Does your early 911 wander?

[smg911]

It is possible that crosswinds are contributing to the wandering issue. But it just seems to wander more than it should.

[mjmoran]

SMG911,

Kenik has it right. A correct cornerweight is needed along with the alignment for the best feel and handleing.

[John Fusco]

Please let us know what all the checking turns up.
Anyone around that knows these cars well enough to take it for a spin ?
But make sure you ride shotgun cause that car might be a hard one to turn around

John

[letsrollbabe]

Did the rear tow get checked? If the rear is towed out, the car will wander.

Gib Bosworth
R Gruppe #18
Early S Reg. #434

[smg911]

I will call the dealer tomorrow and verify that they checked the rear tow. I will also check the wheel bearings for excessive play. Bushings are another thing I will check and finally if all else fails, I'll have a corner balance done.

When I get this resolved I will post what the problem was. Thanks

[kenikh]

If you corner balance, you should go to Euro ride height, too.

[pwd72s]

Beautiful car. You mentioned front camber one degree off? If so, which way? Negative or positive? Your car doesn't look overly lowered judging by the pics, but you might try a steering rack spacer...raising the steering rack a bit in order to make your tie rods more horizontal. Here, I get wandering thanks to studded tire equipped cars cutting grooves in the road. But I don't think that would be your problem in Florida. So, tell us more about your '72....I'm a wee bit prejudiced towards that year.

[smg911]

Beautiful car. You mentioned front camber one degree off? If so, which way? Negative or positive? Your car doesn't look overly lowered judging by the pics, but you might try a steering rack spacer...raising the steering rack a bit in order to make your tie rods more horizontal. Here, I get wandering thanks to studded tire equipped cars cutting grooves in the road. But I don't think that would be your problem in Florida. So, tell us more about your '72....I'm a wee bit prejudiced towards that year.

You are correct in that my car is not overly lowered. Correct me if I'm wrong but if an early 911 is aligned to factory specs, the front end is usually higher than the rear. My car is pretty much level or maybe just a hair lower in the front. No steering rack spacer. I believe I was told by the dealer today that the camber is 1 degree negitive.

[Rick Cabell]

Was this a 4 wheel alignment, or just a "set the toe, and let it go." A front end alignment means nothing if the rear wheels aren't facing forward. If all is good mechanics, then I think Gib is barking up the right tree.

[911pcars]

I think Paul is on the right track (no pun intended).

1 degree camber, positive or negative on one side might be causing this. When a tire tilts to one side, it wants to roll toward that side (roll a coin and observe). When the car drifts left or right, do you compensate with the steering wheel or does the car drift left, then right by itself? It could also be a caster thing, but I'm assuming the shop dialed both sides in correctly.

If the alignment shop could only adjust within 1 degree of spec (camber), that usually means something is not right (bent). In addition, I'm guessing the alignment shop doesn't do a lot of Porsches.

BTW, that's "toe" and not "tow". At first I thought someone pulled your car from the rear. :-)

Sherwood