Alignment for a lowered car?

[.Smitty.]

First off, sorry if this is in the wrong section, but I didn't really know where to put it and since more people check the Lounge than other places, I figured I'd get more responses in here.

For those of you who helped me out just last week getting my car on the road with my GC/Koni and Omni LCA, you already know, but for the rest, I just recently (Friday) got my car off of the jack stands and running again. On Monday I finally had the time to adjust the height more specifically and am set on a height. I called Firestone last night and made an appt. Apparently, lowered cars can't be aligned on a normal alignment rack.

The guy at Firestone immediately turned me away from it. I told him it'd probably just be toe he's adjusting, he gave me something about toe specs changing from OE when lowered. I don't know much about alignments, but I thought it wouldn't make a difference.

In short, I went to three places and all of them turned me down. It's a 1998 Integra 4 door GSR - it's not That low. I just measured ground clearance and at the least it's 5.25" of clearance.

I called a Ballwin Dobbs who specializes in doing alignments for lowered cars. The only problem is that I was expecting a $60 dollar alignment from Firestone, not a $150 dollar alignment from Dobbs for a "specialized alignment.":PDT_ow:

My question is: where does everyone go after they lower their car and get an aligment? Any shops do it for less than $150? Does it even make a difference between the specialized or normal rack if I only need toe adjusted?


Cliffs
- 1998 Acura Integra 4 Door GSR
- Lowered with 1 1/2 finger gap in front and 2 finger gap in back - 5.25" ground clearance
- Denied an alignment from two different Dobbs and a Firestone
- Going to be getting raped up the butt for a "specialized" alignment from the Ballwin Dobbs for $150
- Does anyone know a cheaper alignment shop that can do a lowered car?
- Does it make a difference whether the car is lowered or not in order to achieve 0 toe using OEM specs?

Any help is much appreciated.

[Spork]

the firestone down the street from me did my crx... lowered "1.5/1.7" (but with aftermarket struts it was more than that). I got a lifetime package and had it done a few different times, no problems at all. they never even said anything about it.

[bildo16]

lawl at ignorant people(firestone)
let me start off by asking what camber kit you have
i work at frank leta honda off of k and 40, bring your car there and i coulod probably do it 89.95, search newspapers and find a 10% off coupon and it gets even cheaper, now on to your questions-
there is no such thing as a "specialized alignment",. if youjust want toe adjusted, icould knock it out and get it perfect in twenty minutes. some cars like dc5's that have the outertie rod attached to the strut itself haveissues with lack of adjustment, meaning, they arent long enough to get toe corrected, after i lowered my ep3 my toe was soe bad that the computer would not even pick it up off the head(part that mounts on your wheel) and i had enough to get my toe rightwhere i wanted it. if you ahve ne more questionsfeel freeto ask, i lovetalking suspension and im actually half way knowledgeable and good at alignments.

[.Smitty.]

Thanks Bildo - I bumped the "I want a suspension section" before I posted this thread. I'm very interested in suspension and have been reading a lot over on H-T, trying to learn more.

From what I've gather from H-T, a camber kit isn't necessary. It makes sense to me, as the negative camber gained from lowering the car would give a wider/better contact patch when cornering. So lowering the car in front more than back will yield more neg. camber in front than back - which is what I want - because I'm trying to correct the understeer that comes from factory. I have 400F and 450R rates on the GC. The negative camber would help with turn in, correct?

I would take you up on that, but the only problem is I don't know how soon I could get all the way out there. The closest I'd be would be Kirkwood after school (I go to Vianney) and even then it's a hefty drive. I drove out there to pick up my Omni LCA's last wednesday. If nothing else, I'd rather drive up there than go out to this Dobbs.

I figured there was no such thing as this "specialized alignment" but I figured, "what the heck, I may just be wrong?", but it sounded like all about four or five guys I talked to on the phone (I even called two other Dobbs that I was told could do this alignment - bringing total to 5) were feeding me a bunch of crap. I also figure that the only thing I need adjusted is toe. Is caster adjustable on Integras? Also, there isn't a difference between OEM spec toe (stock suspension) and modified toe (my GC/Koni), is there? I was almost positive there wasn't.

Thanks for the help!

[ObsesionWitSped]

No camber kit..that's probably why none of them could do it. AutoTire couldn't do mine because I didn't have any on there.

[.Smitty.]

Well I was wanting to keep the negative camber. Plus, is toe not adjustable unless camber is adjustable? That just doesn't make sense. I ono. I'll wait on an answer.

[GTI-Guy]

lawl at ignorant people(firestone)
let me start off by asking what camber kit you have
i work at frank leta honda off of k and 40,

Cool, I work in Mo Research Office Park and will be bringing in our Odyssey for its regular service ... you a Tech and/or Service Advisor?

[Its Pat!]

take your bumper off. thats what i do in the sentra.

[JustRob]

No camber kit..that's probably why none of them could do it. AutoTire couldn't do mine because I didn't have any on there.

You can adjust the toe without a camber kit. Camber kits are WEAKSAUCE!

[GTI-Guy]

Camber kits are WEAKSAUCE!

Why do you say that? Most front strut cars, as the wheel travels up / the car is lowered, gain positive camber ... not good for cornering