Alignment Shop in PDX
 

I need a recommendation for a good alignment shop in PDX. I'm about to fit the OEM front camber crash bolts, and I'm looking for someone who can dial in maximum front camber and make sure the alignment is still good. Any recommendations?

Location in or near inner southeast would be a bonus.

Im taking in the batmobile for an alignment down the street from where I work, it's a new les Schwab. If they can dial mine in right, I'll let you know. I already checked out their alignment rack, extremely low car friendly. I have adjustable lower control arms that they say they can do, shops in Vancouver WA.

The camber change is very slight with the -1.2* (at most) you'll get with crash bolts.

I'd prob just toss them in and call it.

Any alignment shop can fix the toe for you right quick, though. Trackside Motorsports (A&T tire) is where most of the portland area autox folks go.

+1 to that. Garth is awesome!

Another good option in the PDX area is AR Auto Service in Lake Oswego but their prices are a little high for anyone not running fully adjustable components.

AR Auto Service did a good job on mine and I'd recommend them. It was $300. It may be cheaper if you don't have coilovers and don't need corner balancing and ride height adjustments. I was able to get around 3.5 front and 3.2 rear if I remember correctly. I have a completely modded suspension however.

Can I borrow your suspension for when I get mine aligned?

Anybody know how much ANT charges for an alignment? I too am looking for a place since I just installed camber bolts...

Sure. You'll get a lot more camber that way. You could also slam it on the ground so you could give squirrels no hope in ducking.
:bonk:

Spending $300 for an alignment on a stock car with just crash bolts would be ridiculous.

It depends. $100/hr for someone who actually gives a shit to take their time and get it just right? I'm not saying that's necessarily the case but if it were, I'd gladly shell out the cash. Real talent is worth every penny.

Had a guy up here in The Couve do my wife's Camry after I replaced all 4 struts and the rear uprights. Don't remember who recommended him but it sucked. Right front is cupping on the outside. :|

I'd gladly have paid the extra to get it done right the first time.

I have a local alignment guy who lets me run the computer and then he hits the numbers that I want. And it's $80 (though I usually pay less than that).

I don't see the rationale for paying $300 for essentially just fixing the toe.

With just crash bolts I probably wouldn't even bother with an alignment, but maybe that's just me.

Hell, now you're talking! Introduce me to your guy. I'll gladly make the trip.

It's more than just toe, though. It can even get into moving the subframes around to get the thrust angle just right. All depends on how deep you want to go.

I think it's the anti-engineer in me, but that level of complication for a street car strikes me as flat out absurd.

One autox in a rough lot will prob knock shit out of whack anyway, or even a solid set of potholes on the street.

For the OP, who's presumably just running whatever street tires and daily driving, a set of crash bolts and no alignment would be fine, or just a quick toe fix at almost any decent place.

edit: we're talking street cars with rubber bushings. On my 240 that's fully spherical, then yeah, I do care a bit more about precision, but even then, meh. The chassis is a flexy flyer on r-comps anyway, getting perfect alignment is polishing a turd.

Thanks for the advice everyone. Consensus seems to be install the crash bolts and max out camber myself, then have a shop check/set toe to zero.

By the way, I emailed a couple of car guys who aren't on this forum, and they recommended either A&T or The Lineup Shop on Sandy. I'll probably use the Lineup Shop because it's close to home and work.

AR Auto did my alignment after I got new wheels - the toe was a bit off and the plus sized wheels made that more eggregious, so I took my car to them. They did good work, but I was charged $200 for what amounted to my car being worked on for about 20 minutes.

So, they did good work, but I can't say that with that pricing it made me feel great about the place

Update - I went with the Line Up Shop. They did all the work for $100, and got me to -1.5 degrees with the OEM crash bolt. Pretty happy with them.

I was going to do the install myself, but I didn't have a big enough breaker bar to get the old crash bolt off.