wildcatgoal
@sirboom_photography
[MENTION=30638]aleccolin[/MENTION]
My recommendation is to go to a PERFORMANCE ALIGNMENT shop, speed shop that does alignments as well (on race cars, for example), or any German car repair house can typically do these things with a modicum of skill considering most German cars are particularly picky about their alignments.
What I do if I'm asked to install springs is simply mark the bolts for all rubber bushings on the suspension with a bright-colored grease pen and in a conspicuous area next to that bolt, put the torque value I want the technician to re-torque to.
Then when you get your alignment, pay the extra few bucks and have the guy (or gal) to first drive the car up on the alignment lift, clock the bushings (explain that means to loosen the bolts marked with the grease pen and re-torque to the number you wrote next to it with a torque wrench, not an air gun). Then after doing so, go through the normal procedure for aligning the car, which typically includes rolling the car forward and backward just a little bit to ensure it's totally settled before taking readings.
You can get away with using a floor jack to put "artificial weight" on the suspension so long as you have the car very securely supported with quality, wide-based jack stands, but frankly that's not always representative of the car's 4-wheel weight distribution and you do run the risk of dropping the car so if you're going to do it, have the wheels on and know the risk.
It is REALLY hard to mess up the manufacture of springs these days. The first patent for a spring was in 1763... we've been making them ever since. It's not the springs. Frankly, according to the photos I've provided here which are cars with Steeda Progressive springs, your car looks totally fine. The gray car has had them on for a little while and the white car just got them installed before the photo was taken. Both of these cars have 20" wheels. I could not find the same cars with PP wheels (I think only one of them is a PP car, but neither of them have a spare tire in the back).
My recommendation is to go to a PERFORMANCE ALIGNMENT shop, speed shop that does alignments as well (on race cars, for example), or any German car repair house can typically do these things with a modicum of skill considering most German cars are particularly picky about their alignments.
What I do if I'm asked to install springs is simply mark the bolts for all rubber bushings on the suspension with a bright-colored grease pen and in a conspicuous area next to that bolt, put the torque value I want the technician to re-torque to.
Then when you get your alignment, pay the extra few bucks and have the guy (or gal) to first drive the car up on the alignment lift, clock the bushings (explain that means to loosen the bolts marked with the grease pen and re-torque to the number you wrote next to it with a torque wrench, not an air gun). Then after doing so, go through the normal procedure for aligning the car, which typically includes rolling the car forward and backward just a little bit to ensure it's totally settled before taking readings.
You can get away with using a floor jack to put "artificial weight" on the suspension so long as you have the car very securely supported with quality, wide-based jack stands, but frankly that's not always representative of the car's 4-wheel weight distribution and you do run the risk of dropping the car so if you're going to do it, have the wheels on and know the risk.
It is REALLY hard to mess up the manufacture of springs these days. The first patent for a spring was in 1763... we've been making them ever since. It's not the springs. Frankly, according to the photos I've provided here which are cars with Steeda Progressive springs, your car looks totally fine. The gray car has had them on for a little while and the white car just got them installed before the photo was taken. Both of these cars have 20" wheels. I could not find the same cars with PP wheels (I think only one of them is a PP car, but neither of them have a spare tire in the back).
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