Alignment: Special shop or will Midas do?

[bigwilly43729]

I've never had my front end aligned despite being lowered for over 2 years.
I took it to a shop once and they insisted that they couldn't do it despite the $250 camber plates I had installed just for this occassion.

Should I take it to a place like Midas or a high-end shop of some sort? If the latter, anyone know of a good place in San Diego?

Thanks!

 

[DusterRT]

A performance shop, which will generally charge you by the hour, should be familiar enough with aftermarket parts to get you out the door in less than an hour..you may find that a McTire shop will want you to pay them hourly so their McTech can take (and charge) 2 hours to figure out how to operate your camber plates. And, IMO, it's worth the peace of mind to know it's done right.

 

[EagleStroker]

I had a local shop do it, cost me $45. Guy walked in saying how the hell do I adjust these plates? I pulled up a picture on Steeda's website and he instantly knew how to take care of it. Pick someone local you trust, more mods you do the more often you should probably have it done

 

[bigwilly43729]

I had a local shop do it, cost me $45. Guy walked in saying how the hell do I adjust these plates? I pulled up a picture on Steeda's website and he instantly knew how to take care of it. Pick someone local you trust, more mods you do the more often you should probably have it done

That's what happened the first time I tried to get this done. Two trips and multiple explanations of how the plates worked, they still kept trying to tell me that I need the camber bolts.

I've got a guy at a Midas that I trust to get it done right. Been real good to me in the past. Just sucks that he is all the way across town now.

 

[don_w]

I took mine to Firestone... twice, and they couldn't get it right. So I do it myself now. My front tires last sooo much longer.

 

[Kaldar142]

Fucking shade tree mechanics... (firestone, midas, jiffylube... etc) they will just end up causing a headache. most of those guys don't really care about your car.

I would take it to a performance shop or do it yourself, I'm investing in alignment tools.

 

[Freaknazty]

Take it to don's house then lmao

 

[Mustang30212]

My 05 has 30k on it and I took it to Ford for an alignment. It's all stock btw. They said they need to slot the lower control arms to get it right??? WTH does that mean and why would they need to do that on a low mileage car.

The service mananger even said he's never known one to need it with that few miles on it.

RH

 

[bigwilly43729]

Fucking shade tree mechanics... (firestone, midas, jiffylube... etc) they will just end up causing a headache. most of those guys don't really care about your car.

I would take it to a performance shop or do it yourself, I'm investing in alignment tools.

It just so happens that I stumbled across some alignment stuff on Summit the other day. It was looking good, but I can't spring for it right now.

I'll have to call around for a "good" shop out here. That may take awhile.

 

[rford426]

There's a ford mechanic in a local club does all my alignments for $20 even put in my gt500 strut mounts in along with my pinion seal!!! Find someone you know and trust so you know its done right!! imo stay away from midas and such...

 

[terry5357]

My 05 has 30k on it and I took it to Ford for an alignment. It's all stock btw. They said they need to slot the lower control arms to get it right??? WTH does that mean and why would they need to do that on a low mileage car.

The service mananger even said he's never known one to need it with that few miles on it.

RH

This is the kind of shit that really scares me.....I'm serious when I say "our cars are not quality material built", its fucking crap....my damned tired end boots were dry rotted after 18 freaking months....WTF.

 

[gray1622]

I took mine to Hidbons which is a large change in OKC. I told them about the plates how they work. A hour later they come out said they couldn't get it any better then like 1.8 camber. I took it to a friend shop after I got new tires he was like good god this is a lot of camber adjustment. Hidbons never even tried to mess with the plates.

 

[kevinatfms]

i used camber bolts and had a shop right around me get it to my exact specs that i wanted before it even got on the rack and they agreed and only charged me $75.00 and i can take it back to them if i feel i need it reset, if your in the metro dc area i can give you the name and number and i can tell you that they do great work

 

[Random Asshole]

I just did the aligmnent WITH the guy. Most regular chain shops don't have a clue unless they got a corner carver working there. But once you show them how much easier it is to adjust, they wish all cars were set up like that.
Loosen the four bolts and just bump the top of exposed threaded part of the shock. Or you could use a prybar with a rag around it and pry against the inside of the tower and use the shock stud for the leverage point. Camber is set in 5 minutes once the equipment is set up.

 

[bigwilly43729]

i used camber bolts and had a shop right around me get it to my exact specs that i wanted before it even got on the rack and they agreed and only charged me $75.00 and i can take it back to them if i feel i need it reset, if your in the metro dc area i can give you the name and number and i can tell you that they do great work

If you'll look under my avatar, you'll see that DC is just a tad out of my way, LOL!!

But thanks for the help though.

 

[DKS]

I lowered my car myself and also installed MM caster camber plates while I was at it. I took mine to my local Ford dealership to get it aligned after I gave a few days for the springs to settle in. They couldn't even get it on the ramps and it's only lowered 1.5" and at that time I still had the factory bumper. They told me the local Chevy dealer had a lower machine. I called them and asked if they minded if I stayed with the car and assisted if there were any problems. I basically told them that was the only way I would use them. They agreed and $49.00 later she was perfect. Well not perfect, I hit a deer on the way, but the alignment is right now. lol