im getting my springs 1.0" drop put on, will i need to get an alignment, will the dealer do it...

 

hey ali,
yes you would need an alignment. the dealer can do it, but go find a place in your area that does alignments the old skool way... by hand. that's how i always do mine now...

 

I agree with do-luck. Those computers cheat the car back to stock settings and not adjusted for lowered cars. I had a computer alignment done on past cars and wore the tires incorrectly. I finally started taking my car to a place that does it the REAL way, by hand, and not a problem since. Tire wear is even.

MW

 

by hand? i never heard of that. what kind of places offer this kind of service? price?

 

I go to a local shop here in Sac.

They charge $80 for 4 wheel alignment

By hand means that they measure everything with manual tools that look like 6foot wide calipers to figure toe/camber/etc... then they use chalk while rolling the car forward and back to find the best contact patch with the road.

Basically a more purist method of testing the setup for altered suspensions.

I have found every local aftermarket parts shop refer everyone to the place and then found that my father took his cars there over 40 years ago.

MW

BTW.. Howie, with that 1.5" drop your car will not come back to perfect alignment. Some people may shim the crude out of it, but never to the point where you save your tires from premature wear.

 

there's a place in OC that can do it. whenever you're down give me a call. Yeah, it's pretty cool. Even if your car is SLAMMED to the ground with zero clearance, they can still work on your car.

what they have is like an underground pit they work in. just drive your car straight in like a parking spot, only they have a pit where they work under your car. I paid $70 for all four wheel alignment. Oh, they first test drive your car to see what the problem is.

 

Howie

You should try Bears wheels and allignment. It is across the street from McDonalds on Garvey. In between Del Mar and News.

Do-Luck

What is that shop you were referring to called? Bear said they couldn't adjust it all the way, they usually can on other Lexus's but not on mine for some reason. hopefully these guys could.

 

the shop thats going to put the shocks and springs will not do the alignment, will i be ok to drive on it for a couple of days...what could happen if i did not get a wheel alignment. becuase its going to be difficult to find someone to do it by hand.

 

Ali Hamed,

Everyday you drive it without an alignment, is more damage to the tires causing premature wear.

The car will be driveable thou, and the installer should not adversely effect the steering unless he screws up. Ask him before he starts if he has a supra/sc300 manual to know how to pull the front struts out.

MW

 

i have their card laying around here somewhere, but i asked them if they can align cars that are slammed. this is what he said

"i have done alignments all my life. I can align a car as close to factory spec as i can. I know a way that i can rig the arms for more camber without damaging anything."

so far so good. ALL my friends go there, from hondas to lexus to MBZ. like all shops say, it won't be factory spec, but they'll do it to the best they can. it took them about 1.5 hrs to do my alignment and that was with the eibach 1" drop.

 

hmm...i don't know if i have time to get it done in the sgv. anyone know of a good place in LA, preferably near westwood? the cheaper it is, the happier i am...as long as the work is done decently...