tomc66

What do you pay for a four wheel alignment on a 997.2? My Porsche dealer quoted $330 which seemed high to me. I called a local tire dealer and they said they cannot align a Porsche 911.

CAVU

My independent charged $360 and the dealer was going to be about the same. You best solution is either a highly recommended independent or the dealer, IMHO.

Wayne Smith

I had mine done just recently in the Bay Area (not a cheap place) for 135. This is a family owned tire store that also does a lot of high end auto work. So far, watching the tread and evaluating performance, the job looks good.

sjfehr

$300 sounds about right for a dealer alignment, but why would you do that? A local indie mechanic did a full race alignment on my 987S for $90. He charges specialty alignment work by the hour, it took about an hour, and I sat there talking things over with him the whole time and I got exactly what I wanted. He's retiring this month, though

utkinpol

It is about correct price for stock non adjustable shocks. If you have gt3 or custom adjustable height shocks like moton/jrz a good shop will do corner balancing too, it will get to $500 mark then but you do not need to repeat it often.

my first 911

$150 for the local dealer in Columbus, Ohio

BBA

My favorite tire store charges $79.99. There's nothing special about doing a standard alignment on a 911, any shop with a rack can do it. Some just may not want to mess with a Porsche.

tomc66

Two tire stores told me they can only align the front of a 911 as the rear requires special tools.

Tcc1999

Two words - Center Locks

Macster

Been awhile since I've had either of my cars aligned, but that $330 seems ballpark.

Local dealer labor rate is $150 (and maybe $160 now) per hour and the job can be a nearly 2 hour job. Either the tech road tests the car afterwards or has me do this and gets my OK before calling the job complete.

Sometimes when I get 4 new tires fitted the dealer will give me a good discount on an alignment if one is needed. The tech and I go by the condition of the old tires. If they are worn unevenly then an alignment is called for. It not then I skip the alignment, although I think once the dealer offered an alignment (with tires) for $100 and I went ahead with this. And sometimes I get flyers in the mail from various dealers around the bay area offering alignment specials. While I don't use these dealers I let my local dealer know about the discounts and use this to get a better price.

You can also ask if the SM can give you a special price. He has some leeway and maybe can cut you a better price. You stand a better chance of this happening though if you are a regular customer.

I have had terrible experiences with indy tire shops and alignments for even easier to align cars: my 06 GTO for instance. After I got it back the front tires wore out on their inner edges, which was totally out of character for this car. Thus I would never take either of my Porsches to an indy tire shop or even a name brand tire shop. (I've had trouble with these just with tire mounting.)

Now there are exceptions of course. I know of one alignment (and tire) shop in the bay area that is very good and I have in fact used it several times once even for my Boxster's alignment, but since this shop is not conveniently located to me now where I live I can't use it.

If you take the car in for an alignment be sure you prep the car properly. The guidelines are I think in the owners manual. From memory, at least for my cars, the car wants to be empty of junk. The spare tire (if there is one) and tool kit/etc wants to be installed/stored properly. And fill up the fuel tank.

Some techs offer to add ballast to the car on the driver's side when aligning. AFAIK, Porsche doesn't require this. I've had the cars aligned both with and without the ballast and I can't tell the difference. (If if it did make a difference then what about when carrying a passenger?) I prefer then to not have it used as it saves a bit of time.

997_Toronto

$80+Tax at Indy. He even asked if I wanted a track or street configuration and the car handles beautifully.

mdrums

2 I day's I. tampa charge $150-$200... Dealer has quoted $400... LOL no way most all dealers will take their time like a good Porsche indy can do.

golfnutintib

good indie porsche specialist bay area north bay charges me 220. i am a good customer but i don't think he is giving me a preferential rate on that

gasongasoff

About $100 from an awesome wheel shop in CA (bay area). I got a printout of the numbers before/after, and they made adjustments to suit my driving style. Car feels so much better now.

CosmosC4S

I had it done on a C4S once at a dealer, and it was over $300+. They got my steering wheel slightly off-centered after the alignment. After the 2nd attempt (3rd visit) to fix that, they still couldn't get it perfectly straight like it was before I took it in to them. I gave up and had to live with it.