Shop charging double to Align adjustable suspension.

[laextreme5]

I do alignments after hours at my business for modified/lowered cars for $100 each. Unless its some high end car needing special equipment (some bmws, porshce, mercedes etc) there is zero reason the price should be anymore than the 125-150 range max. On a twin or s2k i can have fubared specs aligned properly to whatever degree the customer wants in an hour.

Any competent tech who has experience doing alignments with modified suspension can do the same. Obviously if you add in corner balancing to the mix thats a different story.

[venturaII]

Originally Posted by laextreme5

Any competent tech who has experience doing alignments...can do the same.

'Competent' being the operative word. Plenty of people drive cars, but relatively few could be considered competent.

[H1C]

Originally Posted by smg1138

I have Firestone's lifetime alignment. Some shops have given me crap about my car being lowered, but most of the time it's fine. The trick is finding a good alignment tech and sticking with him. A really good tech I knew left the company last year, so I had to find another guy. Luckily I found someone else recently at another store and he's been great.

I also have the lifetime alignment with Firestone. The alignment tech at my local one is also their ASE master tech, and he's been great. I've gotten at least a half dozen alignments there, and always tip him.

I make an appointment during their slower times (weekday afternoons usually), and the manager has had no problem with him spending an hour or more on my car. I have camber plates, rear LCAs, and used to have front adjustable LCAs and adjustable tie-rod ends. So my car is not a toe and go job. The manager and all of the techs there are car guys -- into meets, drifting or working on project cars -- so that helps. I've been trying to get them to come to autocrosses.

I know these quickie places sometimes get a bad rap, but I think it comes down to the individual techs. Like smg1138 says, find a good one, stick with him, tip him for a job well done, and he'll be always happy to see your car come in.

[CraigVM]

Originally Posted by churchx

Bolts with cams is easy. But it takes lot of time to get both toe & camber as needed, as adjusting one changes another, thus lot of fiddling for both toe & camber to get almost exactly alignment that one needs. Due this toe & camber adjustment geometrical link imho cambolts might be even easier then eg. camberplates. Eg. imagine car lifted in air on alignment rig. You adjust toe & camber both from below of car at one place with wrenches. Now if camber is via camberplates, you have to several times to climb up to topmounts or lift down car to adjust camber, then lift back and adjust toe, then again on top camber .. PITA. Or two techs needed.

This will be my first project where my involvement in getting an alignment is more than just dropping it off and paying the bill when I pick it up. Needless to say I am pretty new to suspension components so here is what I was going to install:

Front Camber Bolts "not certain if these are also considered Crash Bolts"



LCAs



I showed these photos to the Firestone mech who really came across like he knew his stuff and stated they would be good enough for my needs. Not a daily driver and may only be used on occasional weekend drives or perhaps 1k miles a year.
I am also an old man who does not track and often gets passed by mini vans in the twisties

He also asked I give him the OEM front bolts to use should no camber adjustment be needed in the front.

laextreme5
Thanks for your input as a mechanic as well as those others providing helpful info.

[laextreme5]

The chain stores around here are a joke. I frequently get customers staying they may as well have gotten crucified for mentioning they have modified suspension at chains like Firestone/goodyear etc. Its not all that difficult to properly adjust these components. What takes skill and knowledge is knowing what to set the specifications to for the desired feel/use etc. Its all just nuts and bolts. They are just scared and don't want to sped the extra 30 minutes to do the job.

[H1C]

Originally Posted by laextreme5

The chain stores around here are a joke. I frequently get customers staying they may as well have gotten crucified for mentioning they have modified suspension at chains like Firestone/goodyear etc. Its not all that difficult to properly adjust these components. What takes skill and knowledge is knowing what to set the specifications to for the desired feel/use etc. Its all just nuts and bolts. They are just scared and don't want to sped the extra 30 minutes to do the job.

With these chain stores, in my experience, a lot of their attitude toward mods or non-standard settings depends on the store manager, and how frequent a customer you've been to that location.

The previous manager at my go-to Firestone was very by-the-book. The first time I used my lifetime alignment there, he would only let the tech adjust settings back to within factory spec. My camber was around -2.5 or something, so the tech couldn't touch it unless it was to bring it back to within the factory range. So I told him to leave it alone, and just correct the toe all around.

The next time I went back, the tech smiled and asked me how do YOU want the alignment? There was a new manager, he was a car guy, and he knew that I autocrossed and knew what I wanted out of my alignment. So from then on, the tech has given me any alignment value I ask for. -3.5 camber? No problem.

Another example: a well-known national tire chain with the initials D and T. At first, my local one would not flip RE-71s that had no tread left on the shoulders. A couple of years and half a dozen tire set purchases from them later, they will now flip any tire for me, as long as no cord is showing.

[churchx]

CraigVM: "crashbolts" usually are called normal round bolts but simply of smaller diameter then originally meant to, then hole in strut. That adds some play for adjustment. Hard to do precise (unbolt/put exactly where needed/tighten again. Easy to slip off needed position). For our cars - for example if you reuse front strut lower hole's (14mm) bolt in upper hole (16mm).
"camberbolts/cambolts" are like one you pictured, that have that lobe on their body. You turn them and move that cam eccentric lobe inside strut hole, gradually slightly moving strut vs wheel hub and then tighten nut at end. Small teeth on washers reduce chance of slipping, position of small side tab on washer helps easier to see adjustment position, and small tab on washer inside strut hole also helps fix it in strut hole.
You can use several combinations of cambolts in front. Eg. 14mm camberbolt SPC 81305 in lower and stock 16mm bolt in upper hole, or stock 14mm bolt in lower and Whiteline KCA416 camberbolt in upper. Single camberbolt per strut probably will allow aprox. to -1.5 front camber (stock height). SPC in lower + reused/relocated stock oem "crashbolt" in upper for eg. upto -2 camber. With camberbolts in both holes, SPC in lower and whiteline's in upper for upto -2.3 camber. Powerflex PFF69-801G bushing in addition to camberbolts in both holes upto -3 camber. Lowering may naturally add a bit more camber. If even more camber needed, or DIY onsite adjustment needed, worth getting camberplates. Changing from rubber top mounts to camberplate pillowball ones will impact NVH on bad roads though.