Sup guys, i'm currently upgrading to a full coilover setup and will be giving my stock CTR suspension to my little bro (stock EM1). I wanted to know if it would necessary to get a alignment done after the installation? The stock CTR suspension drops .75 inches so its not anything drastic. I know when changing your ride height you'll need a alignement done but in this case its basically a stock for stock suspension switch. LMK....

 

Yes. If you want the best performance and to prolong the life of your tires you must get your toe set correctly after any ride height change.

 

Come on man, you're not a n00b, you should know this. Toe changes as the suspension moves throughout its vertical range of motion, due to the control arms and tie rods (front) and compensator arms (rear) all being different lengths with different rotational center points. As a result, toe changes with ANY change in ride height, no matter how small.

This is why any change in ride height requires an alignment, and also why you should get the alignment checked and adjusted at least once, if not twice a year. Various things happen as a car ages and the miles rack up, things like the chassis getting tweaked, bushings wearing/sagging, springs sagging (shouldn't happen too much), all of which can affect the ride height at each corner of the car. This can cause uneven tire wear even if you did get an alignment after changing the ride height but not having the alignment maintained.

 

Haha thx for the confirmation pat, I just wanted to make sure. Thx

 

A once a year alignment is a good idea as preventative maintenance, preferably each Spring after winter is over. An alignment check is also a good idea if you hit a large pothole or curb and think something had been damaged. The biggest thing that will change over time is your front toe. Tie rod ends do stretch over time from use and well cause the front tires to toe out generally. Lowering a car and driving it without an alignment will cause drastic tire wear due to the toe being out of spec. Camber will also wear tires, but not near to the point of toe. Toe is what you see when you see the inside or outside edges of the tires worn or when you see feathering. You get good at noticing these things when you do alignments for a living.

 

If the tie rods stretched, then the tires would toe inwards.

The only way to get toe out is if the tie rods gets shorter, or the ends moved up higher in the range of movement (like when the car is lowered).