hey guys

sorry for posting in the wrong catagory, but almost all the knowledgable experienced users go to this forum and not the others. please forgive me

i plan on lowering my car this weekend, so i called around to various chain stores to ask. whenever i mention a lowered car, they immediately refuse to align it.

my car will only moderately dropped with s-techs, and its not that slammed to not fit on an alignment rack. they claim that the whole suspension geometry will be changed, so they cannot set it to factory settings...

i only really need to get my toe zeroed out and nothing more.

should i just take my car in and not tell them its lowered? or do i have to find a tuning shop and pay $$$? where did you guys take your cars?

thanks

 

I ended up putting a SPC camber kit on my EK, now anyone will align it (they like adj ball joints, lol)

 

just take it in and when you ask for an alignment tell them you just need the toe set because its lowered. most shops should do it anyways, since its less work and they will make full price.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ekcivic9 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

should i just take my car in and not tell them its lowered?

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


If you take your car to an alignment place and they can't figure out it's lowered....
They have no business IN the business, yeah?


How far are you dropping it? If you aren't going that low, don't worry about your alignment. Or get your toe zero'd before you lower.

 

i believe 1.7 rear and 1.9 front? its not going to be slammed. there will still be wheel gap

 

under 2" on an eg or ek is nothing, camber wont even be off that bad, and theres no reason to turn away a customer. i have aligned eg's with 2.75" drop without a problem. of coarse camber is off, but theres no reason not to set the toe.

 

i had that same problem for awhile bc they said they woldnt warranty how long it would be good for...
i said i dont care, and they did it anyways havent had any complaints . hope this helps

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by o2flow.net &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I ended up putting a SPC camber kit on my EK, now anyone will align it (they like adj ball joints, lol)</TD></TR></TABLE>

I've got the same camber kit with Neuspeed Race springs. I had to take my front bumper off to be able to get it on their rack but other than that. When I first lowered my car I didn't have it aligned because the only thing that was off was the camber and it wasn't going to help that much by aligning it. So I broke down and bought the SPC Products front and rear fully adjustable camber kit. Best investment towards my car besides the Cam and turbo kit!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by crappyDC4 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i had that same problem for awhile bc they said they woldnt warranty how long it would be good for...
i said i dont care, and they did it anyways havent had any complaints . hope this helps </TD></TR></TABLE>

so theres not much wear on your tires?

DseriesBkilla - but the race springs drop 2+ something inches right? i dont think ill need to take off my bumper.

 

If you are really only concerned about toe, why not align it yourself? Racers do it at the track with a long peice of string down the side of the car... I'm sure a search on HT or google would net a better description but you might just end up saving yourself the $$. ...Worth a try.

 

i contemplated that... but laser &gt; eye.

theres a plate u can buy online for 60 bucks for toe... but i really rather have it perfectly at 0.

 

i have my car dumped all the way down, and auto innovations in milpitas, ca were still able to get it on the machine and align it

 

I took mine to firestone, its lowered on some Apex-I gear, and the secretary lady had no idea, she even sold me the lifetime alignment.

I just went in for my third alignment and the manager came out and spoke to me about it. He was not happy but agreed to honour the lifetime alignment deal.

So I say go on in, see what they will give you. It cannot hurt to ask.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fmrprojects &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i have my car dumped all the way down, and auto innovations in milpitas, ca were still able to get it on the machine and align it</TD></TR></TABLE>

where or whats the number for that shop?

 

That's an easy one, just don't tell them it's lowered.

 

thats not true.
I got my car align at Big O tires. They will do it. But if its too low they might refuse it. You have to have a camber kit for them to agree to align it. My car was dropped 2.5 all around and they agreed to do the alignment. Note: Some Big O tires will refuse doing alignments on cars that are lower than 2 inches. Call around to verify.. One will eventually do it for you. thats what I did. Its just a walk in basis. no appointment is needed. Les Schwab will do it also, but they always have a long appointment wait. They have the low profile alignment rack so they could probably go down to 3 inches. They also have ball joint camber kits that they will sell to you if you dont already have one install. Also Frame shops will do alignments also, but then again their appointment wait is pretty long also. Big O tires is your best bet. Give them a call.

 

humm im not sure if i have any Big-O's around me.

I'll just give firestone a go, the guy told me to bring my car in and see if it would fit on the racks.