6speeders, i need advice.

I recently (about 2500 miles ago) had Techart Vario coilovers installed on my 996TT. SportHaus in Reno did the install, but i purchased the coilovers from CEC. Anyway, i told them:

• i wanted the car low as it could go without rubbing,
• without having to roll the fenders,
• and without it being unsafe and looking like a slammed '61 VW Bug in the back.

The height looked perfect (IMO - www.ifuze.com/staging/996tt) when i got it back and they dialed in the stiffness very well. At this time, i had them bolt on new Formula GTS wheels & new ContiSport2 tires. Since then, I have put about 2500 miles on the car. This week i blew out a sidewall on the inside right rear tire. When i took the tires off the car, i saw that the tire was wasted, warn (mainly on the inside) down to the cords. The left side rear was also very worn. I dont track the car and i havent really driven it much since all this install went down.

Enough background...herez my questions:

1. am i right to be a little pissed that the reaction of the shop when i took the blown out tire was, "well these turbos really eat tires"? I know they eat tires if i race it, but 2500 miles...mostly straight line seems odd to have bald rears to the point that the cords are showing
2. i asked why the insides of the rears were bald and they said...we didnt set it up right. hmmm...wait a minute...WTF?
3. their solution...which i havent heard people mention on here when they lower their cars...was to buy new control arms to allow more camber adjustment. is this normal? Do you guys that have really low cars have to order these racing control arms to get it aligned properly?

I guess i am not one to ***** about stuff. I like the guys at sporthaus, they are nice people, and our only local option short of the dealership for aftermarket work on my car. I think of *****ing at a mechanic before they work on your car, is the equivalent of insulting a waiter before they bring you your food. All said, a $1000 for 2 new tires + these arms + labor fees, does not a good Christmas make. I'd rather spend a couple hours in the champagne room :-)

Let me know what you all think about the bullets above. Mainly #3.

Thanks as always all!

Bryan

 

I have the same problem. The contis seem to have the least amount of tread on the inside to start with. And with the camber, a lot of the weight seems to transfer to that inside portion. Best advice is to switch to a different brand of tires, as the conti's suck anyway.

 

The problem is when you lower the Turbo, there is not enough factory camber adjustment to move it to a MORE positive setting. My alignment guys tell me to use ERP adjustable control arms. When you slam the car , often the camber is in the neg 2`s but should only be -1.4 or so. This is ideal for the street, excellent contact patch and much better tire wear. But these guys who lower your TT are too lazy to set it up right and you wear the hell out of your tires. In fact Cary Eisenlohr recommends a -1.0 on the rear but you do get more understeer, but you can adjust the bump steer and sways to compensate. My car actually handles much better on the steet with less negative camber and now I have no excess tire wear.

 

it's a known issue for these Conti's & the wheel. and u're running very aggressive rear camber now therefore all the weight is on the inside of the tire. also because the wheels have extremely aggressive offset u can not run more positive camber otherwise it's gonna rub. looking at the pictures i'd be surprised if u don't have any rubbing issue right now without rolling the fenders.

go with PS2 if u can. however, the tire is a hair wider so more positive is not gonna help. u eventually have to roll the fenders.

 

How much did you slam your car and whats your camber in the back?

I've had the same problem when I first got PSS9's, went through two sets of rear tires (Contis). Then had it taken care of...dooh! lol

 

yeah, I look at it this way: it is a known and rather basic issue. If you lower a car you change the camber, the more you lower the greater the change. If the shop is decent they should know this and should have discussed doing a full allignment (and corner weight) after the install or suggesting an alignment shop for you to go to if they can't do it in house. If they didn't do this and never mentioned any alignment issues when you asked them to slam the car, then I would press them to eat the tires while you pay for the new control arms and toe links you will also need. BUT at the same time, it IS a basic and well known issue and had you done a quick search here before slamming the car you would have known all this...so maybe you also have some level of responsibility here as well, but only because you blindly trusted them as professionals which they don't sound to be. But I can't really say without more info...

dw

 

My car is at the X73 height (perfect IMO), but it put the camber at -2 resulting in excessive tire wear. I am at -1.4 ( the .4 being 24 degrees) now and its perfect. Now I know the cup guys are running up to -6 so don`t flame me to bad, but for the street this is ideal. Do not forget to adjust bump steer on the the rear upper control arms and you will be a happy camper. Contact Cary Eisenlohr if you need specifics as he is in fact "the suspension guru"

 

Also as Sharkster suggested to me (he is extremely helpful as always) You can use GT3 lower control arms which he has in stock with shims, but the alignment guys at Scargo wanted to go the upper arm scenario so thats what I did.

 

So the control arms are roughly $500? Should you also do sway bar endlinks too?

 

thanks to all who responded here. This arms me a little bit. I wanted to make sure i wasnt being fed a line of B.S. Looks like many of you have dealt with similar.

Lucent: not sure why, but there isnt any rubbing in the front at all...even at full turn radius. rears 'may' have rubbed, but i asked them to check it out and they said they didnt need to raise it...it all cleared. I will take your advice on the next set of tires and go with the PS2's. I have those on my Viper and have never had an issue. Other than glazing because the car has only 18K miles on it. And a flat spot here and there from full-abort lock ups (no traction control in that baby :-)

I think the GT3 arms are what SportHaus is ordering. For some reason they cant get them from their normal source because of Daytona. But, i will recommend they use these. If its more than a week or so, i am going to ask them to call Alex and order a set from him.

always appreciated...

Bryan

 

i didn't mean the front. i meant the rear.

 

ahhhh...sorry about that. you may be right. I will have them to look at it again when i take it back in for the arms.

 

wbvega, as arling was saying that tire is known for doing that but for one thing I would certainly roll the fenders thought. I know people that go maybe 4K miles if that... Once you roll the fenders, only then can you get a bit more positive camber from it. That will allow you to still be lowered and not have the issue. You can use either the adjustable GT3 lower arms with shims or just the upper arms to get you more adjustability. I don't think they'll be "required" though. Just raise her up, get some more positive camber with the fenders rolled etc...

 

Alex...do you have GT3 arms and Shims in stock? Dollar wise what am i looking at (PM if you can - or i can ring you).

If i were to bring you my car, how long do you think it would take you guys to install this setup, align it, and get me back on the road. Not plugging for price specifically, more a question of could i wait there for it while you guys did the work? the shop that did mine is dragging their a55es getting me parts and answers...my car has been undrivable since the original post to this thread (november 06).

Even though they owe me some $$$, I am worn out from dealing with them. You know how to do this and your street-cred is off the charts. I have to come down to san fran this wednesday-friday.

Lemme know...

Bryan