Alignment after suspension modifications- No Go

[Weyland-Yutani]

They just drove the car off the lift and gave me the keys, I was just out my time and they should have told me from the start they couldn’t do the work. I am all good now!

Yeah, they should have just said so. Back in my auto-x days, I actually had a shop guy be very straight with me. He said something like: "I can set the toe on 3 Honda Odysseys in the time it'll take to do your car. And they won't be a pain in my ass". I wasn't mad about it because he was right. It wasn't a speed shop, because I couldn't afford a speed shop. It was a mass consumer tire shop that churns out commuter car maintenance all day.

So... I bought a couple of Longacre tools(what I could afford anyway), fabricated a laser "string" setup, and did my own alignments. It took some figuring out, but I eventually got great results. It was super tedious and time consuming though. No way I'd do that now.

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[TeeLew]

That's what I do.

 

[Brian@BMVK]

Find a shop that cares about quality not quantity. If someone wants a spec, that's what they get if achievable.

 

[Doug V]

I took my 2015 GT PP to the local Firestone to get an alignment after quite a few mods. I changed out from the PP springs to the Ford Racing Springs(lowered car about 1”) added Koni Shocks, Ford racing knuckle to toe-link bushings, BMR Rear control arms and BMR Cradle lockout kit. They put it on the rack then said it was out but they didn’t have the ability to set the suspension and took it off the rack and handed me back the keys. You can see print-out (attached)they gave me and said I really need to get the setting fixed quickly... I said that is why I was there. They tried to give me a performance shop contact and said I should give them a call. I didn’t bother taking it, not thinking I should trust anything they said. Does anyone have any input on this or suggestions where I should go, another Firestone or actually go to a performance shop only? Oddly enough, the car drives fairly smooth and straight just thought I would get an alignment after all the work I did.

SPC magnetic caliper tool (#81139). If you want to try it your self. That the specs they provided with sheet. Dealership did not know how to adjust. Factory front was negative 1.8. Mine with camber plates is at negative 1.0. I will use the tool and place at bottom of rotor. Zero out then loosen camber plate/strut bolts and move to -1.0. This will give me a total of negative 2.0 degrees. This should be fine on the street and in the twisty corners. Before I installed the plates, I had camber bolts and was set to -2.3 degrees. I like the drive but wore out the inside of stock Michelin pilot tires in 13k miles.

If you are worried, make the adjustment and have a shop give you final readings to make sure.

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