AWD Motorsport Dog bone Camber Kit

[porschester]

Hi Everyone,

I have a 997 C4S that has been lowered (stock suspension) Champion springs. Unfortunately the Collection in Miami did not do an alignment. I realized that my back tires were getting worn out very quickly...In less than 10,000 miles I ran thru 2 sets of rear Michelin Pilot PS2's. During a visit to AWD Motorsport with a friend of mine, the shop put the car on a lift and and it was visible that once again the tires needed to be changed. They told me that because the 997 already have a negative camber to begin with, but lowering it and not aligning the car would accentuate more negative camber and ware the tires even faster. They added that the stock cambers on the 997 are not adjustable and suggested that I should install their kit called THE DOG BONE and that my Porsche would drive better and the tires last longer after of course a post DOG BONE installation alignment. Couple days later, I took my car to TWC for a set of four new Michelin tires, I briefed them on my situation and they said that if they could successfully align the car to factory specs that I would definitely not need any DOG BONE camber Kit and save myself around $800. Could anyone give some feedback about this..I wouldnt mind having the DOG BONE camber kit installed if indeed it would help with the driving and more importantly prevent my tires from being eaten very fast. The car has now new tires and of course TWC was able to successfully aligned the car. They showed the before and after pictures...and perfectly aligned the car . In summary..any advice on the DOG BONE and if i still need it.

Thank you very much for all of your expertise and advice.

Porschester

Here is a pix and description of the DOG BONE

Developed and tested over thousands of miles of racing and street driving. Our fully adjustable rear dog bones are the highest quality links on the market period,made of machined aluminum billet rod (6061) hard anodized and include Indy car rod ends. This is a great way to improve the handling and feedback from your Porsche.

Our rear dog bone kit is the only proper way to correct the rear geometry of your lowered 996 & 997 Porsche. If your car is lowered, chances are you are prematurely wearing out your rear tires with the additional negative camber you have in the rear. The factory eccentric rear does not offer enough adjustment to properly re-align your car to specs. Our links allow you to properly correct the geometry of your rear suspension.

- 4 Links ,8 rod ends and 16 machined bushings.

- Requires NO modification to chassis, direct bolt on replacement part. - Can be used on daily driven street cars, links do not transmit road harshness into the cabin.

Fitment: 996TT/GT2/GT3/C2/C4/C4S

997TT/GT2/GT3/GT3 RS/C2 /C4s

Please contact us for pricing.

* Installation, alignment, track setup, and corner weighing is available at our facility.

Edited August 14, 2011 by porschester

[PAULSPEED]

The dog bone components looks like well

built drop down links.

For track I would add a rear sway bar. Good for

5 seconds.

Paul

[porschester]

But since I do not track my 997 and the car has been perfectly aligned...I guess I wont need the dog bone....I spoke again to TWC and they said that the alignment is a mechanical process...so if the car can be successfully aligned to factory specs after being lowered then the dog bone would not be necessary. They concurred that IF they would have not been able to bring the alignment to factory specs then yes a dog bone kit would have been the option. Thank you very much for your input Paul.

Edited August 20, 2011 by porschester

[PAULSPEED]

No problem. Happy to help.

I tried playing with the dog bones at the track. This

track had more left turns then right so I made the inside

(driver's side) dog bone length, 1/2 inch less in length.

This made no difference in track time or road turning over

a short time. Information I learned while driving

the track.

Paul

[7500rpm]

Paul,

I realize this is an old thread but I am surprised by your comment on rear sway bar. Unlike my buddy's 997.2, my 997.1 S overstates in the track. I thought a rear sway bar would make matters worse.

Eric

[7500rpm]

Sorry for the typo, I think I did spell oversteer.

[mxt_77]

Paul,

I realize this is an old thread but I am surprised by your comment on rear sway bar. Unlike my buddy's 997.2, my 997.1 S overstates in the track. I thought a rear sway bar would make matters worse.

Eric

I've learned that just because someone is quick to offer a reply, that doesn't mean that they know what they're talking about. The following quote emphasizes that:

For track I would add a rear sway bar. Good for 5 seconds.

How can someone make that claim without even know what track is being driven? 5 seconds on a small 1.3 mile course is a huge improvement, whereas 5 seconds on the Nurburgring is still impressive, but not quite as huge.

Click here for another example example of this same poster's insight. Apparently a 6-foot torque wrench is needed to remove bolts if the part that they are securing is heavy duty... regardless of what size/type of bolt or the number of bolts being used.

With all due respect, sometimes if you don't know the answer, it's better to wait for someone that does, rather than spouting misinformation.

To the OP... TWC is right. If they can align the car to factory specs without the DogBone kit, then you'd be wasting your money by buying it. Also, I suspect that the camber is not what is killing your tires (unless you're sitting at more than 2.5 degrees negative camber), but it's more likely to be the toe. I don't know the exact specs, but on the C4S, I think you should have either 0 toe or just a hair of toe-in on front and rear tires. Either way... start with an alignment (the cheap fix) and go from there.

... And never go back to any shop that would install lowering springs without automatically performing a 4-wheel alignment.

Edited November 25, 2011 by mxt_77

[PAULSPEED]

I try to keep my opinions to myself.

I picked up 5 seconds a lap at the Thunderhill Racetrack

in Buttonwillow, California.

I hate to see people post questions and never get any feed back.

I may not be right 100 percent of the time but I like

to try and help others.

Paul