Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Best way - take it steady until you've sussed out any changes in handling. If you have any problems with ride,handling etc it might be worth giving Chris Franklin a call at Center Gravity.

Hope to meet up on 10th November

Hi

I agree with Paul.

Chris did my 993, has also done cars for other club members

Handling may be compromised with 18 inch wheels as with the larger tyres and possibly different wheel offsets. The trend to 18 inch wheels has been popular on 993's but have no idea how many people who have gone down this route, have had the car properly sorted as a result.

You will notice if the car is given some welly.

Chris Franklin does a club discount if you produce your membership card.

Not the cheapest in the business but extremely thorough in what he does

Thanks Paul, Mymerak, good advice - I have found the details of Center Gravity and will be calling tomorrow and thanks for the tip on a discount. I just got the brace fitted at the OPC Sutton Coldfield (£45) and the mechanic pointed out an awful wear pattern on the existing front tyres - 5mm on outside, 2mm on inside - so they are obviously well out. The OPC quoted £212 to do the geometry on their rolling road - would a specialist like Center G do much more than the OPC would? I have no plans to thrash it round a track, just want a planted accurate ride.

cheers

if you can pop in chris will mark up nuts and bolts, track rods etc, and if you loosen the rusty nuts and bolts it will save you some money on his labour loosening said nuts and bolts

Don't know if you have checked it out, or what the mods were but I seem to remember the factory were against 18's on early 993's, but was okay on the later cars ? have not got all my data to hand to check , but it might pay you to check it out . Also I expect you are finding the ride is a bit less forgiving than on 16s or 17s .

Hi Jargle,

Chris will do whatever you want

He will conduct a short interview with you about driving style and what you want to do with your car as well as the type of roads you intend to drive on.

Also when and if you take the car in he will advise you to know your own weight and have a full tank of petrol.

I see that the front of your car is well out but the back end is extremely important on a 993 and has more adjustment areas than a 911 or 964.

He now does a menu pricing system, I think' and extras are done 0n a time and materials basis.

As Lindsay says do try and free up adjustment areas if you can before going there as this can be time consuming and cost a fair bit extra

If you do decide to pre prepare your car then only free up one adjustment area (bolt or nut) at a time and make sutre you retighten well.

He does not use a rolling road he uses the same static kit as McClaren (F1) and Seat for BTCC.

Hope this is of use to you

He did my car and that of Demonfish recently as you have perhaps already seen on here

No time to lose - my car is now at Center Gravity! Sam, just to clear that up, 18" are fine on 993s but the 1994 cars (mine) did not have the bracing strut fitted, which became standard from 1995. I had it fitted at an OPC yesterday and they confirmed all this. Brian, good spot on the front end.

Had a good chat with Chris, we looked at the wear patterns on the old tyres, talked it all through and I am looking forward to getting the car back on Friday. I'm not really tooled up to ease off all the adjustments, so it's over to the pros. FYI i did ask about a discount being a club member as suggested but that's no longer available it seems.

Many thanks for all the tips, and Foz (911 SC) and I will be at the Central meeting on the 10th

Oh yes , I remember that bracing strut thing now , its just a bolt on isnt it ?

Yep Sam, 27cm long, forged aluminium, it bolts straight onto the rack. ~£40 from an OPC. Can't wait to get it back!

bet you can't, mines a '96 so I guess it has the brace already

Hi Jarge,

When you go to get the car back on Friday make sure you leave yourself plenty of time to do the test drive with Chris. It will help you get to understand the car better and what it is capable of.

See you Monday at the Red Lion

Wheels now fitted and track package done by Chris Franklin. Drives extremely well. Should be a picture attached but apparently it is too big . I need to go and work that one out....anyway the car handles well and it isn't anywhere near as firm as I feared.