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Old 05-28-09, 01:05 PM
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1.5jzsupra
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Default alignment

first off i have megan springs (~2.0" front and back) and 20's
i've been looking for places to get my car aligned, i went to sears and goodyear and they both say that they will not align lowered cars. i found a place were the guy will align lowered cars but he is saying that its all out of whack and that it is going to take $285; 3.8 hours at $75 an hour labor.
that price and time sounds absolutely ridiculous to me seeing how sears charged $69.99 and took 45 minutes before it was lowered.
he printed out the paper with all the specs.


is there anything i can do myself to maybe cut the time and price down? or what about taking it somewhere and getting them to align it to factory and then getting this guy to adjust it?
what are the places y'all have taken your cars?
Old 05-28-09, 01:17 PM
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SorrGwa
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back from the alignment shop, here are the specs:

- tein ss coilovers
- daizen front rear sway bars
- rear spc camber kit
- front exactmotorsport camber block spacers

Lowered from ground to fender:
Fronts: 25 1/2"
Rears: 26"

Front
Left: -1.75 degree camber / +7.78 degree caster / 0.12" toe
Right: -1.78 degree camber / +7.71 degree caster / 0.09" toe

Rear
Left: -1.25 degree camber / -0.06" toe
Right: -1.21 degree camber / -0.09" toe


as far as i know, this is as close to oem factory settings as it can get for my car. because the car is so lowered, there is only so much you can do about the camber.

as for the toe settings, from what i remember, its best to have the rears a little toe in, and the fronts to be a little toe out for drivability.

as for cost, i took it to a tire shop, not the dealership. tire shop price was about $120 bucks (after taxes, so ill say about 80-90 bucks USD as its generally cheaper for automotive labour in the states). on avg, they book 1-2hrs for labour.

if you go to the dealership, they will of course charge more as dealership hourly rates are always higher than independant automotive shop rates.

Last edited by SorrGwa; 05-28-09 at 01:20 PM.
Old 05-28-09, 02:39 PM
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5t341th
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go to a tire shop. such as Just tires, America's, etc.
some dont want to do it because its troublesome to get on the rack
Old 05-28-09, 03:07 PM
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kit cat
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Originally Posted by 1.5jzsupra
i found a place were the guy will align lowered cars but he is saying that its all out of whack and that it is going to take $285; 3.8 hours at $75 an hour labor.
That seems insane. I had a stuck camber bolt and to cut that off, replace, and align (since I just put the RCAs) was 160.

and my car sits lower than stock. 18"s and fenders over the tire a bit.
Old 05-28-09, 03:34 PM
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DASHOCKER
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Originally Posted by 1.5jzsupra
first off i have megan springs (~2.0" front and back) and 20's
i've been looking for places to get my car aligned, i went to sears and goodyear and they both say that they will not align lowered cars. i found a place were the guy will align lowered cars but he is saying that its all out of whack and that it is going to take $285; 3.8 hours at $75 an hour labor.
that price and time sounds absolutely ridiculous to me seeing how sears charged $69.99 and took 45 minutes before it was lowered.
he printed out the paper with all the specs.


is there anything i can do myself to maybe cut the time and price down? or what about taking it somewhere and getting them to align it to factory and then getting this guy to adjust it?
what are the places y'all have taken your cars?
Not a bad alignment on a lowered car. The only thing that should be addressed is the toe angles front & rear.. How does the car drive?
Old 05-28-09, 08:45 PM
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1.5jzsupra
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yeah i wasn't going to take it to a dealership at all.

the reason a lot of places will not work on it is because lowering it "takes it out of specs" (pretty much the computer cannot comprehend that its lowered therefore it cannot tell the people what to do).

with my 20's there is still a little gap front and back so i don't understand why they cannot just compensate when adjusting the camber since it isn't that low?

i'm replacing my outer tie rod because its worn, that's why the left front is out more than the right. other than that and the camber it is relatively within spec. so im still confused as to why it would take 3.8 hours?
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