Wheel alignment V geometry set up
Discussion
Firstly whats the difference between the tracking/wheel alignment I would get from almost any high street garage or indy and the geometry set up that the local Porsche specialist is recommending on his fancy £20k machine. Is it any different and is it any better given the the car is going to be driven on the road by a driver of normal ability? Also £180 seams a bit steep, is this a fair price?
"Alignment" typically only means toe angles (also called tracking). "Full geometry" will also adjust static camber and caster at very minimum.
I'd certainly say it's worth getting everything checked. Whether it's worth adjusting them will depend on how far out they are and/or whether you want non-standard settings.
ETA: £180 is pretty steep these days, but I guess no more so than you'd expect of a Porsche main dealer.
I'd certainly say it's worth getting everything checked. Whether it's worth adjusting them will depend on how far out they are and/or whether you want non-standard settings.
ETA: £180 is pretty steep these days, but I guess no more so than you'd expect of a Porsche main dealer.
Edited by kambites on Thursday 25th September 15:23
e21Mark said:
Depends where you go I guess, but I paid £80 to have my M3 geo' done recently. It took about 40 minutes. I'd shop about a bit if I were you.
Reasonable. Prices vary wildly from so cheap you aren't sure if you'll die after to so expensive you think it's being done by the Williams team.Most tyre shops will do a toe/thrust setup but not touch camber/caster. Given the massive influence that these have on handling I firmly view that on a performance car the full setup process is worth the extra cost. You can transform some cars with some subtle front/rear tweaks when the guy doing it knows his stuff.
kambites said:
TooMany2cvs said:
Alignment and geometry are the same difference. Almost any tyre place will have full castor/camber/toe four-wheel kit these days.
They may have the equipment to measure them, they probably wont have the tools and expertise required to adjust them. four wheel toe is easy, it's just the same on the front as it is on the back.
Castor is a bit different but highly unlikely to be changed or even adjustable.
selym said:
e21Mark said:
Depends where you go I guess, but I paid £80 to have my M3 geo' done recently. It took about 40 minutes. I'd shop about a bit if I were you.
Reasonable. Prices vary wildly from so cheap you aren't sure if you'll die after to so expensive you think it's being done by the Williams team.OP - whereabouts are you?
shalmaneser said:
It's not very hard to adjust camber if you have adjustable mounts - not that the vast majority of porsches have that level of adjustablity.
four wheel toe is easy, it's just the same on the front as it is on the back.
Castor is a bit different but highly unlikely to be changed or even adjustable.
They're all adjustable on my car. I don't know about Porsches, though; I certainly doubt rear camber is adjustable since it's a strut based system? four wheel toe is easy, it's just the same on the front as it is on the back.
Castor is a bit different but highly unlikely to be changed or even adjustable.
Edited by kambites on Thursday 25th September 15:42
kambites said:
shalmaneser said:
It's not very hard to adjust camber if you have adjustable mounts - not that the vast majority of porsches have that level of adjustablity.
four wheel toe is easy, it's just the same on the front as it is on the back.
Castor is a bit different but highly unlikely to be changed or even adjustable.
They're all adjustable on my car. four wheel toe is easy, it's just the same on the front as it is on the back.
Castor is a bit different but highly unlikely to be changed or even adjustable.
kambites said:
TooMany2cvs said:
Alignment and geometry are the same difference. Almost any tyre place will have full castor/camber/toe four-wheel kit these days.
They may have the equipment to measure them, they probably wont have the tools and expertise required to adjust them. 
TooMany2cvs said:
kambites said:
TooMany2cvs said:
Alignment and geometry are the same difference. Almost any tyre place will have full castor/camber/toe four-wheel kit these days.
They may have the equipment to measure them, they probably wont have the tools and expertise required to adjust them. kambites said:
shalmaneser said:
It's not very hard to adjust camber if you have adjustable mounts - not that the vast majority of porsches have that level of adjustablity.
four wheel toe is easy, it's just the same on the front as it is on the back.
Castor is a bit different but highly unlikely to be changed or even adjustable.
They're all adjustable on my car. I don't know about Porsches, though; I certainly doubt rear camber is adjustable since it's a strut based system? four wheel toe is easy, it's just the same on the front as it is on the back.
Castor is a bit different but highly unlikely to be changed or even adjustable.
Edited by kambites on Thursday 25th September 15:42
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