FZP
Zandvoort
- Joined
- 18 Jan 2015
- Messages
- 5,878
Back story.
A mate from back home is ex V8SC racer and owns a shop that does chassis and engine work so I've always had cars that handle well.
997.2 C2S on MPSS tyres with knocking noise from front left with flappy front left wheel over bumps and vague handling generally. Whisk the car off to OPC and they change outer tie rod end. Still have the knocking noise, flappy wheel and handling has deteriorated even more due to a wheel alignment that they did. Doesn't want to turn left very much and turning right under load the car wanted to steer from the rear.
A few recommendations appear on here for CG so cancelled booking with OPC and booked with CG. Net cost was going to be the same, so given that all Ill get back is a factory car at best with OPC, it was time to take the plunge.
Prior to getting appt with them I sent down my measurements according to OPC with description of my car woes and the response I got back assured me that I was dealing with the right people. In his response it was his noting of the steering wheel being at 11:58 rather than 12am just from the data that really impressed me.
The day went roughly like this.
*discuss cars issues
*measure damping performance
*test drive with Chris to baseline car performance and highlight issues with any components. To my surprise, there is very little in the way of hard cornering, breaking or acceleration. My expectation was probably the opposite to how it went tbh.
* set weights up on the car to replicate full fuel loading
*a full inspection of the underside of the vehicle
*measure everything under the sun
*agree on cars handling characteristics. For this purpose 0 being family car, 10 being sprint car set up, and a GT car being 3.5 I opted for a car in the range of 4-7 range removing understeer with a neutral feel through the corners. I have no interest in showboating oversteer powerslides.
*replace worn items
*set car up and measure everything under the sun again
*another test drive
First it was diagnosed from the test drive that I needed a new left coffin arm(already knew this from second visit to OPC) and also an inner tie rod end. These two items rectified the knocking and the flappy left front. As we went through the day Chris is more than happy to provide transparency to the whats and whys as to his work. I found this engaging and comforting at the same time that I'm not getting sold a pup.
After a full days work, we then went on the test drive and it was immediately apparent that the car had a different personality on the first round about. I could feel from the passenger seat that the understeer was now gone. Previously under harsh acceleration the car would be previously pulling right and left as the diff tried to overcome the previous settings in the rear wheels. Now it accelerates smoothly in a straight line with no mess and fuss. The car was reticent to want to turn left and required 2 stabs at the steering wheel to get it to turn in. On motorway driving the car always required that little input of left and right(tiny, subliminal inputs) to keep the car in the lane. Prior to the mess with the left wheel, the cars general feel was understeer, now I have a car that is pointed, planted and confidence inspiring.
Driving home last night it was icy/wet and temps at 0C. As I approached familiar roads close to home I gave the chassis a nudge and I can say this - As the car stands, it now has more grip at 0C in wet and icy conditions that it did at 15C on dry roads.
One of the concerns I had as part of this process was that to gain chassis performance I was going to give up on comfort. Given I had a 90 min drive home with a good dose of Motorway and A road driving, what Chris has given me is car that now two cars in one.
1. An IMPROVED GT experience for motorways driving
2. An IMPROVED sports car. As soon as I gave it a nudge it shows me that there is a beast waiting to bust out.
I've now can understand why CG have the reputation that they have and would recommend that all P car owners book an appt with them to get more from their car. The car that Chris has set up is what Im sure the engineers at Porsche would like the cars to be like when they leave the factory rather than the dumbed down version they have to send out for the masses of the Porsche buying public array of driving skills.
So if I was collecting a new to me Porsche, or collecting a brand new car, it would be whisked straight down to the team at Centre Gravity to have it dusted with their magic.
A 10/10 experience.
A mate from back home is ex V8SC racer and owns a shop that does chassis and engine work so I've always had cars that handle well.
997.2 C2S on MPSS tyres with knocking noise from front left with flappy front left wheel over bumps and vague handling generally. Whisk the car off to OPC and they change outer tie rod end. Still have the knocking noise, flappy wheel and handling has deteriorated even more due to a wheel alignment that they did. Doesn't want to turn left very much and turning right under load the car wanted to steer from the rear.
A few recommendations appear on here for CG so cancelled booking with OPC and booked with CG. Net cost was going to be the same, so given that all Ill get back is a factory car at best with OPC, it was time to take the plunge.
Prior to getting appt with them I sent down my measurements according to OPC with description of my car woes and the response I got back assured me that I was dealing with the right people. In his response it was his noting of the steering wheel being at 11:58 rather than 12am just from the data that really impressed me.
The day went roughly like this.
*discuss cars issues
*measure damping performance
*test drive with Chris to baseline car performance and highlight issues with any components. To my surprise, there is very little in the way of hard cornering, breaking or acceleration. My expectation was probably the opposite to how it went tbh.
* set weights up on the car to replicate full fuel loading
*a full inspection of the underside of the vehicle
*measure everything under the sun
*agree on cars handling characteristics. For this purpose 0 being family car, 10 being sprint car set up, and a GT car being 3.5 I opted for a car in the range of 4-7 range removing understeer with a neutral feel through the corners. I have no interest in showboating oversteer powerslides.
*replace worn items
*set car up and measure everything under the sun again
*another test drive
First it was diagnosed from the test drive that I needed a new left coffin arm(already knew this from second visit to OPC) and also an inner tie rod end. These two items rectified the knocking and the flappy left front. As we went through the day Chris is more than happy to provide transparency to the whats and whys as to his work. I found this engaging and comforting at the same time that I'm not getting sold a pup.
After a full days work, we then went on the test drive and it was immediately apparent that the car had a different personality on the first round about. I could feel from the passenger seat that the understeer was now gone. Previously under harsh acceleration the car would be previously pulling right and left as the diff tried to overcome the previous settings in the rear wheels. Now it accelerates smoothly in a straight line with no mess and fuss. The car was reticent to want to turn left and required 2 stabs at the steering wheel to get it to turn in. On motorway driving the car always required that little input of left and right(tiny, subliminal inputs) to keep the car in the lane. Prior to the mess with the left wheel, the cars general feel was understeer, now I have a car that is pointed, planted and confidence inspiring.
Driving home last night it was icy/wet and temps at 0C. As I approached familiar roads close to home I gave the chassis a nudge and I can say this - As the car stands, it now has more grip at 0C in wet and icy conditions that it did at 15C on dry roads.
One of the concerns I had as part of this process was that to gain chassis performance I was going to give up on comfort. Given I had a 90 min drive home with a good dose of Motorway and A road driving, what Chris has given me is car that now two cars in one.
1. An IMPROVED GT experience for motorways driving
2. An IMPROVED sports car. As soon as I gave it a nudge it shows me that there is a beast waiting to bust out.
I've now can understand why CG have the reputation that they have and would recommend that all P car owners book an appt with them to get more from their car. The car that Chris has set up is what Im sure the engineers at Porsche would like the cars to be like when they leave the factory rather than the dumbed down version they have to send out for the masses of the Porsche buying public array of driving skills.
So if I was collecting a new to me Porsche, or collecting a brand new car, it would be whisked straight down to the team at Centre Gravity to have it dusted with their magic.
A 10/10 experience.
