I went for alignment to yet another shop, and I think I found the right one.
before I made an appointment I asked if they know how 3000GT, they said yes. and I did see one red 1G in their garage 2 or 3 years ago. so I went there today and the guy (who did alignment) seems to know what he's doing. I'm not saying he's an expert in 3/S but if you explain couple of things he will fix your camber or toe even with STeins. so I'll see result on my tiers (just bought pair).

oh, and shop called : Complete Auto Body, LLC located on hwy 57. between Green Leaf and Depere. I have phone number if interested.

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From Brixton Prison, Jebb Avenue London S.W. 2 Inglan

Good to know, thanks for the heads up.

Yeah, thanks. I'm getting a little frustrated with alignment around GB.

First place did kind of okay on it, second place managed to mangle the collars on 2 eccentric bolts in the rear, and sent the car out like that. I didn't realize it was such a tough job.

I'll definitely check these guys out.

previous shop (3rd one) that was doing alignment for my car, mechanic said that I need eccentric bolts to do the camber. and thats after I knocked the old ones and put the new ones in there the day before I went for alignment. so after that I said: thats enough.

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From Brixton Prison, Jebb Avenue London S.W. 2 Inglan

Okay, these guys are getting the Stealth for an alignment tomorrow. I replaced my front outer tie rod ends a week ago.

I stopped Friday and talked to Ken, their alignment guy. He ran the car up on the lift and actually took the time to look and listen to me(first of 3 to do that). I pointed out the lowering with k-sports, the AWS delete, and some things that the last place left "less than perfect", along with a bunch of other details.

He was up front about what he could, or could not, do. He said the price would be more than a standard alignment, which I understand, given the job - he has to repair some eccentric bolt collars. I didn't want to write a blank check, but I told him I want everything done right.

He's been doing alignments for 20+ years, and he talks like he cares about his work.

I have high hopes!

On a side note, the last place was Car-X on Phoenix Way (off Oneida St.). He told me a story about how he had welded up an eccentric bolt collar, blah, blah, and charged me $180. He did not weld anything, and two of the collars were still all mangled when I checked the car the next day. I checked every eccentric bolt on the suspension, and not one of them showed any welding or repair. I think he charged me for what he thought about doing. Never again.

somebody answer me. lol. Is it possible to do alignment on coil overs? I took my car to two shops and they both said no, but they'll give it a try. I just walked away. lol. I still need an alignment but mine isn't that bad yet, so I'm not too worried about it.

Yes.

If the eccentrics are frozen, he may have to change them if he can get them loose, if not whole arm has to be changed.

Sorry, I down with strep.

SJ

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Racing is life. Everything else is just waiting.

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Yeah, like SJ said. The thing is that the AWD and AWS cars take more time and effort than your normal in-and-out alignment, so they'll typically not be a money-maker for the standard alignment prices that everybody advertises.

The challenge for me has been that everyone says "yeah, yeah, we can do that," when they really can't, or won't.

I'm just trying to find someone who cares about making the car right, not squeezing out some money and moving on to the next customer.

Yes, lowering might adversely limit your camber adjustment, whether FWD or AWD. It might be too much to get camber in spec, or it might not. But I've seen it used as a blanket excuse for poor work.

alright, thanks! Now I just need to go find a good shop, or someone I know that can do this for a fact.

Reporting back, I'm pretty happy with these guys.

Ken wasn't there when I picked up the car, but the spec sheet was sitting on my passenger seat, and 2 old eccentric bolts were in the console. Everything was in spec, except RR toe was 1/32" positive.

I had to squeeze the spec sheet out of the last two places. One was reluctant to give it to me, and the other didn't want to, outright. Red flag much?

All camber is well within spec. I almost wish I would've told him to leave me a little more negative all around, but I didn't think he'd get to spec on camber, so I didn't. The car feels more stable in normal driving than it ever has, and feels like it handles well, but I haven't really pushed it.

I don't plan on crawling under it for at least another month unless I have to, but I'll be interested to see what he did.

$205 was the final bill. I can live with that, as long as it's all correct.

My only "complaint" is that he didn't zero my front upper camber plates on the k-sports. I'm kicking myself because I forgot to mention it to him, so that's as much my fault. I really should have just done it before I brought it in.

I'll use them again.

Sounds fair to me.

He may not have known to do that -- most folks are perplexed by it to begin with -- add an aftermarket suspension, and well...

When you say they are not zero-ed, how far off are they?

SJ

_________________


Racing is life. Everything else is just waiting.

http://umg.mn3s.org

http://ummo.boards.net

Yeah, I can hardly fault him on that. Stinks - I thought of it the day before, then promptly forgot about it.

Pretty far off - by memory, FR 3/4 or more (in the k-sport's hash marks) to the negative, FL around 5/8 or more to the negative. Knowing an alignment was coming, I had cranked them both negative a few hash marks a couple weeks back, to see what it would do to handling. Pretty much operator error to have forgotten about it.

Downsides are that I can't move toward negative a whole lot more (should I ever want to) on the FR, and the FR actually has left a space where salt water can spin off the tire right up near the strut cap. I'll need to put a condom or something on that.

Wow, you may want to consider having him redo the front after you reset it to zero for it's now kind of a jumbled mess. I'm sure he had to do a lot under there (there is quite a bit of OEM adjustment) to get it to align up. And you won't be able to use your plates at all.



SJ

_________________


Racing is life. Everything else is just waiting.

http://umg.mn3s.org

http://ummo.boards.net

Agreed - and now I'm seeing that I miss a little more negative camber, too.

Getting it redone will be a long-term '09 goal. I'm taking some time off from alignment.

At least I know I can take to them with relative peace of mind when I'm ready.

I actually asked him to do -.3-5 on my front camber. and I got -.3

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From Brixton Prison, Jebb Avenue London S.W. 2 Inglan