986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners - View Single Post

Kirk · 08-01-2008, 07:41 AM

Hmmm.... it honestly doesn't look that low to me personally. I've got a lot less of a gap between the fender and tire with my Gemballa springs, but they may provide more of a drop. Still my springs did "settle" too over the first couple of weeks. I would not install new springs and then go get it aligned the next day. Let the car settle for a couple weeks first so that it's at is final ride height before the alignment, unless you absolutely need to drive it now. I drove mine a bit too before getting the alignment.

As to what to look for... well a good laser alignment depends much more on the technician, how much experience they have, and how much time they devote to your car. Give them clear specifications for what you're looking to get (I used the lower ROW M030 alignment specs), and then make sure they actually align it to those specs and provide you a print-out of the final results.

A lowered Boxster is not easy to align. Especially in the rear because rear toe and camber are related. To get the rear toe slightly in/negative you'll probably have to run with more negative camber than what's recommended. That is unless you get adjustable toe bars for the rear.

Again though, I'd make my expectations to the shop clear and then insist that they get it right. My shop spent two hours on it and still couldn't get the camber even good enough in the rear. They then dropped the job for other work that was lined up and gave me back my keys. When I saw the print-out and knew it wasn't "good enough", then I just scheduled another appointment and brought it back again and gave them another two hours to work on it and get it right (no cost to me of course).

Of course your alignment specs will depend a lot on what YOU are looking for. Do you want a street setup or street/track/AuotX? With a more aggressive AutoX setup you actually want more of the negative camber while for a street setup the alignment shop will be struggling to dial that negative camber out.

>How much will an alignment be able to change the camber?

You can go about -1.5 degrees of camber in the front and as much as -3.0 degrees in the rear - or thereabouts.

Kirk

08-01-2008, 07:41 AM	#7
Kirk Registered User Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Texarkana, Texas Posts: 959	Hmmm.... it honestly doesn't look that low to me personally. I've got a lot less of a gap between the fender and tire with my Gemballa springs, but they may provide more of a drop. Still my springs did "settle" too over the first couple of weeks. I would not install new springs and then go get it aligned the next day. Let the car settle for a couple weeks first so that it's at is final ride height before the alignment, unless you absolutely need to drive it now. I drove mine a bit too before getting the alignment. As to what to look for... well a good laser alignment depends much more on the technician, how much experience they have, and how much time they devote to your car. Give them clear specifications for what you're looking to get (I used the lower ROW M030 alignment specs), and then make sure they actually align it to those specs and provide you a print-out of the final results. A lowered Boxster is not easy to align. Especially in the rear because rear toe and camber are related. To get the rear toe slightly in/negative you'll probably have to run with more negative camber than what's recommended. That is unless you get adjustable toe bars for the rear. Again though, I'd make my expectations to the shop clear and then insist that they get it right. My shop spent two hours on it and still couldn't get the camber even good enough in the rear. They then dropped the job for other work that was lined up and gave me back my keys. When I saw the print-out and knew it wasn't "good enough", then I just scheduled another appointment and brought it back again and gave them another two hours to work on it and get it right (no cost to me of course). Of course your alignment specs will depend a lot on what YOU are looking for. Do you want a street setup or street/track/AuotX? With a more aggressive AutoX setup you actually want more of the negative camber while for a street setup the alignment shop will be struggling to dial that negative camber out. >How much will an alignment be able to change the camber? You can go about -1.5 degrees of camber in the front and as much as -3.0 degrees in the rear - or thereabouts. Kirk __________________ 2000 Boxster S - Gemballa body kit, GT3 front bumper, JRZ coilovers, lower stress bars 2003 911 Carrera 4S - TechArt body kit, TechArt coilovers, HRE wheels 1986 911 Carrera Targa - 3.2L, Euro pistons, 964 cams, steel slant nose widebody 1975 911S Targa - undergoing a full restoration and engine rebuild Also In The Garage - '66 912, '69 912, '72 914 Chalon wide body, '73 914