OUCH!!!, An expensive joy ride Options

[Carlitos Way]

Well, I decided I couldn't let my teener sit for another day and decided to take a nice cruise down Box Canyon and the Santa Susana Pass. Something didn't seem right, so I let off the engine and didn't really push it most of the way. On the way back, I could hear something in the tires didn't seem right... so I slowed down even more. I even pulled over and took a look at the tires, thinking one had gone soft. Didn't find any problems, so I kept going.

Back into town, and thinking it's time to take it home and take a deeper look. POP!!! All of a sudden the right front tire blew... Doing about 50 in a commercial area. Pulled over, and sure enough, right front tire blew.

But that wasn't the worst part of it. Somehow, something flew up (a chunk of the tire?) and hit the right door... left a really "nice" circular mark right in the middle of my door. It almost looks like a racing circle... except without the numbers.

So I had the car towed to the shop and purchased 4 new tires. Noticed that the PO had the aligment so bad, that the tires wore through on the inside. Down to the steel belts, but only on the second thread from the inside.

Now the next challenge is, finding the right place to do the alighment. Unfortunately, the only place "my mechanic" trusts for alignment is the dealer. I'm thinking this is gonna be expensive.

Any suggestions?

[Spoke]

Excuse me for the simple question, but why is a 914 so hard to align? The front end (once the ride height is adjusted), seems straight forward with toe, caster, and camber adjustments. I've done the alignment as specified on Pelican Parts which isn't hard. The rear end seems a bit unusual with its toe and camber adjustments. But neither seems to be unique.

I've taken my cars to National Tire and Battery (NTB) which I think Sears owns now for alignments. One thing that I like about them is that they have plans for 6 month, 12 month, and 36 month alignments. Here in PA, a great alignment can be undone with one hit of a major pothole. I did this in Jersey last year in my A6, and bent 2 rims while I was at it. NTB will check and re-align within the plan time period for free. This also works out good if you change a part like a tie rod end and want to re-align.

So I'm thinking of taking my 914 to NTB. Have been talking to them about specs and things. They haven't come up with a reason it wouldn't work.

What am I missing about the difficulty in aligning 914s? Is it because the car is so low?

Thanks,
Spoke