Seller lied, got screwed on Boxster. Keep or sell?

[boxxster]

The lowering springs alone should not be making the car dangerous to drive. Plenty of people put springs on these cars with no problems. The reason they can't align it is because the factory control arms don't have the adjustment in them necessary to dial out the additional negative camber. Negative camber shouldn't be dangerous on its own. Something else might be going on. You also have a third option which is buying adjustable control arms front and rear.

[bwdz]

Something is fishy. Lowering springs will not cause the car to be all over the road. Only alignment setting that would be affected would be the negative camber, having it out of spec and be little more negative will actually increase cornering grip.

[HereIam]

Originally Posted by boxxster

The lowering springs alone should not be making the car dangerous to drive. Plenty of people put springs on these cars with no problems. The reason they can't align it is because the factory control arms don't have the adjustment in them necessary to dial out the additional negative camber. Negative camber shouldn't be dangerous on its own. Something else might be going on. You also have a third option which is buying adjustable control arms front and rear.

According to the alignment specialist I took it to, the wheels are going every which way, not just toed in. He speculated it was an amateur weekend warrior job. What’s more, the Porsche dealer put one of the tires on backwards! Thanks guys, for making me take more time out of my life to fix your stupid mistake. The alignment guy said what you said… He can’t adjust it until the control arm issue is solved. All three Porsche specialist I have taken it to say these lowering springs alone are a bad idea.

[rexcramer]

Do you have an itemized list from your mechanic that wants to do the $2500 stock work? If so, please post it.

[bwdz]

I'm still missing something here. Lowering springs are not causing the "every which way" issue. An amateur job is not either as something would have to be bent or a bushing squished or ..... to cause this. Can you post the printout of the alignment check with the camber, caster, toe in, thrust angle and the SAI (steering angle inclination if the shop works on German cars they will have checked this as the best indicator of bent steering components). I do between 5 and 20 alignments a week on various vehicles and see plenty of shoddy work. I don't recall the last time it took more than a few hundred $$$ to correct it although it has cost more if components are completely worn out such as ball joints, control arms, tie rods, bushings etc.... Just curious, where you from? If you happen to be near the Detroit area bring it by me, it is just $49.95 for us to align your car or at least do a proper base measurement, not trying to advertise, I'm just a tech at a shop that hates shoddy work or people being taken for a ride.

[HereIam]

Originally Posted by bwdz

I'm still missing something here. Lowering springs are not causing the "every which way" issue. An amateur job is not either as something would have to be bent or a bushing squished or ..... to cause this. Can you post the printout of the alignment check with the camber, caster, toe in, thrust angle and the SAI (steering angle inclination if the shop works on German cars they will have checked this as the best indicator of bent steering components). I do between 5 and 20 alignments a week on various vehicles and see plenty of shoddy work. I don't recall the last time it took more than a few hundred $$$ to correct it although it has cost more if components are completely worn out such as ball joints, control arms, tie rods, bushings etc.... Just curious, where you from? If you happen to be near the Detroit area bring it by me, it is just $49.95 for us to align your car or at least do a proper base measurement, not trying to advertise, I'm just a tech at a shop that hates shoddy work or people being taken for a ride.

Thanks for the offer! But I am a long ways from you. The alignment specialist didn’t do anything to my car, so I don’t have any specs. He sent me away, and said he wouldn’t do it.

The guy was kind of a prick, and although my mechanic does a good job giving quality referrals I won’t go back to this guy.

[bwdz]

Originally Posted by HereIam

Thanks for the offer! But I am a long ways from you. The alignment specialist didn’t do anything to my car, so I don’t have any specs. He sent me away, and said he wouldn’t do it.

The guy was kind of a prick, and although my mechanic does a good job giving quality referrals I won’t go back to this guy.

Ok, wish I could help you out as these things are often not as complicated as they seem.
Not sure how handy you are but you can do this yourself at home with a relatively inexpensive camber gauge and strings. I can write several paragraphs but really just youtube "string alignment" and you can do it at home with strings and a measuring tape. You can get really close and get a good baseline and a driveable car.
Before you start there is something I want you to check: does this have factory wheels and no spacers? Wrong offset wheels or spacers affect the scrub radius on the tires and cause all sorts of problems. Scrub radius is the steering axis inclination angle vs the offset of the wheels, sort of, to put it simply it has to do with the steering axis angle and how close to the center of the tire does it place the weight going crosswise across the tread.

[rfuerst911sc]

A good independant shop that does alignments should either be able to set the suspension alignment correctly OR be able to give you specifics on why they can't . Sorry the reply from your P car shop is not good enough in my opinion .

Regardless on you staying with the springs you have or going back to OEM you are going to need a shop to do a four wheel alignment . Where are you located ? Is there a PCA region where you are ? PCA members may be able to suggest a good indie near you . Good luck .

[HereIam]

Originally Posted by rexcramer

Do you have an itemized list from your mechanic that wants to do the $2500 stock work? If so, please post it.

I don’t. These numbers are based on a rough estimate he gave me after the alignment guy turned me away. I intend to ask him more about this on Monday.