LehmanZ06

2010 GT3. I took it to a "race shop" here in South Florida that specializes in German cars. For an autocross alignment that would be good at national events. I didn't know who to trust. I had heard some good things about this shop.......so I figured what the hell.

I knew with all my past experiences, with my ASP C5 Z06 Corvette, that there would be a good chance that I wouldn't get what I was paying for. But the alignment tech at this shop was a long time autocrosser with an impressive resume, so I figured that I lucked out.

WRONG ! This shops alignment rack was off .5 degree one side, to say nothing of what happened to my rear toe. Took the car out at an airport site with some A6 Hoosiers----and it was a bit of a handful...(and while not being a national champion autocrosser....I have had my lucky moments).....so I think I know how to handle a car....(i don't do track stuff, so at that I am a fish out of water), but I have crisscrossed the country several times, doing the "cone thing".

Enter Rad to the rescue. He moved to my neck of the woods..South Florida last month. I knew him from online, and some national autocross events. He volunteered to help me, and help me he did. He spent at least 2-3 hours with me in his garage one night, preparing my car for the alignment guy the next day.

So the next day we are at the alignment shop for like 3 to 4 hours, and he is doing the alignment....guiding the tech, and using his (Rad's own) giant duffle bag of specialized tools. Working with my GT3, Rad was like a musician playing a symphony, happier than a pig in slop.

The car now is amazing ! Thanks Rad (NJ-GT).

mooty

rad is a mad garage scientist.
he always tells me to stuff more rubber in the car.
i was like.... this dude is nuts.
well, whenever i do what he tells me, i go faster hahahaha.
but i got so fast that he's scared of me so he moved from CA to FL, LOL.

of course now he tells me to buy a fiat.... ugh...

rad, you rock.

TAI2

Hey Rad. NJ misses you pal. Nice to hear this story pal.

DJN

Hi LehmanZ06,

So.....what were your final alignment specs?

Also, do you have any other related info that may be intestesting....details of the prep and work perhaps?

Thanks,
Doug N.

P.J.S.

rad is my 997 RS yoda and I feel guilty for not paying for his counsel

thanks again rad!

LehmanZ06

-3.5 front. -2.5 rear.

0 toe front. .21 or so toe in each side.

Struts rotated. shims added. Rear sway stock for the moment. Front bar one from full stiff, as I was told by Rad that the front bar was not meant to go full stiff as it doesn't work right in that position.

Only thing is I was looking under the car earlier tonight and left a big lantern flashlight under the car,when the front axel lift went down I forgot that I left the flashlight there and proceeded to make a slight crack in the black plastic that covers the middle of the bottom of the car....one day I wonder how much to replace one of those from Porsche. Put a little black duct tape over the very slight crack.........

I guess I broke the cars cherry....I used to use black duct tape on the bottom of my corvette.......and now with my GT3.....oh my !

MM3.9GT3

Rad is incredible. He does love those Fiats, especially the lightweight ones with 503 HP @ 8500 rpm.

LehmanZ06

Oh yeah, he had the press for the studs and everything pretty much ready to go.
He knew everything inside and out. Never saw anyone that knew so much and could do it so easily and quickly.

Just got nervous when his wife handed him a beer, with like still 1 hour left to go in his garage. Must take a massive amount of alcohol to effect him, and sometimes I believe he dosen't need to even sleep.

LehmanZ06

I know for sure that a dealer probably could not have done what Rad did, because they don't go to the depths that he would, or know exactly what to do to achieve his goal of incredible handling performance. I am sure the dealers are decent to return the car to stock, but a "performance alignment"............? I have seen a lot of alignment specs on this site, and I know most of the -2. something folks track their cars, and need maybe a more understeering car for the track. I will do little short street drives 10-15 miles one way and 10-15 miles back......my stock MSPC's were wearing kinda evenly, but I did autox it like 3 times on the stock tires and the stock alignment bottled up the car a bit, and even more so when I ran A6's.

Anyway........I needed more front grip for autox and I won't see 100mph +.....so a neutral car was fine. Really felt amazing on the steet. Still tracked straight, with a greater willingness to turn. With the added camber turning the car, in a weird way didn't feel like turning the car (street tires on a public road, so nowhere near the limit)......but car felt like it liked to turn, just as much if not more than going straight.

Rad put in a lot of time with me and his specialized knowledge. Not sure what the Porsche dealers labor rates are......but I can't see what Rad did taking anything less than like 4 to 6 hours. The first alignment at that race shop wasn't nearly as involved as what Rad did......the shop didn't let me back there.

Note: Rad went with me to a Tire Kingdom shop where the alignment tech was good and the guys were nice. Also they had a brand new sophisticated alignment machine that Rad was familiar with and had his Ferrari checked there earlier, and the specs matched those in LA, and the guys were good, so he figured he could trust them.

Only thing is my torque wrench, tooltopia, woundn't click when putting my front wheels back on....put at least 300 ft/lbs prob more like 400+ and no click sound......as I had changed the wheels a couple of times when the torque wrench was working........I know I put the fronts back on good, but I won't take the car to an outing without double checking and getting a new torque wrench from Snapon.....anyone want to buy my Tooltopia one after I send it back to get ifxed ?

Hopefully I am not stepping out of turn, and giving any of Rad's secrets away. Rad if you see this, and I am doing something I shouldn't, then I will delete anything you want.

But I just thought I would share, and experience a lot of you guys might be interested in. And sharing any knowledge that might help any of you out.

A lot of people talk the talk on the internet. You don't know who to trust. I put my trust in Rad----so far not too bad. (sorry for the bad rhyme)

mobonic

rad's a great guy and a great resource.

mooty

he had several sierra nevada when we had dinner.
doesn't even change color.
good man!

mooty

snap on tq wrench, iirc, is same as tooltopia, just handle is different. there was a post on RL back when on this topic. all my other tools are snap on, which i barely know how to use.

rad has been very open sharing spec with me.

smf32s

I wonder if I can talk Rad into looking at mine sometime this winter when i have the car down there. Hope to see you guys at some point in FLA and maybe here in DC next summer.

Stu

NJ-GT

Thanks David for trusting me working on your car, I wanted to get you involved in everything done and explain why it is being done.

As much I love driving these cars, I think I love working on them so much more.

Stu, when you're in town we will work on yours.

Some info:

- The 997.1 and 997.2 front strut mounts (camber plates) keep the caster when rotated, but gain 0.8 degrees of negative camber. The 996 GT3 camber plates lose about 0.5 degrees of caster when rotated.

- The 997.1 and 997.2 GT3 can use more camber shims than the 996 GT3.

- If you need camber shims, call Ira at Tarett, cheap cheap. The Porsche price for those shims is just out of control (some shims are over $100 a piece, and you need pairs).

- The rear brake ducts in the 2010 GT3 are so easy to install, I like them a lot.

- I'm not a supporter of the CL wheels, I change my wheels way quicker and with less physical effort.

- Porsche changed the rear wheel carriers in the 2010 GT3 (and RS likely), it is tough to torque them to 74 lbs, I used a 4 ft long bar to tighten them.

- The 2010 GT3 is beautiful, I think I like it more than the 2010 GT3 RS. Best looking GT3 spoiler by a lot. David's car is Speed Yellow, it looked so beautiful on my driveway that my Fiat looked dull in comparison.

- Sierra Nevada is among the best. By the way, one of the two founders Paul Camusi, is a long time Porsche Club racer, races GT3 Cups, and owns a few other 911s.

smf32s

Rad, I accept your offer and the Sierra Nevada's will be included on me. I hope David will come and have a beer too.

Thanks for the kind offer!

Stu