Bent front knuckle, new tires, and alignment questions

[Tambrose]

I just had my '21 RWD in for brake fluid replacement at 18.6K miles. I was informed that my tires were badly in need of replacement due to heavy wear on the insides (and a bit worse on the rears, which makes sense).

I had them replace the tires and do an alignment. The tech reported that the RF camber is out of spec due to the knuckle being bent. The LF camber is -0.52deg and the RF is -1.14deg. This is basically the same as it was prior to the alignment. The toe was also off a bit prior to the alignment, but is good now.

I've not hit anything during my time with the car.

The dealer is saying that this is not a big deal and can be left as is. He also pointed out that I'd have to pay for a new alignment in addition to the replacement cost. I'm not feeling overly comfortable with this, at least at the moment.

My questions:
- Is this OK to leave for now? Note that the car is leased and that ends in ~1 year.
- Could the knuckle have been bent when I got the car (it was new) and this is why I had the wear?
- If so, could it be under warranty?
- Any other thoughts on what I should do?

Thanks much!

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[W1NGE]

I just had my '21 RWD in for brake fluid replacement at 18.6K miles. I was informed that my tires were badly in need of replacement due to heavy wear on the insides (and a bit worse on the rears, which makes sense).

I had them replace the tires and do an alignment. The tech reported that the RF camber is out of spec due to the knuckle being bent. The LF camber is -0.52deg and the RF is -1.14deg. This is basically the same as it was prior to the alignment. The toe was also off a bit prior to the alignment, but is good now.

I've not hit anything during my time with the car.

The dealer is saying that this is not a big deal and can be left as is. He also pointed out that I'd have to pay for a new alignment in addition to the replacement cost. I'm not feeling overly comfortable with this, at least at the moment.

My questions:
- Is this OK to leave for now? Note that the car is leased and that ends in ~1 year.
- Could the knuckle have been bent when I got the car (it was new) and this is why I had the wear?
- If so, could it be under warranty?
- Any other thoughts on what I should do?

Thanks much!

Get a second opinion. I doubt anything is bent if you've not been off-roading or driven into a hole at speed.

Alignment is pricey depending on work required. Full alignment can take 7.25 hours at Porsche labour rates - bumper removal, camera recalibration and so on.

 

[bsclywilly]

Agree with the second opinion. Perhaps there was something lost in translation from the tech to advisor but it is highly unlikely the knuckle is bent. Your wheel, lower control arm, ball joints, wheel bearings, subframe would be damaged first (in roughly that order) before the knuckle would yield.

Taycan alignment procedure is to shift the front subframe to balance out the front camber between left/ right. It ain’t cheap though as @W1NGE mentioned the labor hours add up. The cost of not fixing the alignment is premature tire wear.

There was also a recall a while ago for some cars that had alignment out of spec from the factory if you want to look into that. https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/new-recall-suspension-may-be-misaligned.9371/

 

[Genau]

Could the knuckle have been bent when I got the car (it was new) and this is why I had the wear?
- If so, could it be under warranty?

Perhaps your Taycan was improperly chained down when it was transported somewhere between the factory and the dealership, and the knuckle was the weakest point that experienced some force during transport. Surely this would be covered under warranty if you could convince PCNA that this was the most likely scenario.

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