$100 vs $300 Wheel Alignment - Worth It?

[WOKA]

 

It doesn't cost much more to have done up here so it usually gets done! ? About $400~ for a full alignment and corner weight usually. 

Wow..  DHM up here suggested a lot more than that..  I was thinking ~3 times that amount.  I best go double check that because it's something I'd like to get done.

 

 

[spiller]

A good wheel alignment makes  a huge difference! 

Surpised at the camber settings, but maybe I'm using to seeing them read 2.xx* & 3.xx* ? 

Yes in all cases if you have adjustment on each corner, the most noticeable attribute on the road is that it won't tramline if corner weighted right. 

It doesn't cost much more to have done up here so it usually gets done! ? About $400~ for a full alignment and corner weight usually. 

I just add it to my yearly spend as a given. One spin into the dirt at over 180 km/h due to wheel poor alignment was enough for me!

[911sies]

Any of the Sydney crowd recommend their favourite wheel alignment shop?. Just has some new Pilot Super Sports put on, and didn't want a tyre shop I didn't know touching the alignment. 

[Caver]

Any of the Sydney crowd recommend their favourite wheel alignment shop?. Just has some new Pilot Super Sports put on, and didn't want a tyre shop I didn't know touching the alignment. 

When I first got my car it used to "tramline" quite a bit, particularly where the asphalt surface had depressed wheel tracks from heavy vehicles.  When I installed new tyres I had Autohaus Hamilton take care of a full 4 wheel alignment.  It was in the vicinity of $300 at the time.  The "tramlining" disappeared completely and the behaviour of the car was amazing.  Turning into bends felt like what I was expecting from the car in the first place.  It "wanted" to turn.  I have since worn those tyres to their wear limiters and replaced them.  I checked the old tyres and they'd worn completely even across the entire tread width.

In my opinion, the cost of the alignment was worth it and it should stay set if you don't bang into any kerbs.  If you consider the cost of your new tyres, a proper alignment is a small price to pay and your car will behave predictably, economically and prolong the life of the tyres.

[edgy]

Any of the Sydney crowd recommend their favourite wheel alignment shop?. Just has some new Pilot Super Sports put on, and didn't want a tyre shop I didn't know touching the alignment. 

Talk to David at East Coast Suspensions.

He's the only guy I use. ? 

 

[911sies]

Talk to David at East Coast Suspensions.

He's the only guy I use. ? 

 

Thanks Edgy. I heard about those guys back in my Lotus days. Forgot all about them

[T-Man]

So far I haven't found an alignment shop in Melbourne that knows how to correctly set the "kinematic toe" on a 993.

When someone does, please tell me!!!!

[Timm]

I don't see why an alignment should cost several hundred dollars.

When I first got my 944, I took it to a local Porsche specialist and they charged me over 400 bucks for an alignment, and couldn't even do a proper job.

Nowadays I have my own toe adjustment tool that I take with me to the local tire shop (Bosman tires in Brisbane). They let me watch as they adjust everything to the specs I need...and for only 60 bucks.

[Jkay]

When I installed new tyres I had Autohaus Hamilton take care of a full 4 wheel alignment.  It was in the vicinity of $300 at the time.  The "tramlining" disappeared completely and the behaviour of the car was amazing.  Turning into bends felt like what I was expecting from the car in the first place.  It "wanted" to turn.  I have since worn those tyres to their wear limiters and replaced them.  I checked the old tyres and they'd worn completely even across the entire tread width.

That's the same place the print out at the beginning of this post is from, ie the "after" 

[FZP]

I had mine done over Xmas by a specialist chassis tuner. I needed to get the coffin arms replaced along with a inner TRE and as such, needed a wheel alignment as part of the process. All I can say is that if you want to unleash the performance of your car, this is definitely worth doing as your car will be transformed. I had some traits in the cars handling after Porsche did an alignment that made my car not much fun to drive. I left it in the garage for 3 months until this particular specialist was free to do the work. Long story short was front was in factory spec, rear wheels, one had toe in, the other toe out. Was a pig of a thing.

