I need to get these issues sorted out before I head to Friday at the Track @ Summit on the 17th. In an attempt to sort out my issues, I want to have the car raised about a half-inch and then corner balanced. Does anyone know which shop around the NoVA/DC/MD area is the most experienced with setting up Porsche suspensions? I'm really tired of dealing with shops that don't know WTF they are doing, yet still charge an arm and a leg.

Thanks guys!

 

AtSpeed in Hanover would my choice.

 

Never heard of them before, but a quick glance at their history on their website leads me to believe they really know their stuff. Thanks for the recommendation!

 

You can also try Intersport in McLean.....ask to speak to Omar or Charlie......

 

Gets my vote.

 

One more for intersport in McLean. I would spend my money there before anywhere else in the area. Charlie helped me make the right decision money wise rather then me coming back consistently for more upgrades.

 

rich or mike at atspeed can get u sorted. they maintain my race car in fact they r hauling it out n their transporter w/ 2 other cup cars for the fatt on 17th....see u out there. corner balancing a street car is like stuffing singles into the garter of an ugly stripper...sure you could do it but why?

 

Just called up atspeed and scheduled an appointment for Weds/Thurs. Hopefully they will take good care of me.

 

Intersport = Charlie or Ivan at IMA.... or TPC (a.k.a. JRZ North America - you dont get more suspension savvy than that, just bring a hefty wallet).

I would avoid At Speed, unless you're impressed by things the place used to be and used to do under former personel who have ALL long since departed for good reason.

Mentioning At Speed in the same sentence as Intersport, IMA and TPC is really unfair.... to the later 3.

 

I don't know a lot about intersport, I know they've been around for a while and have been involved with track events and the like. I have only met Ivan once and been to IMA once. from what I can see seems like a good place and they seem to know their stuff.

TPC is expensive but they are involved with racing pretty extensively, they have won major races in Grand AM with the 996 Chassis NB GT3 cars.

At Speed has the know how to set up a Porsche, they focus mainly on Prosche and BMW and Bob has a good deal of racing and coaching experience, Rich and Mike are also very good mechanics and a few of their staff has come from TPC's crew back when they were racing in the Grand Am GT Series championship.

That is all I can offer. I do not like to bash shops, that's not in good taste in my opinion unless explicitly called for (like they've personally screwed up on my car or soemthing like that) and even then I proceed catiously and only make things publec if AND only if proper recourse cannot by met thru other means.

 

Well hopefully your car getting transported doesn't end up flipped upside down - as in rig fully flipped over on side of road due to operator error - and they ask you to pay them to fix your car. That is a well known strory... stress story... I didn't personally see the rig flipped over but I did see the carnage aftermath of poor car. Would that meet your "explicitly called for" test? I know a few people who say they've had good experiences there but exponentially more who say run far run fast.

 

FWIW, I canceled my appt with atspeed. I'm sitting in the waiting area inside of IMA, as I type this, waiting for Ivan to help me out. I couldn't pass it up, as IMA is much closer to my house than atspeed.

 

"Well known story....stress story" ...wtf is this?? Cliff are you saying that they have flipped their transporter or insinuating as such? Why would you even instigate or mention such a horriffic thing if it is not true? I want to ask you straight up...DID AT SPEED EVER ROLL A TRANSPORTER??

I don't trash talk other places like I said that's not what I do it's wrong....for example when I chose Rob to do my PPF, did I once talk trash about you Cliff? NO I didn't.... in fact I even said positive things about you even though you didn't work on my car, I had seen your work and I liked what I saw so I did not trash talk you. Did I tell people how you made me wait 4 hrs longer than the time you said and how you looked at my car for 7 mins thereafter before kicking me out for John's lambo that came in...??? No I didn't why...because I didn't want that to get in the way of the work...did I take note of it yes, was I pissed about it then, yes, nobody wants their time wasted. That was a first impression mind you.

Again At Speed has done a good job for me in the past with certain track related and track support items. I am stating my opinion from my experience I had with them from the limited work they've done for me, basic maintenance, and upkeep, storage etc...they have not done a big job for me but they have done a few smaller jobs along the way on my race car and street car.

If you have any true and explicitly bad incidences to speak of then let others know so they can make their own choices but until then if you prefer some other shop that's fine but don't bash someone if you simply prefer someone else to them.

....and please ansswer my question from the above....

 

Just got back from IMA Motorsport and I must say that I'm quite pleased with my experience. Ivan is a good guy and seems to run his shop the right way. Cliff actually called him while I was there in his office.

As for my issues, Ivan thinks it's simply a result of the shock being set too soft for the springs. More importantly, however, he and a couple of techs were nice enough to diagnose clunking noise that I was hearing from the front passenger side of the car. Evidently the shock is bad, as it was making the noise every time the car bounced up and down. I scheduled an appointment for Thursday morning to get it fixed/replaced. Now I just need to get my crooked spoiler fixed before FATT and I should be good to go.

Thanks again to everyone for recommendations. It sucks that people are pointing fingers now, but I'm sure I would have been happy with AT Speed had I choose to go with them. In the end, however, IMA is a better fit for me since it's so close to my house.

 

Cliff and I just had a nice long conversation...looks like there is a lot of info out there that was around for longer than I have known, about all the porsche places in the area from racing to the street consumer market, being an old BMW guy I was unfamiliar with it all, and having such a close knit community involved with the marque lends for some pretty cut throat competition as well it seems. I think there are some good options locally out there for Porsches but I think the consumer just needs to do their homework and figure out what's a good fit. Each place has it's stories I suppose. I guess what it comes down to is the consumer's own level of trust and their experiences with the shop thye choose to deal with ultimately.