There has always been some inconsistency regarding the accuracy of suspension alignment on new cars shipped from the factory. Has anyone ever asked to have their new car aligned at the dealer before they take delivery? And were you charged for that?

 

I would not trust the dealer to check it.
I have thought about taking it to my alignment guy to have him get baseline measurements.
He is one of those really good old-school guys who uses basic measuring tools only.
He puts the effort in and gets every car perfect.
I plan to resist having him change anything, unless something is way off.
After driving it more I would decide if I wanted something changed.
It feels fine at the moment but I have not pushed it hard yet.

 

its usually covered in w/ the first few month of delivery

 

Oh really? I didn't know that. I figured it would be one of those "wear and tear" items that wasn't covered. I figured that once you drove off the lot you were on your own. Good news.

 

Does it pull, drift or is otherwise unsteady?

Mine is fine and has been for 26k

 

I think issues are tire wear, visible only after many miles. Some cars are just fine. Others have been out of perfect spec.

As an example, my Cayman S, when new, drove great, IMO. But after a year I noticed uneven tire wear. I had a full alignment which cured that issue and actually made the car more stable than before. A significant number of folks I have spoken with at PCA meetings and track events have had similar issues.

 

Mine needed alignment and had it done by dealer at 200 miles under warranty. Also had gem force balance the Pirellis

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Had my dealer check the alignment on mine at 300 miles and it was out a bit. My dealer provides a chart that shows before and after measurements so I could see how far out it was from the factory. I always have the dealer check my new cars. Out of last 5 new cars, only one was in spec. No charge of course, so why not.

 

So you bought a Porsche but you think they don't know how to aline the car at the factory!
Maybe you should tear down the engine and transmission and check all the tolerances.

 

What does buying a Porsche have to do with it, its my 6th by the way. If you're upset because you believe the porsche factory is perfect then so be it, Bonjour

 

Factory alignments generally are not very good. IIRC the most common complaint about any new car is related to the steering/handling. (Right up there with vibration, noises, rattles, etc.)

The factory auto assemblers do not have a lot of time to adjust/fine tune the alignment settings. I've watched techs align my cars several times. The tech adjusts one setting and this moves another setting out which then must be brought back into spec and this can require several cycles to get all the settings into agreement. It is one thing to do this on a rack at a dealership it is another thing entirely to do this on an assembly line.

At the factory the car is stationary and other cars behind it on the assembly line are backing up. So the car can leave with a perfect alignment or one not so perfect.

My 02 Boxster's alignment was just fine from new. A RMS job at 25K miles that had the car lowered to the ground with some hardware already removed upset the alignment and afterwards the inside edges of the rear tires wore to the belts. An alignment after fitting new tires fixed that.

My new 08 Cayman S had an obvious issue with its alignment. I drove it a day or two to be sure then brought the car back to the selling dealer and had the alignment checked. It was found to be out and afterwards the car was transformed.

A side note: Initially the SM balked at my request. I told him that if it was found the alignment was within spec I'd pay for the job, otherwise it would be free. He then asked me when I bought the car and I told him just a day or two before. He then said something about the alignment check would be free regardless, covered by the new car warranty.

My used CPO Turbo's alignment was also not quite right and after a few days of adjusting to the car's feel I had the car aligned and like the Cayman S the Turbo was transformed afterwards.

Tire/alignment issues that are not due to bad parts and covered under the new car warranty generally have a short "warranty" period. A few thousand miles and 90 days or thereabouts. So one can drive the car a while and decide is the alignment feels ok or not but he should not believe he has a long time to wait before he can have the alignment checked/set.

If the owner has any doubts my advise is to get the car aligned.

 

You hit the nail on the head. For example at the Corvette plant in Bowling Green, they have about 1 to 2 minutes to get the alignment done. A guy is in the pit and how do you think he feels after 80 to 100 cars and still 50 more to go. The problem is if it's not off much, you won't notice, but your tires will later.

 

Is there anything special in terms of alignment / tools with the 991?

 

I've found that the suspension settles over the first 2000 miles, which can cause changes to the alignment. Judging from my experience over many years having bought quite a few new cars I've found that BMW and Mercedes do a good job delivering the car with in-spec initial alignment that holds. Ferrari is so so, but Porsche has been the worst since the late '90s (996, 997, 991). Earlier Porsches had good alignment. Improper alignment, in my experience, always showed up after 7000+ miles as bad tire wear, mostly rapid inside edge wear down to the cord while the outside shoulder still looked fine. Having it aligned properly -- it always was quite a bit off - after about 2000 fixed the problem -- on my nickel, of course.

 

I disagree. Over the past 50 years I have bought 3 new corvettes, 4 Toyota , 2 Porsches, 2 Mercedes. I have never bought a new car that was out of alignment.
There I spelled it right. There are a lot of things that are very important on a production line that don't take long to do but that doesn't mean they don't do it right. As an engineer that has designed many things over many years, i can tell you that Porsche does not take quality lightly. I do all my own service and repair. I have kept my cars an average of 10 years. Alignment has not changed over that time period in any of my cars at least that has affected tire wear.
I have completely restored cars and have even aligned cars myself. If car manufactures were shipping cars that were out of alignment it would be a major question in JD powers surveys. Now if you want to align your car for some special purpose such as racing or off road, that is another topic. YMMV
Don't flame me it's your money spend it how you choose.
But before I would let some knuckle dragger align my car I would want to be there and know the factory specs. You should also fully understand tow in, caster, and camber and how they affect tire wear and handing. With some simple math and some home made jigs you can check some specs yourself if your so inclined.