987.2 suspension alignment

[911hillclimber]

Following my Brake change yesterday, I'm sorting out the front tyres (Bridgestone N spec, 235 x 35 x 19 Y) and once on will have the car 's geometry checked.
I'm expecting to take it to MCE close to Banbury.
I prefere a bog standard factory spec geo all round, but thought I would ask if anyone has deviated from the factory spec and gained from it.

The car is a cruiser, long Euro tours and the like, no track days etc, just want it as nice to drive normally (ie wife on board).
I feel the steering is quite heavy, but will ask MCE to drive it first as Boxsters pass through their door frequently.

Thanks, Graham.

 

[mr pg]

I'd consider taking it to Center Gravity too, you'll get a great service and the car adjusted to how you want it for your driving. My 981CS (also used for long euro tours) is set up with the front camber a bit outside the Porsche limits. Not enough to seriously impair the tyre wear (yours has worn noticeably on the inside) but made a difference to how it turns in. If you want to stay within the limits then rather just aiming for the 'middle' there's nothing to stop you requesting to get them to your liking.

 

[Motorhead]

Graham,

I too can vouch for Center Gravity's very comprehensive services, but they're very expensive - around £380 for a full appraisal and geometry set-up which takes about half a day. As Paul says, they can advise on the best set-up for you but I would guess that the factory set-up would be fine for your cruising/touring use.

MCE's 4-wheel laser alignment facility looks pretty crude in comparison with CG's, but I'm sure they're up to the job and probably will be much cheaper too.

Jeff

 

[Brian_Innes]

Graham,

Your photo well illustrates the results of adverse tyre wear from incorrect wheel alignment geometry.

In my experience of 5 Caymans from the 987.1 to the 718, I have always set the geometry to my personal preferences, which are outside of Porsches recommended settings on the front axle. I have never had any problems whatsoever with these settings.

I max the slot adjustment on the front top mounts to give as much negative camber as you can get, usually just over -1 degree of negative camber on a standard suspension set-up. Front toe is set to zero total toe. That is, parallel, with no toe-in. Rear negative camber is usually anything from -1.50 - -2.00 degrees. With total total toe-in at the rear axle between 0.12 - 0.18 degrees.

I have never experienced any adverse tyre wear with these settings in over 100,000 miles of touring and track day use. Maxing the front negative camber and zeroing the front toe also greatly reduces the crabbing effect when moving off on full lock.

My local independent tyre specialist sees to all my geometry adjustments on the Hunter 4 - Wheel Laser rig. The same rig that Porsche OPC's use.

Brian

 

[911hillclimber]

Thank you all.
mcp are busy until late March, so might ask Zuffenhaus for a quote.
cant justify the high cost of centre gravity, so looking for a middle ground but not a High Street tyre shop.

 

[Wollemi]

I followed Brian’s advice and got my OPC to set the geometry to maximum negative camber and what a difference it made, particularly to turn in sharpness and responsiveness. No adverse effects so far.

 

[911hillclimber]

Zuffenhaus will do the alignment/check, and I hope for new tyres late this week coming.
I want a geo that will give good wear rate with the same stability but I hope lighter steering feel too.
It will be interesting to see what they do.
will report back.
the handling is great now, and there is no receipt for any geo work in the file from new.

 

[Motorhead]

Graham,

From the state of the tyre in your pic it looks as though either there's too much toe-out or maybe excessive negative camber. What's the other tyre like?

Whatever, it seems that your car would benefit from a geometry check and set-up. Zuffenhaus will be able to advise according to your requirements. As Graham mentions, adding negative camber will make the car feel more "pointy", which may not be to your liking. Here's a link giving some useful information from CG on set-up:

https://www.porscheclubgb.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=754900

Jeff

 

[911hillclimber]

Thank you both as ever.
goodto get facts on this.
The other tyre is exactly the same wear.
The car feels great to drive, not darts or anything, scoots down motorways hands-free even feeling left and right, normal judder at very slow speeds reversing etc.
I think it is simply tracking. Like most I have met, battled, and sometimes lost the game with pot holes, some felt hard.
my daughter used to drive MX5s and now AUDI TTs any when she drove this Boxster the first thing she said was how heavy the steering is.
the car is on 19 s with 235 x 35 Bridgestones, non N rated, which will be replaced with the same but N rated, (Rears are fatter Bridgestones, N rated).

 

[911hillclimber]

Just to close this thread off!

Just back from Zuffenhaus with the 987.2 for a geo and MoT.
MoT was good, passed with no probs.
Better still, the Boxster is now pointing where it should.
Quite a dynamic change to say the least.
Nearly every box on the read-out was RED....
It is anow all GREEN and a touch tighter and to factory spec.
Drives so much 'nicer' now in all ways, direct, changes direction sharper and feels much less 'leadened'. Steering lighter and arrow straight, the steering wheel is good and true also!

A very real result and not expensive.
Cherry on the cake was a check of my coolant tubes while up on the ramp by eagled-eyed Mike. Rear pipes perfectly dry, Mike thought one of the front (exposed) joints may have a very small dampness, nothing obvious, and recommended I change the 2 coolant caps as suggested by a few on here recently, and see if that sorts it. Off to buy the real parts from OPC.

A good day, all done while I waited, 10/10 (again) for Zuffenhaus. []

 

[Rhys57]

I've had full replacement dampers and eibach sports strings plus a full geo at centre gravity, I went for the boxster spyder set up.. But since then I've had my front coolant crossover pipes replaced so I may need to get it adjusted again.

 

[911hillclimber]

Maybe so if the front subframe was partly dropped for access to the 2 cross tubes.
I've read that some found the geo was fine after subframe was screwed back up tight.

 

[Rhys57]

Maybe so if the front subframe was partly dropped for access to the 2 cross tubes.
I've read that some found the geo was fine after subframe was screwed back up tight.

That's interesting maybe mines OK

 

[Motorhead]

A good result all round then Graham. Given the state of your front tyre I'm not surprised that Zuffenhaus found that the geometry was way out and that the car now drives as it should.

All good to go now for the spring and summer..!

On the subject of coolant cross-tube replacement, I seem to recall that dropping the front subframe makes the job much easier, and given the tiny incremental dimensions and angles involved I'd be very surprised if it didn't affect the geometry set-up.

Jeff