Go Back   986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners > Porsche Boxster & Cayman Forums > Boxster General Discussions

Post Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 10-09-2013, 02:53 PM   #1
I am my own mechanic....
 
Timco's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Salt Lake City, UT
Posts: 3,433
What does it mean when alignment guy says..

Can't bring in camber on rears (1.8* off) without messing up toe? What has worn out?

Rear tires are wearing bad on inside edges.

__________________
'04 Boxster S 50 Jahre 550 Spyder Anniversary Special Edition, 851 of 1953, 6-sp, IMS/RMS, GT Metallic silver, cocoa brown leather SOLD to member Broken Linkage.
'08 VW Touareg T-3 wife's car
'13 F150 Super Crew long bed 4x4 w/ Ego Boost
Timco is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-09-2013, 03:14 PM   #2
Registered User
 
Jager's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: California
Posts: 1,859
Garage
Probably Control Arms.
__________________
Jäger

300K Mile Club
Jager is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-09-2013, 04:04 PM   #3
Certified Boxster Addict
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 7,669
It is generally normal for the tires (front and rear) to wear more on the inside edges. This is due to the negative camber settings (top of the tire is tipped inward a little bit). Negative camber helps cornering performance. So there is a trade off between somewhat accelerated tire wear on the inside edges of the tires in return for better cornering performance.

The alignment can be set with less negative camber (to reduce inside edge tire wear) but the range of adjustment on the stock suspension is limited. At that limit, further adjustment of the camber will change the toe setting (which you don't want to happen).

With all of that being said, the tech is saying that he can't adjust the camber any further without impacting the adjustment of the toe.

This could be a result of worn control arms but at some point it is also simply a reality of the stock suspension geometry - we'd need to know what the camber and toe is now (at the best the tech could achieve) and what he was trying to acheive to be able to diagnose further.
__________________
1999 996 C2 - sold - bought back - sold for more
1997 Spec Boxster BSR #254
1979 911 SC
POC Licensed DE/TT Instructor
thstone is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-09-2013, 04:42 PM   #4
Registered User
 
LAP1DOUG's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: USA
Posts: 414
Quote:
Originally Posted by Timco View Post
Can't bring in camber on rears (1.8* off) without messing up toe? What has worn out?

Rear tires are wearing bad on inside edges.
The geometry of this suspension design is such that you cannot change camber without changing toe rather drastically, so there is sometimes a balancing act between desired camber and toe settings, that can also be influenced strongly by ride height. It is always a good idea to start with checking ride height per the shop manual before making any adjustments.

If you are saying that you have -1.8 degrees of rear camber, that is not a whole lot, and looks to be within the factory settings. Toe can make tires wear much faster than camber, so it could be that you had too much toe, rather than too much camber before your technician aligned your car.
__________________
Kippis

986S
991S
Van Diemen RF97
LAP1DOUG is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-09-2013, 07:33 PM   #5
Track rat
 
Topless's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Southern ID
Posts: 3,701
Garage
Quote:
Originally Posted by Timco View Post
Can't bring in camber on rears (1.8* off) without messing up toe? What has worn out?

Rear tires are wearing bad on inside edges.
Sounds like the rear suspension is bent. Maybe someone tagged a curb while exploring the limits of oversteer. Sometimes you can put it up in the air and see the problem right away, sometimes it requires careful measurement and process of elimination. Several possible components causing alignment problems.
__________________
2009 Cayman 2.9L PDK (with a few tweaks)
PCA-GPX Chief Driving Instructor-Ret.
Topless is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-22-2014, 01:34 PM   #6
Registered User
 
winter.k's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: PNW
Posts: 220
Hey Timco, Did you end up finding a solution... what was worn out? I have the same problem now.
I'm thinking about adjustable toe in control arms, but would rather find the root of the problem.

winter.k is offline   Reply With Quote
Post Reply


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On




All times are GMT -8. The time now is 07:19 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Content Relevant URLs by vBSEO 3.6.0
Copyright 2024 Pelican Parts, LLC - Posts may be archived for display on the Pelican Parts Website -    DMCA Registered Agent Contact Page