Good shop in STL or Indy?

[Adam]

Hey guys I'm looking for a good independent Porsche garage in the STL or Indy area that can do an alignment for me. Can anybody point me in the right direction or tell me any places I should avoid...other than the Porsche dealer obviously. Thanks in advance!

[tnoice]

beaumont alignment in champaign does an excellent job if you request the mechanic cain and cain only..

[Adam]

Originally Posted by tnoice

beaumont alignment in champaign does an excellent job if you request the mechanic cain and cain only..

I might just do that. I took my car up to Beamont for a tire install a couple years back and they a fine job with that. I had an appt at a non Porsche place in Bloomington because a lot of the guys we autocross with highly recammended a tech there. We'll I just received a call back and they said they don't think they'll have the proper tools to perform the alignment?? So I cancelled the apt and now I don't know if I should take it to a specialty shop that deals with Porsches or take it to a place like Beaumont which would be closer and probably cheaper. I wasn't aware Boxsters required any special tools to do an alignment. Have any of you guys ever heard of that?

[Flavor 987S]

Why not Isringhausen Porsche in Springfield? A lot closer than St. Louis or Indianapolis. Save time & money. They charge typical Porsche prices ($295) but they will price match it you talk to the Service Manager.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Flavor 987S

Why not Isringhausen Porsche in Springfield? A lot closer than St. Louis or Indianapolis. Save time & money. They charge typical Porsche prices ($295) but they will price match it you talk to the Service Manager.

I doubt they would do an alignment for $95, plus I don't feel like haggling with the service manager.

[tnoice]

The last time I was at Beaumont they had a 95 911 turbo sitting on the lift and a 02 slk sitting on the other. Both were in for allignments. I think that they might have the tools. They do have a tendency to have a little bit of an attitude issue (service managers / desk paperweights), however I have never had a single complaint about Cain (the actual mechanic that works on the vehicles.)

I did take my porsche to isringhausen and absolutely loved their service department, but they would probably be a little bit more expensive, however it would not hurt to call both places.

[Adam]

Thanks Tim, I'll give Beaumont a call and see what they say. I don't know why I didn't think of them before. I'm sure they can do it just fine and probably at a fraction of what Isringhausen charges. I'll ask for Cain. Plus, Champaign is about an hour closer to me than Springfield.

[Adam]

Just got the Boxster aligned at Beaumont in Champaign. Glad I did because I actually had .5 degree of positive camber in the front! I told Kane to give me as much negative camber up front as he could and that was -.5 degee. Without camber plates I can't get anymore than that up front unfortunately. Even though it's not as much as I'd like, it should make a noticable difference with low speed understeer hopefully. The rear had -1.5 degrees of camber so we just left that there. We set the front toe at 0 and just a very slight toe in on the rear. He said the caster is static and not adjustable. I'm taking the Boxster down to a autocross in STL in a couple weeks so that will be a good chance to test out the changes.

[dburris]

I got burned by a dealer in St. Louis, and have used private shops in Tulsa and Kansas City with much success. Also I found a St. Louis mechanic who does work at home to help fund a new baby, and does great with the simple stuff like changing my rotors, brake pads, and oil on my 2000S. Please post any experiences you have with your S in the area.

[Flavor 987S]

Originally Posted by dburris

I got burned by a dealer in St. Louis, and have used private shops in Tulsa and Kansas City with much success. Also I found a St. Louis mechanic who does work at home to help fund a new baby, and does great with the simple stuff like changing my rotors, brake pads, and oil on my 2000S. Please post any experiences you have with your S in the area.

There are 2 Porsche dealerships in St. Louis; Creve Coeur and Kirkwood. My guess is that this happened at Plaza Motors in Creve Coeur.

[Adam]

Tim, thanks for telling me to go to Beaumont Alignment in Champaign. Kane was very nice, professional and knows how to take care of the customers. He personally came back in twice to let me know where we were at with the alignment and doubled checked the specs I gave him without even asking. In most shops you're lucky if you get the service writer to come find you and they try to echo what the tech says to them and some gets lost in translation usually like the telephone game. I'm sure the half degree of positve camber on each front wasn't helping my autocross times. I can't wait until the next autocross to try the changes!! Beaumont has always met and usually exceeded my expectations and if anyone needs some alignment work done or tire change in Central Illinois you should check into them. Oh, and they charge half of what Isringhausen charges for an alignment. Two thumbs up

[tnoice]

I am glad that you had a good experience.

[thudson]

Try Black Forest on Shadeland