going to lower my teg with omni sports coilover and i was wondering if i should do the alignment after the install or wait for the springs to break in first. i read that springs will go even lower after breaking in for a hundred miles or so......whats the general rule of how much they usually drop after break in?

 

I usually get an alignment right after I install anything suspension. I don't think it will make a lot of difference if they break in after alignment.

 

lol I had the same question a few threads below.

 

General rule is, go get an alignment ASAP after you mess with ride height.
If you mess with your suspension a lot, Firestone is where you wanna be.

 

If your going REALLY low with the coilovers, then you'll want one asap no matter what. Measure the ride height on a level surface from the jackpoints the the ground. Measure them a few weeks later and see ho much its changed. If youre only lowering it 1-1.5 inches or so, I'd wait a few weeks to see if they settle. Settling is proabbly more common in softer progressive rate springs than full coils, but I'm not 100% thats the case.

 

springs "settling" is probably often mistaken for the suspension bushings actually tearing. You need to loosen all the bolts on the lower control arms all around, jack up the LCA to put a load on the spring, and then re-tighten the bolts so that they bushings won't be twisted and stressed when the car is at a lowered ride height.

 

Firestone has lifetime alignment for about $130 where I live but I can't take advantage of it because they told me that they couldn't fit their equipment onto my rims.I honestly think that they might be full of **** though because Just Tires didn't have any problem.

Just Tires warranty sucks for cars with custom suspension.Their warranty goes from 60 days for normal cars to 30 days for cars with custom suspension and the service price goes up $20!

NTB has three different alignment plans(1,2,and3 year plan) but if what I understand is correct,they charge you an additional service charge of like $15-$20 every time you bring your car in to get it realigned.

I'm surprised that nobody hasn't come up with some bootleg way to align their car at home with laser pointers and specific spots on the wall for the toe and on the ground for camber...You know what?I think I'll rig something up and try it out myself and see if i can get that to work.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Zerophase &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Firestone has lifetime alignment for about $130 where I live but I can't take advantage of it because they told me that they couldn't fit their equipment onto my rims.I honestly think that they might be full of **** though because Just Tires didn't have any problem.

Just Tires warranty sucks for cars with custom suspension.Their warranty goes from 60 days for normal cars to 30 days for cars with custom suspension and the service price goes up $20!

NTB has three different alignment plans(1,2,and3 year plan) but if what I understand is correct,they charge you an additional service charge of like $15-$20 every time you bring your car in to get it realigned.

I'm surprised that nobody hasn't come up with some bootleg way to align their car at home with laser pointers and specific spots on the wall for the toe and on the ground for camber...You know what?I think I'll rig something up and try it out myself and see if i can get that to work. </TD></TR></TABLE>

It would be pretty difficult to rig up something at home unless you're able to get under the car to adjust toe while the car is fully on the ground, wheels bolted up and everything. You also can't really make proper adjustments unless the tires have some sort of rotational plates, to let the tires rotate freely as you adjust the toe, without the friction of the tires against the floor working against you and throwing off your readings.

Paying $60 once or twice a year for a full alignment is certainly much cheaper than buying new tires every few months.

 

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

It would be pretty difficult to rig up something at home unless you're able to get under the car to adjust toe while the car is fully on the ground, wheels bolted up and everything. You also can't really make proper adjustments unless the tires have some sort of rotational plates, to let the tires rotate freely as you adjust the toe, without the friction of the tires against the floor working against you and throwing off your readings.

Paying $60 once or twice a year for a full alignment is certainly much cheaper than buying new tires every few months.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I've seen some type of wheel stands,or whatever they are called,that are like a cupped shaped plate on casters, for all four tires.What if I were to use those to adjust the toe? They will move freely if the ground is smooth enough,I imagine.

By the way,the plan would to get the alignment first then set up the rig at home so when the warranty runs out then I wouldn't have to pay for it again.I mess with my coilovers a bit so it would be beneficial to me,at least.

 

you can align like 95% of all your settings if you take the time with some simple tools and a pyrometer, this is all old news guys, getting an alignment done at a shop is good, but if you are a hardcore racer, you take it to an open track or parking lot and take out the pyrometer, even though you can get the specs to the "correct" camber settings, performance settings might require more or less camber for one side or the other, thats why you would take out the pyrometer and test the tire temperature across the tread, you can also measure toe with a string on the tread and get it dialed into 0 with just the string........there are a lot of tricks out there guys...........