Alignment. Dealer only or will any good garage suffice?

Really good alignment shops are rare but are the best choice. An average alignment shop is going to throw up their hands at the difficulty and do the old "Set the toe and let it go".

 

Andrew- Brian is the expert. Remember, too, the camber on your 360 is adjusted with shims F&R, and your run of the mill shop is not going to have them in different thicknesses. That is one reason Brian recommends someone who has done many Ferraris.

Might as well get the rear suspension aligned while you are at it. That way, they only have to put in the sandbags once. It is supposed to be done every 15,000 miles, at any rate, "car setting".

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

The problem, here, is that Ferraris are very sensitive to ride height. None of the places with semi-automagic alignment machines will understand this. Sure, they can measure and set toe, and might be able to set camber if all it requires is removing shims. But, they are not going to have shims in stock if you have to add shims.

For you typical car, being aligned is a simple 2 step process, adjust camber, set toe; bill customer and send him away in 20 minutes.

For a Ferrari, it is a multistep process:
..) roll car onto level measurement surface with scales
..) set steering wheel to dead straight
..) put drivers weight of lead in drivers seat (this really does make a difference)
..) set up measurement perimiter (strings or optics)
A) set ride height
B) set corner weights
C) set camber
D) set toe
E) go back to A and repeat until all 4 parameters are in spec simultaneously.

This is generally a 1/2 day (minimum) procedure unless its already peerfect or nearly so. And can be as long as a whole day.

 

Mine is going through this process right now.

I just dropped it off at Group 2 Motorsports for the full treatment, as I believe my ride height is too low...so they are going to check everything out.

http://www.group2inc.com/

Agreed, you want a shop that regularly works on Ferraris...these guys have done them all from street to race...

 

To "Away":

Have the shop be sure to ask the alignment machine to check "setback'. This willl double check the wheelbase and therefore the shims on the front control arms. The machine can do this if you ask for a 4 wheel alignment. (You should not consider a 2 wheel alignment)

To "F355Spider":

Check your PM regarding ride height changes, some tools I have made, and what specs I have come up with.


JM3

 

I appreciate the offer, but probably too late...they will be finished in the morning, unless you want to email them to me tonight. Wish I could have got this info from you on Monday...

 

If the ride height and corner balance is not performed in conjunction with the alignment you are simply cutting corners at the expense of a beautifully handling car when complete setup is performed.
My shop will not align "any" car without the whole enchilada. As I tell my techs "there is the right way and there is the wrong way, no in betweens"
it's a lot more work as each change affects the other and takes the better part of a day to get it perfect.

I've had numerous complaints it's too much money only for them to call later and thank me for not cutting corners as the car is dramatically better.

We do a lot of these full setups and you would be shocked at far off most cars are that have never been on a scale/setup pad.

Also the ball and socket for the toe links wear out pretty quickly and a non-Ferrari shop most likely will miss them.

 

I was not surprised to learn my car indeed was much lower than spec, from settling or perhaps a previous owners preference. But a friends similar 355 spider had identical settings, so there maybe some settling with age, who knows. This process is taking several hours...didn't realize how detailed it is to corner balance and all...they want me to drive it for a few days then bring it back for a final check.

 

There is no reason to bring it back after a few days unless they are afraid they habitually leave things loose.

 

Tru-Line on Boren downtown is an excellent place, the very best in seattle.

Geno

 

I have to kindly disagree. Assuming they made ride height changes, they should have loosened the pivot points with rubber bushings to prevent them from "loading up" with the height change. More than likely the final check they are referring to is simply putting it onto the scales and make sure nothing has settled more and changed the actual weights that were initally set.

Precautionary, sure. This shop sounds like the kind to double check for quality. Not so much a thank you and boot out the door.

 

True that, I have known Byron Tate for over 20 years, he now runs the Bellevue location, and his son runs the Seattle shop. Unfortunately, they have never checked the ride height on my car each time the had it...maybe that was not requested by Ferrari of Seattle, when they sent it to them? I don't know.

I like the spread the work around, and will be having Byron install tires on my BMW in a couple weeks.

 

I disagree and speak from practical experience of thousands of corner balances/alignments for both professional race cars and street cars for over 20 years. If you do it properly, it is done right the first time, before it leaves, no exceptions.

If you have a bushing binding up that does not "settle" by simply rolling the car its full length on and off the scales then you have other problems that need to be addressed.

The bushings will tend to drag a bit and need to settle "if" you pickup the car and set it back down and thus why we roll the car on and off scales not lift them up and down as well as have a guy on each rocker bouncing the car up and down and rolling. It takes a whole lot longer and no alignment machine really allows you to do that and why we still use racing scale platforms. I agree if you are simply lifting off the ground and putting back even with turntables it will bind bushings (rubber) and may need to settle by rolling the car. That is why we don't do it that way, and maybe they should not either for a performance car such as a Ferrari.

We drive the cars on the street afterwards to make sure all is ok, steering wheel perfectly straight etc...before it is back in the hands of the owner.

Personally I've NEVER had one come back that changed dimensionally by doing this method and we measure to less than 1/64" and make it spot on, not a +/- window but spot on. However, using the lift method...it is never spot on and thus why they give you a big window of "acceptable +/- values" on the computer.

 

My bias is that you should not touch the alignment if the tires are wearing correctly. If the wear is correct then the combination of your tires, driving habits and set up are matched. It is really that simple.

If changes are needed, as mentioned above, it can take all day to adjust things properly. And the whole set up needs to be done at one time. You cannot just do one little thing - except maybe a slight change in toe.

aehaas