Went for test drive, I highlighted all the traits that were wrong with the car, and agreed on what I wanted back. On a scale of 1-10, 1 being a GT car, and 10 being a trackday car, I opted for a 6-7 out of 10. He then set about setting up the car to my requirements, and the car I got back was transformed. Its now a better GT car for the long highway cruise, and significantly better sports cars. I've lost nothing in terms of comfort and still have another 25% adjustment left should I wish to go more towards a TD setup. These settings are outside of Porsche's standard set up, but they have to cater for every customer in the factory setting.

This process took all day with him and it was worth every penny. For those who've had a proper Geo set up, there is nothing new here, for those who think its a waste of money, you don't know what car you have hidden underneath you. Unleash the beast

[GC9911]

I had mine done over Xmas by a specialist chassis tuner. I needed to get the coffin arms replaced along with a inner TRE and as such, needed a wheel alignment as part of the process. All I can say is that if you want to unleash the performance of your car, this is definitely worth doing as your car will be transformed. I had some traits in the cars handling after Porsche did an alignment that made my car not much fun to drive. I left it in the garage for 3 months until this particular specialist was free to do the work. Long story short was front was in factory spec, rear wheels, one had toe in, the other toe out. Was a pig of a thing.

Went for test drive, I highlighted all the traits that were wrong with the car, and agreed on what I wanted back. On a scale of 1-10, 1 being a GT car, and 10 being a trackday car, I opted for a 6-7 out of 10. He then set about setting up the car to my requirements, and the car I got back was transformed. Its now a better GT car for the long highway cruise, and significantly better sports cars. I've lost nothing in terms of comfort and still have another 25% adjustment left should I wish to go more towards a TD setup. These settings are outside of Porsche's standard set up, but they have to cater for every customer in the factory setting.

This process took all day with him and it was worth every penny. For those who've had a proper Geo set up, there is nothing new here, for those who think its a waste of money, you don't know what car you have hidden underneath you. Unleash the beast

Mind saying who it was for us in Sydney???? Thanks

[FZP]

Mind saying who it was for us in Sydney???? Thanks

Apologies as I should have mentioned that it was done by a specialist here in the UK where I'm currently based. They're called Centre Gravity near Birmingham if there are any other UK based members looking to do the same.

We got above 8C yesterday which is the cut off for summer tyre performance window and put some heat into them. Just stunning that it has given that much grip. I can't wait to get it on the track at Oulton Park when the weather improves.

Maybe some others can make a recommendation for the group set up where they've had a good experience?

[GC9911]

Apologies as I should have mentioned that it was done by a specialist here in the UK where I'm currently based. They're called Centre Gravity near Birmingham if there are any other UK based members looking to do the same.

We got above 8C yesterday which is the cut off for summer tyre performance window and put some heat into them. Just stunning that it has given that much grip. I can't wait to get it on the track at Oulton Park when the weather improves.

Maybe some others can make a recommendation for the group set up where they've had a good experience?

Thanks for the reply, I'll probably go with Edgy's guys at East Coast Suspension. It will be interesting to see what they think of a factory set up car with 2,000 kms on it.

[T-Man]

Apologies as I should have mentioned that it was done by a specialist here in the UK where I'm currently based. They're called Centre Gravity near Birmingham if there are any other UK based members looking to do the same.

We got above 8C yesterday which is the cut off for summer tyre performance window and put some heat into them. Just stunning that it has given that much grip. I can't wait to get it on the track at Oulton Park when the weather improves.

Maybe some others can make a recommendation for the group set up where they've had a good experience?

There are an enormous amount of threads about Chris at Centre Of Gravity.

He is undoubtedly the guru of suspension and understands the cars geo like no one else. Lots of posts about 993 set ups I have read over the years with all owners spruking the same about the way their car was transformed. 

Would be nice to have someone here to that standard.

[FZP]

Chris is great, and he's happy to talk you through the why and how of it all. He took some nasty traits out of my car that was put there by someone at my local Porsche Centre. 10/10 experience for sure.

