Shop charging double to Align adjustable suspension.

[DarkSideFRS]

going rate in socal is abt $100 for a custom alignment

[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.

[cjd]

$450 is into corner balanced + custom alignment here in Chicago... But that's a one time job. I didn't understand if that price was for alignments any time you needed, or just once...

[Imrac]

Firestone in Everett did a good job on my car with after market suspension. I even asked if they had any issues with it. They said no, and they have guys come in every couple of weeks to change up the alignment (on the lifetime). They aligned it to the specs I wanted.

[SuperTom]

Meineke or Midas or one those places refused to do mine because it was "lowered". Even though it is only an inch around not slammed or hellaflush.


NTB did it though they charged me a premium over their normal price. Even after explaining that the LCA's actually make it easier to get into spec. Make to show any coupons AFTER you get their marked up price. Ended up paying about $130 so I was overall happy

[rapidcars]

I just paid $125 for a custom alignment in NY with rear LCAs and camber bolts up front.

[CraigVM]

Originally Posted by 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?

Understandable but you feel doubling the price and providing no warranty is an acceptable amount "more" ?

I anonymously called that shop today and asked what they would charge to perform an alignment on a completely stock BRZ of the same year and was told $195 with life time warranty.

On the way home I stopped by Firestone and explained exactly what I had and asked for a quote with the expected additional charges to adjust front and rear camber. They called a mechanic in from the shop and after a quick conversation between he and the counter person I was told $259.00 with life time warranty. He stated adjusting the camber should add 15 min of labor but he likes to take his time and get it "Spot On" in his words so he quotes yet an additional 15 just in case.

[churchx]

CraigVM: "completely stock BRZ"? Which has no camber adjustment stock, except very slight play in all bolt points? Remember that stock our cars have only toe adjustment. So in most cases camber will be what it is, after toe is dialed in to sensible values. Adding camber adjustment means buying non-stock parts that will allow that, be it camberbolts/camberplates/bushings for front, or LCAs/bushings in rear.
You may already have those parts and then he may dial non-stock camber alignment. Or you have stock car and he can do at most slight adjustment within what play in mounts allows.

[ZionsWrath]

I don't understand the lifetime warranty thing? I don't see how you can warranty it aside from leaving a jam nut loose or they did a crap job, but you should see the printout before you leave.

Do you mean lifetime alignments? If you mean lifetime alignments like Firestone offer I don't see why any would ever give a car with adjustable everything a lifetime offer. Guys would be going there before every track day and every time they changed their ride height 1mm.

[jamal]

Well, you could hit a curb, bend components, or have a bolt slip, and not have to pay for a new alignment once the parts are replaced.

And yes, I do agree that double the labor is excessive. A lot of the time is getting the car on the rack and everything setup, not so much making a few extra adjustments.

But anyhow, you don't like the quotes you're getting, try elsewhere.

[CraigVM]

Originally Posted by churchx

CraigVM: "completely stock BRZ"? Which has no camber adjustment stock, except very slight play in all bolt points? Remember that stock our cars have only toe adjustment. So in most cases camber will be what it is, after toe is dialed in to sensible values. Adding camber adjustment means buying non-stock parts that will allow that, be it camberbolts/camberplates/bushings for front, or LCAs/bushings in rear.
You may already have those parts and then he may dial non-stock camber alignment. Or you have stock car and he can do at most slight adjustment within what play in mounts allows.

The reason I wanted to see what they charged for a stock FRS / BRZ was to get an idea of how much extra they were wishing to charge for that same car but with simple components to allow adjust for camber. Going by what I was told at firestone there is 15 to possibly 30 minutes extra in labor involved. Even if the first shop needed twice that amount of time to accomplish the same task - they were doing so at an hourly rate of $255 an hour.
Based on the first shop stating they would not provide that "lifetime" backing they were then basically charging for a one time alignment with no warranty which most shops charge about half the price for as their Lifetime option. That puts the original shops hourly rate at over $300 for the extra labor needed.

Again they clearly understood that the simple components to allow for camber adjustments "Camber bolts up front and LCAs in the back" were to be already installed. They were even shown photos of the components so to get their OK which they gave.

I was using the term Lifetime Warranty as some shops use that phrase while most call it "Lifetime Wheel Alignment" With all there is no confusion that they do not warranty components "aftermarket or OEM" that they do not provide / install.

Thanks for those who pointed out their success with Firestone which steered me to stop by there. Very happy with their price and they were very informative.

[venturaII]

I just went to a local tire shop and purchased their lifetime alignment for ~200 bucks. The service manager is a LeMons racer and we chatted for a while, and he was kind of laughing about the whole thing, saying that the lifetime alignment offer is the best deal that no one really takes advantage of. He said I could bring my car to them twice a day for the rest of my life and they'd do the work. lol I plan to return later this year when I get adjustable rear control arms...I want a little more camber back there.

And they did a nice job on the alignment, to boot.

[Twinz]

Originally Posted by CraigVM

The reason I wanted to see what they charged for a stock FRS / BRZ was to get an idea of how much extra they were wishing to charge for that same car but with simple components to allow adjust for camber. Going by what I was told at firestone there is 15 to possibly 30 minutes extra in labor involved. Even if the first shop needed twice that amount of time to accomplish the same task - they were doing so at an hourly rate of $255 an hour.
Based on the first shop stating they would not provide that "lifetime" backing they were then basically charging for a one time alignment with no warranty which most shops charge about half the price for as their Lifetime option. That puts the original shops hourly rate at over $300 for the extra labor needed.

Again they clearly understood that the simple components to allow for camber adjustments "Camber bolts up front and LCAs in the back" were to be already installed. They were even shown photos of the components so to get their OK which they gave.

I was using the term Lifetime Warranty as some shops use that phrase while most call it "Lifetime Wheel Alignment" With all there is no confusion that they do not warranty components "aftermarket or OEM" that they do not provide / install.

Thanks for those who pointed out their success with Firestone which steered me to stop by there. Very happy with their price and they were very informative.

Crash bolts are only "easy" if you want max camber or if you don't mind the two sides having different camber settings. Bolts with cams are better, but still not as quick as maxing out camber or not messing with camber ar all.

If you are talking about the SPC control arms for the back like the ones we use in SSC, those are a major PITA because the slightest adjustment in toe throws the camber way off and vice versa.

[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.