Alignment and balancing

[j.fro]

Road Force is the proper name for a balancing machine made by Hunter. When you are calling around to tire shops, ask if they have this particular piece of equipment (the Hunter Road Force balancer). It will cost a bit extra, but it is worth every penny. I think I paid around $100 to balance all 4 wheels, and re-balances are free for the life of the tire.
For an alignment, the shops with the laser/computer alignments do a reasonable job, but there is a significant error margin that those machines allow. As well, if the tech has not worked on a 986/996/987/997, they most likely won't know that front camber can be adjusted at the top strut mounts. If you want an alignment that is dead-on, find a tuning shop that will use Smart Strings or some other string system. Again, you'll pay more, but it is worth it.

[BYprodriver]

I wonder how it was possible for our cars to ride so smoothly when they were new yet the Road Force balancer had not been invented yet?

[l3m]

Originally Posted by j.fro

Road Force is the proper name for a balancing machine made by Hunter. When you are calling around to tire shops, ask if they have this particular piece of equipment (the Hunter Road Force balancer). It will cost a bit extra, but it is worth every penny. I think I paid around $100 to balance all 4 wheels, and re-balances are free for the life of the tire.
For an alignment, the shops with the laser/computer alignments do a reasonable job, but there is a significant error margin that those machines allow. As well, if the tech has not worked on a 986/996/987/997, they most likely won't know that front camber can be adjusted at the top strut mounts. If you want an alignment that is dead-on, find a tuning shop that will use Smart Strings or some other string system. Again, you'll pay more, but it is worth it.

Hunter GSP9700 Wheel vibration Control System solves wheel vibration and tire pull problems that balancers and aligners can't fix

Some Discount Tire shops have the Hunter GSP9700.