Alignment Inquiry..

[JMillerUA6]

waste of money to get alignment done unless you installed a chamber kit to. The only adjustment they can do is the toe. (if u dont unbolt the tie rods) If it drives in a stright line after coil install dont bother. Tire wear will be same even with one done.

You sir....are wrong. After I installed the coilovers on my Accord, I thought the toe was fine because the car drove in a straight line. Turn out the toe was just barely out of spec and I went through a set of NEW tires over a period of four months.

ALWAYS, ALWAYS get an alignment after a suspension install.

 

[Millz]

You sir....are wrong. After I installed the coilovers on my Accord, I thought the toe was fine because the car drove in a straight line. Turn out the toe was just barely out of spec and I went through a set of NEW tires over a period of four months.

ALWAYS, ALWAYS get an alignment after a suspension install.

+1 made the same mistake, got into an accident car was aligned only when the front springs were installed

rears were put in after the car came out of the shop, thought the alignment was still good... WRONG

inside of my tires are all eaten up now in the front, will prob need new tires next season

getting alignment this weekend its been a couple weeks since my coilovers were put in

 

[Raul]

hey millz im going to get alignment too. I should have done that after i lowered the car. The inner edge of my front wheel tires were eaten up fast. The result was blown passenger tire at 110km/h. I dont know if i need the camber kit too.....can anyone tell me if i do? i am dropped only at 1.5FR and 1.2RR

 

[ejreams]

Wait a Minute!!

Balancing, and Alignment are TWO Completely different things.

Balancing a wheel means the operator spins the rim and tire combination (known as a wheel ) on a machine and checks for "out of balance". What that means is he looks for a heavy spot on the wheel, and then adds weight on the other side to correct it. This must be done whenever you install new tires on rims.

Shaking between 50mph and 70mph is 98% the cause of an unbalanced wheel.

Getting an Alignment means your having the vehicle checked to make sure that all your wheels are pointed in the right direction and your car is driving straight, and your tires are wearing properly.

*CAMBER*
When you lower a car, you get camber on the wheels (why they looked angled in). If this is not corrected on a daily driver, you will start to wear the inside edge of your tire, causing it to wear out pre-maturely.

*TOE*
When your driving down the road and your car like to pull to one side, or your car is "crab walking", aka driving straight but your body looks like its angled this is because the toe alignment is off. Driving with lots of toe will cause the tire to have a shaving effect and will greatly reduce the lifespan of your tire.

It is a good practice to spend the money to align your car once a year, depending on how bad the roads are and the amount of stress you put on your car by lowering, etc.

Many alignment shops offer the ability to CHECK your alignment for say 25$, and then if it needs correcting they will charge you the extra 40$ or whatever it may be to fix the problem.

If you've lowered your car you will need adjustable arms in the rear to fix the camber wear. Rear toe is Factory adjustable, front toe is factory adjustable.

That being said...

Wait until your suspension is on, and your wheels are on, and two weeks before you get an alignment.

And Camber will kill tires also, but toe will kill them almost double.

Thank you for saying all of that so I didn't feel the need too.
+1

Oh and PS. I just got mine done because it needed to be and my TL-S Wheel was sitting a little crooked.

My readings came out so bad haha.
My camber was at .62 left and .47 right lol (for the front)

 

[sweagle02]

Thank you ALL for your opinions and thanks Fuzz for the lengthy and very informative explanation. What I'll do then is get the wheels and tires mounted and coilovers installed and get an alignment a few weeks later.

About the camber kit...some people say yes and some ppl say no. Is there every really a clear answer on this issue?

 

[Russianred]

The need for a camber kit really depends on the tires you are running, in addition to the dimensions of your drop. If you are running a mild drop on nitto neogens which are made to account for camber wear on a mild drop, then no, you do not need a camber kit. If you are running regular tires you may need a camber kit.

If you are running nitto neogens with a SLAM drop, you should consider a camber kit. If you are running regular tires with a SLAM drop then you definitely need a camber kit.

Make sense?

 

[sweagle02]

The need for a camber kit really depends on the tires you are running, in addition to the dimensions of your drop. If you are running a mild drop on nitto neogens which are made to account for camber wear on a mild drop, then no, you do not need a camber kit. If you are running regular tires you may need a camber kit.

If you are running nitto neogens with a SLAM drop, you should consider a camber kit. If you are running regular tires with a SLAM drop then you definitely need a camber kit.

Make sense?

It's funny that you bring up Nitto Neogens as an example because I just bought my set of 4 today!

It makes sense what you say. I plan on dropping the car until there's no wheel gap, that's about 2+ inches on our cars right?

I have the funds for a camber kit but since every one has a different opinion on these things, I don't want to spend anything I don't need to. Thanks for your info though.

 

[finch13]

I have a rear camber kit and my camber was adjusted after I was dropped and it definitely helps a ton, I don't care what anybody says.

If you don't correct it, it WILL be out of spec. Things out of spec don't perform like they should. Lug torque spec is 80 ft. lbs., do you see anybody, with a brain, torquing them to 60 or 120? Nope.

 

[lenchnikin]

Alignment Inquiry

Spring Alignment Jig. Our all new spring jig helps to perfectly align your A-bar, with your front and rear spring. Load it in, and lock it down for perfect alignment. Machined from a solid block of aluminum, accommodates 1/2 & 5/8 rear springs. An indispensable tool, is a great compliment to our alignment tool.

 

[FunnyVictor86]

Re: Alignment Inquiry

Spring Alignment Jig. Our all new spring jig helps to perfectly align your A-bar, with your front and rear spring. Load it in, and lock it down for perfect alignment. Machined from a solid block of aluminum, accommodates 1/2 & 5/8 rear springs. An indispensable tool, is a great compliment to our alignment tool.