1. I just had my tie-rods replaced and need to have my 914 aligned. I'm between Downey and Down-town (LA.) Anyone know a good shop that's close?
2. My headlights don't come on. They were cutting out intermittently before. I checked all fuses and they're all good.
3. A shop that does everything would be great.
Full Version: a good alignment shop in LA, CA
I rather like this place for alignments as they do what I ask:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/monterey-alignment-service-rosemead
...and are totally old school. There is a place called IVT in Pasadena thats not bad for the price, but I'd recommend learning to do things yourself.
http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en&am...336869530154848
http://www.yelp.com/biz/monterey-alignment-service-rosemead
...and are totally old school. There is a place called IVT in Pasadena thats not bad for the price, but I'd recommend learning to do things yourself.
http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en&am...336869530154848
You might also try Otto's in Venice, as he's an old school air-cooled Porsche specialist who knows these cars well.
Aaron, while I understand your encouraging Danny to learn to do it himself (which he may already know), keep in mind that, in some of our cases it's more time and cost effective to have an expert work on our 914s, even when we have the skills & know-how to do it ourselves. We have all types, skill levels, etc. on here.
When I'm working 60-80+ hours a week, I don't have the time to do everything myself on my cars, but do have the coin to have an expert do it right the first time.
Danny may be in the same boat, or not feel comfortable working on his 914.
Aaron, while I understand your encouraging Danny to learn to do it himself (which he may already know), keep in mind that, in some of our cases it's more time and cost effective to have an expert work on our 914s, even when we have the skills & know-how to do it ourselves. We have all types, skill levels, etc. on here.
When I'm working 60-80+ hours a week, I don't have the time to do everything myself on my cars, but do have the coin to have an expert do it right the first time.
Danny may be in the same boat, or not feel comfortable working on his 914.
QUOTE(yeahmag @ Feb 2 2011, 10:40 AM) 
I rather like this place for alignments as they do what I ask:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/monterey-alignment-service-rosemead
...and are totally old school. There is a place called IVT in Pasadena thats not bad for the price, but I'd recommend learning to do things yourself.
http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en&am...336869530154848
Thaaaaaank youuuuu mister! I'm not really into working on cars. I love driving them, but it seems like every time I work on something, I end up paying more than if I had it done. I prefer letting the experts take care of it. It's my budget that slows the process. I have 3 projects that I'm trying to juggle.Thanks again, dc.
QUOTE(Tom_T @ Feb 2 2011, 11:07 AM)
You might also try Otto's in Venice, as he's an old school air-cooled Porsche specialist who knows these cars well.
Aaron, while I understand your encouraging Danny to learn to do it himself (which he may already know), keep in mind that, in some of our cases it's more time and cost effective to have an expert work on our 914s, even when we have the skills & know-how to do it ourselves. We have all types, skill levels, etc. on here.
When I'm working 60-80+ hours a week, I don't have the time to do everything myself on my cars, but do have the coin to have an expert do it right the first time.
Danny may be in the same boat, or not feel comfortable working on his 914.
Thanks Tom. I've actually been to Otto's recently to check out the shop. I also took a tour of the body shop next door. Otto's was one of the places I liked best. After speaking to Otto for a few minutes I could tell he has extensive knowledge/experience. Thx guys just trying to visit a few shops and get a feel for'em.
Otto's is going to make IVT look like a shade tree mechanic... They too are old school and priced as such...
Hergesheimer Motorsports.. for allighnment, they will be on the expensive side for any other repairs, and I get the feeling fixing headlight issues is not what they specialize in though ownerwhere therfe getting regular maintainence too so they are not just myopic..
They have experience and best equipment, I have used them twice.. when I got my car and when I restored the suspension..
They get Porsche owner's drive up (or is it down) from LA to OC just to get the best..
http://www.hergesheimer.com/porsche_wheel_alignment.html
"4 wheel High Precision Alignment rack with Lasers, electronic scales, bump steer gauges, kinematic gauges, and turn plates,...."
Porsche 4 Wheel Alignment
"Horsepower for the Turns" A full range of tuning options and modifications are available for the Porsche chassis, both old and new. Our 4 wheel High Precision Alignment rack with Lasers, electronic scales, bump steer gauges, kinematic gauges, and turn plates, allows us to precision tune the chassis for street use, track use or any combination in between.
Wheel Alignment, Corner Balance & Chassis Tuning
Here is a brief overview: First off, we need a place to park the car while checking settings and making adjustments and for this we use the alignment rack. The alignment rack allows us access to the underside of the vehicle while the chassis rests its full mass on all 4 wheels and on a perfectly level surface. Without this foundation everything else is a waste of time. The use of lasers is a simple and precise means to setup parallel and perpendicular lines for measuring wheel angles in relation to each other. Many "alignment shops" use computer systems that give a false sense of precision to the untrained operator. We prefer lasers that read directly.
