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Worth getting a geometry check done?

Twinfan

Twinfan

PCGB Member
Member
Evening folks!

I've got a year old Cayman GTS that's done around 5k miles. I don't do track days, the car is a weekend fun car and also does the odd UK road trip. The car feels great with no issues to me, but I'm always curious to know if things can be improved

Is it worth getting a geometry check done to ensure everything is as spot on as it can be? Are there any worthwhile tweaks that can be made to a standard car with PASM to make it a little sharper?

Cheers for any advice [:)]
 
Hi David,

It's always worth making sure that your geometry is within spec. It will ensure that the car is tracking correctly to the benefit of stability and tyre wear.

If done by a competent specialist like Centre Gravity, they can set up camber and toe to give you sharper handling characteristics.

Jeff

 
Thanks Jeff, it sounds like I'll get it checked out then. Ninemeister seem to have all the equipment and a specialist tech so I may give them a try...

 
David,

Just to add, you might want to have look at this link which explains how various suspension and tyre pressure adjustments can affect handling:

https://www.porscheclubgb../forum/tm.aspx?m=754900

As far as I know, not every car leaving the factory is subjected to a rigorous 4-wheel geometry check (mine was all over the place, and it's not done by the Porsche Centres as part of the PDI), so it's certainly worth getting it done - if only for peace of mind.

Ninemeister have plenty of experience setting-up cars for road and race use, so they should be able to advise you of the best set-up for your planned use.

Jeff

 
Motorhead said:
David,

As far as I know, not every car leaving the factory is subjected to a rigorous 4-wheel geometry check (mine was all over the place, and it's not done by the Porsche Centres as part of the PDI), so it's certainly worth getting it done - if only for peace of mind.

Jeff
Click to expand...

Jeff,

They are all checked at the rolling road test, not a very rigorous test...

 
Sounds like it's going to be worth it then. I'll give Ninemeister a call in a bit and get booked in.

Any idea how long it takes? Will I be able to have it done while I wait?

 
Ninemeister will be able to tell you when you call David. I would guess about 1 to 2 hours, depending upon what needs to be done.

Jeff

 
Out of interest, anyone recommend someone in London who's good for this?

I'm based in Central London, so getting out to lots of these specialists is a real pain.

 
Always worth having a specialist set your geo to your preferences. You don't need to be a track fan to benefit from a good geo set-up. Really important for those who care about how their car feels on the road.

Even tyre tread wear, sharper steering, and precise handling, are the results to expect. Make sure your tyres pressures are correct before the geo set-up and a full fuel load.

In my experience with 4 Caymans, set some negative camber on the front wheels, with zero toe straight ahead.

On the rear, up to 2 degrees of negative, with around 15 to 20 minutes of total negative toe. (toe-in). This is good for general road driving.

Enjoy!

Brian

 
An independent like Tower Porsche @tower bridge may do this or could recommend someone. Not sure where you are in London but there are plenty of independents if your car is out of warranty of course.

 
Yes warranty not a concern on this car.

I didn't recall seeing alignment kit when I popped into Tower Porsche last year, but probably worth a call.

I'm based in Holborn, so right in the middle of Zone 1.

 
A quick update. Thanks for the advice, I had the check done this week. It was out of tolerance as you might expect, and different from wheel to wheel. I had the car set to the maximum camber that the stock Porsche adjustment will allow at the front with a similar amount at the rear.

The car now feels more planted and the slight understeer has been removed. Superb - the best £99 I've ever spent on a car.

Cheers again for the support to get it done!

 
I have had 4-wheel laser alignment done when I completed replaced the suspension set-ups on my Mitsubishi FTO and an MG TF that I had a few years ago.

It is always money well spent as the geometry can affect so many things, both positively & adversely.

Both took about an hour to get everything spot on so you can see why any mass produced car coming off a production line will never be afforded this amount of time to have its suspension set up to the same precision.

The Nissan car plant is not far from where I live and someone told me a while ago that each car barely has a few minutes for geometry set-up as it comes off the line - and they may be "just" Nissan's but a poor set up can affect tyre wear, mpg, braking, handling .....

 
I had mine done by Zentrum at Calverton about a year ago and biased the settings to improve turn in by setting the front toe to 0 and ensuring that both sides read the same which they didn't before! As had been the same on my gen1! Each time an OPC does a check they say it is out but they did so just after CG did the gen1 and I would believe CG over anyone.

OPC's are expensive on alignments, CG is not cheap but Chris is known as something of a Guru on Porsche handling and anywhere else I would expect to at least equalise the chassis side to side just that is often a major improvement!

 
Equalising side to side is obviously the way to go, but the camber and toe also need to be within the specifications Porsche set for your model. So that may explain why the OPC say you're "out" after a geo setup - they're not within the Porsche tolerances even though they may be equal side to side.

 
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