment no other way to go about it.

 

Thanks to those who've answered so far. Car seems to track straight, but steering is off which means something is off. I recognize that on certain surfaces there may be some pull, but that's certainly not the issue here. Steering is clearly off to the left. I'm supposed to take it back Monday, but I'm aggravated it wasn't done properly the first time.

 

Just make sure you tell them to center the wheel. There is a tool that keeps it centered while the alignment is carried out. When issues like yours come up, it can be traced to laziness from the tech. Some of them just go through the motions. Get in the habit of rechecking before taking delivery of your car no matter what it's in for, i.e check that all fluid caps are on securely, all screws (those you can see) are properly fastened, no tools left in the engine bay, the wheel bolts "key" back where it belongs, if an oil change check the level for overfilling, etc... It pays to be pro-active no matter who works on your car. Verify everything, as after all you are paying good money for the service and are entitled to perfect results.

 

Wheel alignment is the most overrated maintenance activity you can have done. I quit having alignments done (street car) many years ago unless there is a wear problem. Currently have 40,000+ miles on my 997.2 C2S Cab and I wouldn't think of letting some jerk do an alignment.

As to centering the steering wheel, I have read that centering is necessary if all of the stability control stuff is going to work properly, and it is done with the Porsche tester.

 

It is hard to make a blanket statement regarding alignment.

Once the alignment is confirmed correct and a test drive finds no reason to doubt the alignment then one can expect to go thousands of miles, and 40K (or more) is certainly within reason, before having to have another alignment done.

But there are other factors at work. If one is constantly nudging a parking lot curb when parking, or misjudging a turn into or out of a driveway and running one or both tires/wheels on one side of the car up or down a curb, these actions can have the alignment out.

Encounters with potholes or road debris can also knock the alignment out of spec, although not always. I've managed to hit a few potholes with my Boxster that had me fearing a wheel ruined or a tire damaged yet neither occurred and no upset to the alignment occurred either. But still I avoid hitting any potholes and road debris whenever I can.

Generally when I take one of my cars in for new tires, either rear tires or both front and rear tires unless I and the tech believe based on tire wear (or other symptoms/signs: more on this later) the car receives no alignment.

Now once in a while the dealer will be running a special and I can get an alignment for $100 with the new tires (and the tires are priced competitively) or in one case at a manager's special price of around $150 (it was at a distant to me Porsche dealer and the service manger I think suspected I was a Porsche secret shopper and I think gave me some concocted discount price…) then I will have the alignment done. In every case the alignment was out enough to have the tech make adjustments.

Now I have had the alignment done in special cases. One was after I misjudged a turn in a parking lot and scrubbed the sidewall of a rear tire against a curb. Based on my experience I felt this knocked the alignment out a bit and sure enough during the alignment -- after installing new tires some time after the curb encounter -- the toe in on that side and the toe in total for the rear tires/wheels was out of spec.

In another case I pulled my Turbo in too far into a hotel parking lot and just gently ran the front tires up against a low curb/sidewalk.

The next day and for some few days after the car was fine, with no steering issues but after about a thousand miles or so the car was howling so bad I drove over 140 miles out of my way to a dealer and had the car checked for a bad wheel bearing. The tech reported the noise was coming from the front tires and directed me to feel the tread surfaces of the front tires. Sure enough I felt the roughness of scrubbing and the signs of featuring due to tire misalignment. I wanted to get the car aligned then but the tech told me the car was ok to drive another 1500 miles and I could have this done at my local dealer. The tech's dealer was booked up and I couldn't hang around for another day or two. So I drove home though at a slower speed to avoid the howl that became quite objectionable at higher (>75mph) speeds.

Back home I as soon as I could I booked the car in and had it aligned and even though the car felt about the same after the alignment after driving the car a few hundred miles the howl went away as the tires wore away the abnormal wear patterns the misalignment caused.

So generally if one is reasonably careful an alignment can be good for the life to the tires and beyond. 40K miles is certainly doable, even dare I say 80K miles. I've gone that far between alignments.

But if one is not careful, or has a bit of bad luck (pothole/road debris encounter), then another alignment can be required if one wants to maximize tire life even if there are no more obvious signs of a bad alignment.

 

Macster, exactly why I said "unless there is a wear problem." Agree with everything you said. However, I've come to be very suspicious of the calibration of the alignment racks used in dealers and independents. Many times techs make unneeded adjustments because their equipment is out of calibration.

 

This is so true... I had my wife's suburban serviced by the dealership for a major repair. On the way home with my youngest son in the SUV, I noticed an unusual sound I have not heard before. I drove the SUV still thinking the sound might go away and partly because I'm so neurotic/paranoid. Lo and behold parts started falling from the bottom of the truck. I pulled over to the nearest gas station and l collected parts on the ground.

Called the dealership and the service manager met me, I gave him the f'ing parts that came off. They had to tow the truck back for repair. NO EXPLANATION FROM DEALERSHIP!!!!

I knew what happened, the mechanic was not diligent to inspect his work. I was just thankful nothing happened.

 

Thanks again for all the responses.