Shop charging double to Align adjustable suspension.

[CraigVM]

Plans are to install lowering springs / tires / wheels then take the car to a shop on Saturday for alignment. Springs spec to drop 1.4" and from watching videos / reading posts I understand that is getting right to the point that the stock suspension may not allow for amount of camber adjustment to get back to OEM spec. For this reason I was going to install some basic adjustable control arms at the rear and SPC adjustable camber bolts up front just to cover all bases.

Per my instructions she mentioned this to them and pointed out that the new tires / wheels are very close to OEM dimentions so there should be no worries there.

The shop stated that they would have to charge double the normal fee due to working with an aftermarket / modified suspension and the normal warranty can not be provided.

I have not had a chance to talk to the shop yet to get their reasoning for this. Has anyone else ever dealt with this ??? Perhaps they figured it would be an easy story to sell a 50+ year old woman who drives up in a SUV? Only legit reason I can imagine is perhaps they worry it will be tracked and constantly back for warranty alignments after future upgrades ?

[e1_griego]

Where are you in the NW?

[FirstWinter]

What was the quote? Custom alignments generally run from $95-$125 or even more sometimes from what I've seen in my area.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

LOL, Firestone gave me the lifetime alignment for the same price and worked on my car and even dialed back the rear camber as close to OEM specs as possible with the Whiteline LCA I installed. They even moved the camber plates up front back to factory specs (I forgot to tell them to not adjust the front camber).

[NoHaveMSG]

That is lame. I paid $75 for my last alignment.

[ZionsWrath]

Custom alignment usually charge by the hour.

I dont really like guys at quicky places that dont have experience messing with it.

If you can get a good alignment for the standard toe and go price thats great. But i wasted enough time and money and found shops that arent specialty prettt much dont give a crap. Toe and go. Put it in the green even if one side has toe out and one side toe in. Stupid stuff like that.

Prices will also vary by location

[CraigVM]

Originally Posted by e1_griego

Where are you in the NW?

I am in the Tacoma area and the shop was in Auburn WA
I believe their normal price was $225 for the life time warranty as they told her verbally $450 but no warranty.
I do not believe they are a high end shop catering performance cars as they were recommended to us by Discount Tire as if that is who they typically send customers to.

Sounds like best to just go elsewhere.

[e1_griego]

Go here: https://www.chaserace.com/

[churchx]

Those that have aftermarket parts and wish specific non stock alignment dialed in usually wish also for it to be done as better quality job, more even/less difference between sides/closer to numbers asked. That may add up time compared to quick adjust with wide allowed adjustment ranges like stock is. Also if one has height adjustable coilovers and asks for corner balancing, that would add work/time as well. Unless those aftermarket parts are of fixed offset setting, eg. some rear whiteline eccentric bushings that need to be pressed in, basic adjustment itself sometimes might be even easier with some of them (with eg. camberplates or billet rear LCAs).
As for warranty, if they did quality job, adjusted to numbers i asked, didn't forgot to tighten bolts to spec, what's there to ask/care/warranty? Especially if some of adjustable parts sometimes may slip under heavy hits to suspension?
Whatever you end up with, worth to mention what aftermarket suspension parts for adjustment you have (eg. camberbolts/camberplates/LCAs/toe links/adjustable height coilovers and so on) & also always ask printout to see what they actually ended with. I wouldn't care about warranty, but WOULD care for alignment that i wished/asked.

[bcj]

Most garden variety jobs will be in-an-out, "There you go mam. Have a nice day"

[jasonojordan]

That price seems pretty high. $200-$250ish is what I would expect for an alignment with aftermarket parts.

[Teseo]

Originally Posted by ZionsWrath

Custom alignment usually charge by the hour.

I dont really like guys at quicky places that dont have experience messing with it.

If you can get a good alignment for the standard toe and go price thats great. But i wasted enough time and money and found shops that arent specialty prettt much dont give a crap. Toe and go. Put it in the green even if one side has toe out and one side toe in. Stupid stuff like that.

Prices will also vary by location

$45 for "green" numbers

[jamal]

The only thing you can adjust on the stock car is toe, so yeah, that is more work for them. Why should they not charge more?

[ryoma]

$450? you're getting ripped off. go somewhere else. sounds like they're charging you an absurd amount because they don't want to touch your car and they don't want to outright deny you.