Our weather in Michigan took a turn towards winter with temps dropping to the 40’s and the threat of snow for our Fall Tech Day. Fortunately we didn’t see any snow, but a light rain arrived during our event. We had a fantastic response to our signup with 36 in attendance but sadly no Vipers were present, with most of us beginning to place our Vipers into hibernation.
Our Fall Tech Day was held at the garage of Wil and Carrie Thorne. For those of you who do not know Wil or his services, he has been working on Vipers for over a decade. He has been slowly buying up parts and specialized equipment needed to work on our cars. He has recently expanded his services to include aligning our Vipers.
The session started with a brief overview on what we need to do to prepare our cars for winter storage. Wil then went out for the remainder explaining the basics of our suspension and alignment process. Wil stressed the importance of a pre-alignment inspection and repair. He also stressed the need to have the car in properly prepared prior to alignment (full tank of gas, personal “ballast” removed). A bad suspension part or even improperly inflated tires will affect the ride and tracking of the vehicle. Wil then went thru the various steps of an alignment and how each affected the overall response to handling. He stressed that many of the “cheaper” shops will not know about the many diverse ways that the Viper suspension can be tuned but most will actually cause more problems when they ignore a pre-inspection or incorrectly change a setting.
I think all of us were very impressed by Wil’s knowledge and expertise and will never take our cars to a “cheapie” alignment shop again. Our thanks to our host, Wil and Carrie, who spent numerous hours preparing the shop and putting on a fantastic event. Our thanks also to MCVO for providing the refreshments and Carrie for the pictures. Lastly, we want to thank Ann Rappaport for taking additional photos which will be highlighted in the next edition of Snakes Bites.
(Note: To view all photos for this event, move your mouse or cursor toward the picture, then click on the directional arrows that will appear.) You may also click on a photo where you’ll be sent to Flickr and can download your favorite.
