Wheel Alignment, Is this excessive camber? |
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Wheel Alignment, Is this excessive camber? |
fiacra |
Jul 5 2024, 08:23 AM
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#1
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Person.Woman.Man.Camera.TV Group: Members Posts: 407 Joined: 1-March 19 From: East Bay Region - California Member No.: 22,920 Region Association: Northern California |
1975 1.8 fully stock California car. I just put in turbo tie rods as well as a new trailing arm bushing, so alignment was needed. Not easy to find shops that do alignment on these cars, but a local member recommended a racing shop about 30 miles away and I took it there. They asked if I wanted it aligned for "street driving" and I confirmed that was the case. Let me emphasize that this is a stock California car in well maintained condition (a previous owner had it for 44 years and really took care of it) and I'm a really mild street driver. It is rare I'll use every one of the 76hp this can put out (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) . Street driving only, no AX, no racing. It drove fine getting to the shop, no pulling, no vibration, etc. They told me it drove "much better" after alignment, and that the alignment was way off, especially in the rear. I couldn't tell any difference in how it drove pre and post alignment, but remember I drive for fun and I'm not by any means an aggressive driver. I brought a bunch of 914Rubber sourced shims with me, but they needed none of them and in fact returned to me a bunch of shims that were already on the car. I didn't notice it at the time I got the car back, but the next day I could see the rear wheel stance was significantly different, with (in my opinion) a lot of camber. Prior to the alignment it had maybe 1-2 degrees of camber. Again, I can't tell any difference in how the car drives, but maybe I could if I really pushed it? My question is, is this correct? I've really not seen this amount of camber on other members cars. Also, I kind of hate the rear tires leaning inward look. Not sure if I should take it back and ask for this to be "corrected." Other options are to live with it, or take it to another shop. Any thoughts? Is this amount of camber correct?
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JeffBowlsby |
Jul 6 2024, 09:00 PM
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#2
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914 Wiring Harnesses Group: Members Posts: 8,657 Joined: 7-January 03 From: San Ramon CA Member No.: 104 Region Association: None |
Roger Kraus Racing is/was the go to local shop for P-car alignments. I took a couple of cars there for 4-wheel alignments in the past, their work was excellent. I think I heard the biz changed ownership a few years ago and who knows the caliber of the techs now.
Maybe consider taking the alignment specs to them and see if they will honorably redo their work to comply. I am sure they charge a premium. |
fiacra |
Jul 6 2024, 09:34 PM
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#3
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Person.Woman.Man.Camera.TV Group: Members Posts: 407 Joined: 1-March 19 From: East Bay Region - California Member No.: 22,920 Region Association: Northern California |
Roger Kraus Racing is/was the go to local shop for P-car alignments. I took a couple of cars there for 4-wheel alignments in the past, their work was excellent. I think I heard the biz changed ownership a few years ago and who knows the caliber of the techs now. Maybe consider taking the alignment specs to them and see if they will honorably redo their work to comply. I am sure they charge a premium. Thanks Jeff. I value your opinion regarding the shop. Still the same owners. Roger was there, and his son Brandon was who I dealt with and who did the work. I will give them a call on Monday and see about going back with the car. Brandon did explain that he could not get the front end into spec. He had the left strut moved as far as he could. He suggested I could investigate getting a slotted plate (?) for the strut to allow more movement and then come back. He wasn't sure such a thing existed. He thought maybe the front end had been hit, but I have nothing in my records and I see nothing on the car to indicate accident damage. I know there was a lot of variability in how these cars left the factory, so that may be it. After a discussion with more technical jargon than I could follow the bottom line was he felt it was fine if I wanted to leave it as is, but I should watch for tire wear or any change in handling. I do feel the car drives fine. It doesn't pull, it tracks nicely, etc. I printed out the specs from the Porsche Workshop manual. I assume these are what I should bring with me. We all know how much shops love it when you show up and explain to them how to do their work...... |
bkrantz |
Jul 7 2024, 08:58 PM
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#4
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914 Guru Group: Members Posts: 8,055 Joined: 3-August 19 From: SW Colorado Member No.: 23,343 Region Association: Rocky Mountains |
Roger Kraus Racing is/was the go to local shop for P-car alignments. I took a couple of cars there for 4-wheel alignments in the past, their work was excellent. I think I heard the biz changed ownership a few years ago and who knows the caliber of the techs now. Maybe consider taking the alignment specs to them and see if they will honorably redo their work to comply. I am sure they charge a premium. Thanks Jeff. I value your opinion regarding the shop. Still the same owners. Roger was there, and his son Brandon was who I dealt with and who did the work. I will give them a call on Monday and see about going back with the car. Brandon did explain that he could not get the front end into spec. He had the left strut moved as far as he could. He suggested I could investigate getting a slotted plate (?) for the strut to allow more movement and then come back. He wasn't sure such a thing existed. He thought maybe the front end had been hit, but I have nothing in my records and I see nothing on the car to indicate accident damage. I know there was a lot of variability in how these cars left the factory, so that may be it. After a discussion with more technical jargon than I could follow the bottom line was he felt it was fine if I wanted to leave it as is, but I should watch for tire wear or any change in handling. I do feel the car drives fine. It doesn't pull, it tracks nicely, etc. I printed out the specs from the Porsche Workshop manual. I assume these are what I should bring with me. We all know how much shops love it when you show up and explain to them how to do their work...... I will say one more time that ride height is critical for attaining camber specs. Cars that are too low (or too high) run out of adjustment before getting into spec. |
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