Lowering, alignment, corner balancing, etc

[Norby]

Hi guys,

considering an alignment on my new 04 C4S to make sure it's in spec.

Local shop (Porsche expert mechanics) want 275. Is that reasonable?

Can the C4S be lowered with factory adjustments?

Is it worth "corner weighting"?

Same shop wants 1100 to do the works.

Advice?

Thanks,

John

Reno,Nv

Guards red on natural brown

[CJ_Boxster]

Short answer is No

Long answer is No because when the rear suspension is lowered, your Toe Arm will lack the range to give you respectible Toe in.... So you will end up with WAY too much toe in and when you hit bumps the rear end will feel squirly and wiggle till both wheels are firmly planted again.

You can cure this buy getting aftermarket adjustible toe arms. The you should be good to go other than being slightly out of spec with your camber but you'll need the camber since your suspension will have less travel due to lowering it.

Edited March 5, 2008 by CJ_Boxster

[Norby]

"Long answer is No because when the rear suspension is lowered, your Toe Arm will lack the range to give you respectible Toe in.... So you will end up with WAY too much toe in and when you hit bumps the rear end will feel squirly and wiggle till both wheels are firmly planted again."

Hmm. Don't european spec cars come a bit lower than US spec? I'm only talking about lowering it about an inch, then realigning. I'd prefer not to mess with the suspension other than stock.

I may go more crazy later with PSS9 kit, etc, but just want a small improvement for now.

JP

[CJ_Boxster]

Well I lowered my US Boxster 1 inch with an Eibach kit and the toe was way too +. As the rear lowers, the upper control arm is more level than in stock height, which pushes lower control arm and hub Back... Which in turn increases the amount of positive toe-in. You'll need slightly shorter toe arms and you can alone fix this with Aftermarket adjustible toe arms... Its not a crazy out of control Mod, even a normal mechanic can install these and adjust them correctly... They sorta adjust in the same fashion as the toe links in the front of the car.

This is what you'll need:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/996-997-986...sspagenameZWD1V

[vette67]

Since its almost time for new tires, I am going to go with much lower profile tires and see how much I can lower the car that way!

[CJ_Boxster]

By doing that, the lower profile tires will make your speed-o and your actual speed differ from eachother, And decreasing the profile will leave a nasty ugly large gap between the fender and the tires. Just go ahead and lower it and you can try and deal with the excessive toe-in till you decide you want to correct it.

[Norby]

Well I lowered my US Boxster 1 inch with an Eibach kit and the toe was way too +.

How do you know the 996 C4S will have the same issue? The rear ends of these cars are very different.

[Loren]

"Long answer is No because when the rear suspension is lowered, your Toe Arm will lack the range to give you respectible Toe in.... So you will end up with WAY too much toe in and when you hit bumps the rear end will feel squirly and wiggle till both wheels are firmly planted again."

Hmm. Don't european spec cars come a bit lower than US spec? I'm only talking about lowering it about an inch, then realigning. I'd prefer not to mess with the suspension other than stock.

I may go more crazy later with PSS9 kit, etc, but just want a small improvement for now.

JP

The RoW come 10 mm lower - you can also get the "sport" suspension which will lower the car 20 mm.

Your third option would be coilovers (i.e. PSS9s). Only with the coilover could you corner balance.

What exactly are they quoting you for $1100?

[vick57]

Hi guys,

considering an alignment on my new 04 C4S to make sure it's in spec.

Local shop (Porsche expert mechanics) want 275. Is that reasonable?

the shop i use here in austin charges $130 for a performance alignment.

Can the C4S be lowered with factory adjustments?

the factory suspension is not height adjustable. i may be misunderstanding what you want to do.

Is it worth "corner weighting"?

you cannot corner balance a car that is not height adjustable. anyway, corner balancing is $150 in addition to alignment charges at the shop i use.

Same shop wants 1100 to do the works.

Advice?

Thanks,

John

Reno,Nv

Guards red on natural brown

i cannot imagine what they are charging $1100 for unless that includes new suspension parts. again maybe i'm misunderstanding, but i thought you said you wanted your car to remain stock.

[RCasto]

Anyone experienced problems with Litronics not leveling after lowering the car? Installed JICs last month on my 02 C2 and the headlights are way to low. Everything looks connected on the control arm leveler but no movement upon starting the car.

[Loren]

Anyone experienced problems with Litronics not leveling after lowering the car? Installed JICs last month on my 02 C2 and the headlights are way to low. Everything looks connected on the control arm leveler but no movement upon starting the car.

The Litronics will not autolevel unless they were factory installed. The aftermarket kit Porsche sells says so in the instructions.

Only factory installed Litronic have the leveling sensors on the axles.