W0oT

i've been puzzled for a while... i've been to school and gotten a degree in the automotive field and i've never heard of such a thing...... here's the story

my ex purchased a 89 civic dx w/ zc swap. and has had horrible uneven tire wear due to way to much positive camber..... why i do not know... the car is lowered atleast 2-3inches so i would expect negative camber.... anyways

she's brought it to numerous socalled alignment shops, only to be told that it was A either too low to get on the machine... or B "we don't have specs for your car"......

"we don't have specs for your car"! ok it's my impression that any and all alignment machines/ shops have specs for a pre 1990 vehicle in the year 2000+ lol.... and also as long as the machine reads what the cars camber/caster/toe (alignment) is when it get's on the machine, can't u do your best to try and get things atleast 0'd out??????

just my rant for tonight, i removed the front bumper, and i'm bringing it to a friend at a shop i know will do a proper job.... if not then i have stock suspension she can buy off me... hehehe

btw i looked at the knuckles ect. today, and it appears to be stock dx/si same markings sh3/ letter C on dust shield ect.....


Modified by Majin Vegita at 9:09 AM 10/14/2004

CRX_1.8T

as far as i know, you are right. all shops should have the specs. i think they are being lazy. maybe find someone with a Honda Reapir Manual and Xerox the page with all of the correct degrees of measurement. then give it to their lazy ***.
even though your friend is going to align it

B2FiNiTY

iTrader: (2)

that sounds retarded as heck. You should post the name and addy of the shop so that people do not go there.

W0oT

i think it was a local sears... i'm just gonna bring it to my friend, my ex goes through tires every 2-3 months, and i feel really bad for her, people allways take advantage of her.

type Gendy

Greasy mechanics

I need to find a good alignment place in the area as well...once i get a front camber kit

W0oT

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Evil Sick hatcheM &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Greasy mechanics

I need to find a good alignment place in the area as well...once i get a front camber kit </TD></TR></TABLE>

i gotcha covered. i'm friends w/ the manager over at the monroe here by my house, he know's his **** pretty well..... lemme know when u get it, i'm doing the same, and planned on getting a alignment from him when i finish my bushing install and brake upgrade

splitime

They most likely just don't want to deal with a lowered car.

My route was to find a friendly firestone and remove my bumper when its alignment time. They have a nice hunter infared panel rack and the lifetime alignment cost 120

dr_latino999

Damn, you have it so nice. Here in the Kissimmee Area, they won't rack it all, lowered with or without the bumper. They say that they only do "routine" alignments, not "performance" on highly modded systems i.e. dropped an inch

splitime

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dr_latino999 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Damn, you have it so nice. Here in the Kissimmee Area, they won't rack it all, lowered with or without the bumper. They say that they only do "routine" alignments, not "performance" on highly modded systems i.e. dropped an inch </TD></TR></TABLE>

Just find a shop where the guys that work there... like your car Having things in common is a good route to go.

crxgator

sears has all the alignment specs in the computer already...i know i got my **** done there...oh wait i worked there...

the only thing they can change is Toe, so tell the ships you want all your toe set to 0...caster and camber are non adjustable, just get a print out of the sheets so you know what the problem is with the rest of the car...

W0oT

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by crxgator &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">sears has all the alignment specs in the computer already...i know i got my **** done there...oh wait i worked there...

the only thing they can change is Toe, so tell the ships you want all your toe set to 0...caster and camber are non adjustable, just get a print out of the sheets so you know what the problem is with the rest of the car...</TD></TR></TABLE>

lol i forgot u worked there, and yea i guess u guys couldn't adjust the camber much... working at sears and all.... it's still BS how she was told that they didn't have the specs for her car..... coulda just told her the truth...

crxgator

you cant adjust the camber at all...

if they couldnt change anything its free...

plus they give you a print out of before and after specs...if they didnt and they charged you, complain about that ****...

W0oT

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by crxgator &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you cant adjust the camber at all...

if they couldnt change anything its free...

plus they give you a print out of before and after specs...if they didnt and they charged you, complain about that ****... </TD></TR></TABLE>

ehh i'm a body guy we slot things and make em work
you know this

free is good!

but the fact that they told her some BS and charged her because she's a girl...

SEA Hag

It's been pretty well established on this site, that most alignment shops will just make up some BS so they don't have to deal with you. If your car is lowered.

W0oT

working on it tonight, noticed that it has a front upper control arm camber kit allready installed... chooches to skeezy alignment shops

Eg_Ryan

I work at sears in the auotmotive department and they aligned my 88 crx, they should have all the specs. to that shop., **** we got specs to cars ive never heard of.

EJ2-Fluffy

iTrader: (1)

The reason is because some shops just don't have the specs for a lowered car. Most machines are meant for the OEM specifications. Some shops make custom charts to allow for adjustment on lowered cars. That's why its always best to get it done at some performance alignment shop or if you know a guy who knows what he is doing at a normal shop, then get it done there.

-Jon

SEA Hag

Yeah I wouldn't want them to get confused about what zero degree of toe was...

jhota

i'm a manager at a sears auto center here in town, and i've found this thread amusing.

1. sears is a department store that happens to work on cars. although there are good auto centers for repairs to modified and high performance cars (both of them here, as a matter of fact), most of them are geared toward the mom and pop business.

2. changing the vehicle's ride height changes the alignment angles, and on some cars the alignment spec (Mercedes-Benz and BMW come to mind). on our cars, the stock specs work well (if you can get to them) even if the car is lowered.

3. problems arise because vehicles are designed to have different alignment angles at different points in their suspension travel; when you lower the car, this changes where in the travel you are while at rest. that's probably what the tech means when they say they don't have specs, because they only have them for a specific range of ride heights; outside that range, the car actually does have different specs.

anyway, like i said, the factory specs work well even on lowered civics (if you can adjust to them). i like a little bit more negative camber at the rear, and a tad more toe-out at the front, but that's me.

rice_classic

It's just toe! You can align your own car in your own garage in 20 minutes with a bungee cord and a piece of string...

fourthgenhatchB17

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rice_classic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It's just toe! You can align your own car in your own garage in 20 minutes with a bungee cord and a piece of string...

</TD></TR></TABLE>

U can get it close enough, but not as perfect as some people would want (like myself), but it is do-able.