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

[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 .

[Nine8Six]

Originally Posted by rfuerst911sc

Sorry the reply from your P car shop is not good enough in my opinion .

He is not alone. ALL of our Top/Pro indy here will also refuse similar mods.

Anything drive train/aftermarket related is simply a no-go. Only genuine Porsche parts. If you want those flashy speed yellow coil-over with cool purple anodized preload adjusters, you need to go to the 'Performance Shops'. Which are often ran by teenagers dressed in NYC style raper gears I'm affraid. Yo~Wanna to see tatoo, yu-kome-my-shop-friend, I got "RACE" stuff also LOL

You can do a test at your end; ask your shop to pull up the official vehicle's (boxster/986) data and ask them to advertise their calculations for critical damping (sprung and unsprung). By vehicle data I mean total weight, front weight in percentage, unsprung weight, motion ratio, radial stiffness, natural resonant freq + system (un-damped), etc etc etc...

You will be in for a serious laugh I promise. Beware.... you haven't even reached asking for the low & high speed compression/rebound/damping ratio yet - those special one spec'ed for the Boxster freq that basically keeps you and your second-half(or 10y/old son) alive over high speed street bumps. Try! funny stuff I tell ya

Porsche man... Porsche