Camber & Toe
The two measurements that we check and adjust the most are "Camber" angle and "Toe". The camber angle is the difference of the top of the wheel and the bottom of the wheel in relation to the road. If the top of the wheel is tipped "in" 1 degree compared to the bottom of the wheel, this is considered to be 1 degree of "negative" camber. Road race cars use a lot of negative camber to offset the deflection of the tire during hard cornering. This compensation for tire deflection allows all the tread width to be used for maximum traction. "Toe" is the measurement between the front of the tires and the rear of the tires. The car generally works best when all four wheels are pointing the same direction. However, there are subtle nuances that may be taken into account by the chassis technician when setting up the "toe" on a particular car. "Toe-in" refers to the measurement between the front of the wheels being "less" than the measurement between the back of the wheels. Generally, a slight amount of "toe-in" results in more stability under braking and acceleration. However this does not hold true on all cars! Some cars like "toe-out".
Corner Balancing
The electronic scales combined with the precision leveled rack show us the overall weight of the car as well as the amount of force each wheel is pressing against the ground. More importantly the scales show us "cross weight" percentage and this is the indicator of equal or flat the car is sitting on the ground. If the cross weight is off, the car will teeter-totter and cause the car to handle differently in a right hand corner compared to a left hand corner. An unbalanced car also takes longer to take a set or balance during turn-in, so for a road car we try to attain a balance.
Bump-Steer
The effect that causes a wheel to change it's toe or steering angle when the suspension is deflected, such as when a wheel hits a bump is called "bump steer". This is typically undesirable and for this reason we spend a fair amount of time naturalizing bump steer. A car that is well set up will take bumps in stride while corning, but a car that has a lot of bump steer will be a handful for the driver, as every bump will make the wheel change steering angle and thus the car will want to change direction.
They have experience and best equipment, I have used them twice.. when I got my car and when I restored the suspension..
They get Porsche owner's drive up (or is it down) from LA to OC just to get the best..
http://www.hergesheimer.com/porsche_wheel_alignment.html
"4 wheel High Precision Alignment rack with Lasers, electronic scales, bump steer gauges, kinematic gauges, and turn plates,...."
Porsche 4 Wheel Alignment
"Horsepower for the Turns" A full range of tuning options and modifications are available for the Porsche chassis, both old and new. Our 4 wheel High Precision Alignment rack with Lasers, electronic scales, bump steer gauges, kinematic gauges, and turn plates, allows us to precision tune the chassis for street use, track use or any combination in between.
Wheel Alignment, Corner Balance & Chassis Tuning
Here is a brief overview: First off, we need a place to park the car while checking settings and making adjustments and for this we use the alignment rack. The alignment rack allows us access to the underside of the vehicle while the chassis rests its full mass on all 4 wheels and on a perfectly level surface. Without this foundation everything else is a waste of time. The use of lasers is a simple and precise means to setup parallel and perpendicular lines for measuring wheel angles in relation to each other. Many "alignment shops" use computer systems that give a false sense of precision to the untrained operator. We prefer lasers that read directly.
Camber & Toe
The two measurements that we check and adjust the most are "Camber" angle and "Toe". The camber angle is the difference of the top of the wheel and the bottom of the wheel in relation to the road. If the top of the wheel is tipped "in" 1 degree compared to the bottom of the wheel, this is considered to be 1 degree of "negative" camber. Road race cars use a lot of negative camber to offset the deflection of the tire during hard cornering. This compensation for tire deflection allows all the tread width to be used for maximum traction. "Toe" is the measurement between the front of the tires and the rear of the tires. The car generally works best when all four wheels are pointing the same direction. However, there are subtle nuances that may be taken into account by the chassis technician when setting up the "toe" on a particular car. "Toe-in" refers to the measurement between the front of the wheels being "less" than the measurement between the back of the wheels. Generally, a slight amount of "toe-in" results in more stability under braking and acceleration. However this does not hold true on all cars! Some cars like "toe-out".
Corner Balancing
The electronic scales combined with the precision leveled rack show us the overall weight of the car as well as the amount of force each wheel is pressing against the ground. More importantly the scales show us "cross weight" percentage and this is the indicator of equal or flat the car is sitting on the ground. If the cross weight is off, the car will teeter-totter and cause the car to handle differently in a right hand corner compared to a left hand corner. An unbalanced car also takes longer to take a set or balance during turn-in, so for a road car we try to attain a balance.
Bump-Steer
The effect that causes a wheel to change it's toe or steering angle when the suspension is deflected, such as when a wheel hits a bump is called "bump steer". This is typically undesirable and for this reason we spend a fair amount of time naturalizing bump steer. A car that is well set up will take bumps in stride while corning, but a car that has a lot of bump steer will be a handful for the driver, as every bump will make the wheel change steering angle and thus the car will want to change direction.
If your anywhere near Torrance, try Johnson Alignment. They know 914's.
http://johnsonsalignment.com/
http://johnsonsalignment.com/
Johnson's is OK, but I actually prefer Monteray for the price (for now anyway...). Exact same process and Johnson's didn't tighten my drivers side trailing arm enough and I lost the alignment and went toe out.
Darin is the former tech at Johnsons, now he has open his own shop.
West End Alignment
18008 S. Vermont Ave.
Gardena, CA 90248
(310) 808-9233
West End Alignment
18008 S. Vermont Ave.
Gardena, CA 90248
(310) 808-9233
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