Got a quote today by local tuner shop (not a Porsche dealer) to install my springs would be a all day event running $800 + $250 for an alignment. They also will charge an additional $250 for a SSK. Do these #'s sound about right?

On my M5 install for springs ran about $300 or so...

 

I had my PSS10's installed at our local Porsche dealer, they did a great job, took two days with alignment, paid about 1300.00 they had to attach all PASM stuff on and it was a bit of work.
I personally think you may be paying a bit much for alignment but everything else sounds very good.

 

if the springs will lower it..then it needs a corner balance and then an alignment so $250 for that is not unreasonable

 

you are correct on this one, you hardly ever find an alignment place that can do corner balancing though... i am trying to get mine done.

 

try to find out who the local pca/poc inspection shop is (or the bmw shop)...they should have the equipment to do a corner balance and alignment...

 

Since I tend to install multiple parts at a time I usually discuss a packaged deal . What it does is make it hard for me to remember one aspect but it also allows me to pile on a lot of mods at one time to consolodate a better rate --this works out well fir both the tuner and owner . The alignment sounds about right but the springs sound a bit high -right off the top of my head .

You start piling on a bunch of other mods pinning down a good price will come easier and both of you would walk away happy with the outcome.

 

I was told by a local tuner that unless you track the car no corner balance is needed, is this true?

 

if you don't care how your car handles on the street...certainly the alignment is more critical especially for proper tire wear...a corner balance could be considered "fine tuning" but whenever you change ride height on a high performance vehicle it's a good idea

 

How are you going to corner balance with just lowering springs? There is no way to fine tune/adjust the ride height on stock struts, which is how you corner balance (IE, via raising and lowering the spring collars)...... I have corner balanced a ton of Porsche race cars, all with coilovers, but I don't see how you would corner balance a non adjustable suspension (other than physically relocating items around in the car from corner to corner). Maybe I am missing something, can someone shed some light on this please?

 

he has a 997tt with pss10s...I thought the turbo had coilovers...shows how much I know about turbos

 

Most shops charge about $100/hr for labor and from what I heard it's a 5-6 hour job for the install of the springs or coilovers. $250 for an alignment seems kinda high. I got a corner balance/alignment done for $300. Why not go with coilovers?

 

Ah, I read it as just installing lowering springs!

 

My old man paid $800 to install his springs, an alignment and an oil change. If you are in the NY/NJ area check out Protosport in NJ... they are a great Porsche only shop.

 

+ 1 If you are going as far as doing coilovers and sways, getting a proper corner balance should be a no brainer.

 

The 996's used to have compensation discs from the factory, thin plastic spacers of different thickness.These were installed under the springs to keep the cars within spec. Not really corner balancing, but kind of sort of...