Someone who may be of assistance locally is Tyler Mecklem over at PVS at Parramatta. He is ex V8SC driver and does a lot of set up work for race cars, also has his own dyno there as well for those into upping the power or looking for a better response from the engine.

Worth a try.

 

Regards

FZP

 

[SimonN]

There are an enormous amount of threads about Chris at Centre Of Gravity.

He is undoubtedly the guru of suspension and understands the cars geo like no one else. Lots of posts about 993 set ups I have read over the years with all owners spruking the same about the way their car was transformed. 

Would be nice to have someone here to that standard.

I knew Chris when he first started what was then a mobile service and yes, he is very good. He set up my RS and it was great. But to say it would be nice to have somebody here in Oz of that standard ignores the people we have here that are at least as good. For me, the way that PR technology set my car up was probably better than Chris did, although to be fair, that did include playing with tyre pressures at the track to give me the balance i wanted, which is something Chris never had the chance to do. And i don't think that PR are the only people in Oz who can match Chris. I think there are a few guys scattered across the country who are as good, if not better, than you will find anywhere in the world. We are actually very lucky and it came as a surprise/relief to find this when  came over here 10 years ago.

[Redracn]

Alignments in this price range are more to reduce wheel wear than help the handling.

Any good performance shop would start by adding weights to simulate drive/passenger and any normal loads and then setting ride height and corner balancing. Only then is it reasonable to set the geometry.

I have never had a good alignment from a consumer grade shop. In fact I have had some real rubbish ones.

[BlitzKonig]

Wow..  DHM up here suggested a lot more than that..  I was thinking ~3 times that amount.  I best go double check that because it's something I'd like to get done.

 

 

Had my car aligned and slightly raised (wider wheels didnt like the tucked fitment the Fuchs had). Went to DHM and cost me about $800.

Now just in the process of doing a height adjustment myself... Its a good lesson learnt...  but hell, I wont be doing it again in the future. 
I think the price difference will be if they have to touch the torsion bars or not... if they are corner balancing the car as part of the alignment, thatll also add to the time and cost.

[WOKA]

Had my car aligned and slightly raised (wider wheels didnt like the tucked fitment the Fuchs had). Went to DHM and cost me about $800.
Now just in the process of doing a height adjustment myself... Its a good lesson learnt...  but hell, I wont be doing it again in the future. 
I think the price difference will be if they have to touch the torsion bars or not... if they are corner balancing the car as part of the alignment, thatll also add to the time and cost.

I ended up getting the alignment done, it actually doesn't feel any better - worse if anything.  It tramlines a hell of a lot more than it used to.  Sure, the roads are shiity up here in QLD but I would of expected an improvement at least.  Maybe the result will be my tyres not scrubbing out sooner than they should.?  

Its funny, it was recommended to me to get the corner balancing done, the physics were explained, braking attributes and weight distribution etc - really worth while, I was almost sold.  When I went back to discuss it further it was then suggested, nah, not really needed unless you want to get around the track half a second faster..  

[BlitzKonig]

I ended up getting the alignment done, it actually doesn't feel any better - worse if anything.  It tramlines a hell of a lot more than it used to.  Sure, the roads are shiity up here in QLD but I would of expected an improvement at least.  Maybe the result will be my tyres not scrubbing out sooner than they should.?  

Its funny, it was recommended to me to get the corner balancing done, the physics were explained, braking attributes and weight distribution etc - really worth while, I was almost sold.  When I went back to discuss it further it was then suggested, nah, not really needed unless you want to get around the track half a second faster..  

Agreed. Mine did the same, I think it makes sense on the track, and I think he sets them up with that semi in mind, even if you dont intend on heading out (hes very good at pushing that point of view across haha)

Exactly all depends on what you have in mind for the car, why pay for something you dont need? Also how many people adjust their driving style to suit a characteristic of a car, instead of making the car right (well I guess thats all of us as we're driving RR machines  )