I just lowered my 98 Integra on H&R Race springs 2 weeks ago. The drop was pretty low and I am starting to see some tire wear on the inside in the front. I am planning to buy the Ingalls front kit and get the alignment done this week once I get paid. My question to H-T members is: where should I get my alignment done? Firestone? Discount Tire Co.? etc.? If anyone lives the San Gabriel valley and knows where a good alignment shop is, please post here! Thanks for you help!

 

you should call around and check with those shops and see if they do lowered cars. many of the places around here can't even get my car onto the rack...

 

man there is a nice place around my house for 35 dollars...only if you live around here, i would take u to the shop..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ha illuminato un &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you should call around and check with those shops and see if they do lowered cars. many of the places around here can't even get my car onto the rack...</TD></TR></TABLE>

its one thing if they can even get your car on the rack, but shops like firestone -most of the time won't even take non "stock" suspensions.

But try to find a local shop, i had one by my area called spring align which only does alignments
Also make sure they do a full alignment--toe, camber, castor etc.

 

$35? damn thats cheap. its prolly just a toe and go. i would never do an alignment that cheap

 

my friend got it done at Firestone here in Arcadia like 3 years ago, so I know they will do my car. He has a slammed 91 teg that is lowered like 3.5 inches.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by frankdatank &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">$35? damn thats cheap. its prolly just a toe and go. i would never do an alignment that cheap</TD></TR></TABLE>

Only thing that gets adjusted on my car is toe, and for not having a camber kit and being lowered 3" I'd say I'm doing pretty good. I have 22K miles on my ES100's now, -2.5 camber in front.

My friend who works at a Chevy dealer does it for me. I usually give him $30 or so to do it, cuz we do the work after hours and I help him do the work. My sideskirts scrape a bit getting on the rack, but it's not too bad.

 

yeah i'm gunna get the camber kit tho. My tires have wear on them after 2 weeks. anybody with info from san gabriel valley?

 

Aligning a car isnt all that difficult . I do mine myself . It just takes a little more time than getting it done by laser .

 

I get mine done on base for 25. Sometimes it''s good to be in the airforce

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DC4 teg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yeah i'm gunna get the camber kit tho. My tires have wear on them after 2 weeks. anybody with info from san gabriel valley?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well that's mainly because you haven't gotten the alignment yet since you lowered it, and so the toe is probably way off. Out-of-spec toe eats tires alot faster than out-of-spec camber.

 

Patrick, when you get an alignment, what should you tell them to do about the toe? get it closest to 0 as possible?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PatrickGSR94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Well that's mainly because you haven't gotten the alignment yet since you lowered it, and so the toe is probably way off. Out-of-spec toe eats tires alot faster than out-of-spec camber.</TD></TR></TABLE>

LoL, I've been on this site for almost a year now and Patrick has been saying this for probably longer... still no one listens.

As for the alignment, I had to pay almost $90 because the only place that my car would fit on a rack was some shop in another city that does custom alignment jobs for street/racecars.

 

i have had my car lowered for nearly 2 years now and im still running on the same tires... no camber kit and no alignment shes perfect! lucky i guess im dropped on sportlines !

 

yeah my drop is a little more than Patrick's. I'm on H&R race so its a bit lower. I'm going to have to buy a camber kit.

 

just take off your front bumper in the parking lot. that's what most people do.

it will only take 5-10 minutes to take it off.

 

take off my bumper?

 

my bumper doesn't scrape (well my old one didn't, my 98+ w/ ITR lip might, thouogh), but my sideskirts do, when I'm getting on the rack. I do have to remove my lower splash guard so it doesn't block the lasers.

Just have them set the toe as close as possible to factory specs. I like to get my alignment checked and adjusted about every 6 months or so, about twice a year, just to make sure everything is in check, since I have opted to not use any camber correction kits and I want my tires to last as long as possible.

 

I got mine done at National Tire and Battery for 49.99, tax included. And I got a one year warranty too.

 

is it possible to get an alignment tool off ebay or something and do it yourself??? if so, where would i go about getting one... thanks

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PatrickGSR94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Well that's mainly because you haven't gotten the alignment yet since you lowered it, and so the toe is probably way off. Out-of-spec toe eats tires alot faster than out-of-spec camber.</TD></TR></TABLE>
he's probably right. i dropped on h&r sports also and got an alignment 15mins after. ive been driving for two months with 2.0 neg camber and can't detect any signs of uneven tire wear. ill switch my tires in 1,000 miles or so.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PatrickGSR94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Just have them set the toe as close as possible to factory specs. I like to get my alignment checked and adjusted about every 6 months or so, about twice a year, just to make sure everything is in check, since I have opted to not use any camber correction kits and I want my tires to last as long as possible.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I would have to agree with him. Get the toe set to factory specs. I have -2.3 camber (up front) and I get EVEN tirewear. I just got my tires rotated and everything looks great.

 

yeah that's another thing, be SURE you rotate your tires every 3K-5K miles.

There are alignment tools out there, but good ones are pretty pricey. But I prefer getting mine done on a Hunter laser alignment rack:

 

Firestone has lifetime alignment for $149, not sure about lowered cars though.

 

Hunter Laser Easy2 do and real good