Flipsonic

Anyone know a reputable alignment shop around San Ramon, Walnut Creek, Concord area? I'd go to Custom Alignment in Mountainview if I have to. But if there is one closer to me, that would be better.

Also, I would go to Exact to get my Eibachs installed. But if there is a shop you know of near the cities above, please let me know. Thanks.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

There's nothing to align on a RWD ISx50. The only adjustment is toe. The only car with any kind of adjustment is the AWD, and even it only has front camber. Almost anyone can adjust toe, it's dead simple.

LiqrSicc

Hey I just got my Teins installed for $160 at Imports Auto in Concord. Next door is an alignment shop called Motor Concepts which has a Hunter GPS9700. Got my 4 wheel alignment for $70 and the RoadForce balancing for $100. They are both nice people over there. Its in the automotive plaza right on Monument in Concord.

Flipsonic

Ok thanks, I'll check them out.

Lobuxracer, so i guess if the car drives straight after the Eibach install, I don't need an alignment?

menech

Flip I would still get an alignment. The IS don't have camber adjustment but the toe can affect your trend even if its tracking straight.

I went to custom alignment because I wanted a slightly more aggressive alignment since I like to drive a bit harder. They adjusted it for "performance street" driving and tuned it with my weight in the drivers seat. CA is really a custom alignment place, so if you just want to bring the car into spec im sure you can find a shop but you want the alignment tuned a bit differently than specs it unforunatly costs some $$$...the specs on the IS are pretty broad and leave alot of room before its "in spec".

My toe changed alot from intial specs to final specs, camber didn't change, and my caster changed a bit as well. Plus I have the alignment specs printout for future reference.

Flipsonic

Since camber is not adjustable, is it really necessary to wait a couple of weeks for the springs to settle and adjust toe?

flipside909

Eibachs give a very conservative drop. It's good to get an alignment done after the springs have settled. Toe should be zeroed out to factory spec. You can toe-in 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch, but I would only recommend that if you're dropped more than 2" i.e. coilover setup.

Flipsonic

Ok, need more explanation. Doesn't toe affect how the car travels on a straight line? If the car settles after a couple of weeks, does that affect camber only? If not, how does the settling affect toe? Thanks, just want to understand.

flipside909

When you lower a car, especially with a double wishbone suspension setup, you will experience negative camber. It is a characteristic of double wishbone type suspension and can only be corrected with a camber plate or camber kit. The rears have more problem with negative camber than the fronts most of the time.

Toe does affect steering but it should not have any affect with lowering the car unless the person installing your springs adjusts it. If you have negative camber that cannot be corrected in the front, you can toe in your wheels 1/16" to 1/8" to help counter a negative camber setting so it will help give the tire a wider contact patch to the ground, instead of having the tires ride on the inner edges. If you do toe in, you will cause the tire to have a better contact patch BUT, you wear out your tires faster. This diagram will should help with these explanations.



It's always best to get an alignment done after your springs have settled after a few weeks or few hundred miles of driving. You shouldn't have to worry about toe adjustments if you're not going to drop your car lower than an Eibach Pro Kit setting or if the tech decides he should mess with the factory spec settings.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

Not altogether true. Toe changes with ride height as does camber. This is the root cause of bump steer. Camber isn't a big issue on a street car. You won't see accelerated tire wear from camber unless you go past -2.5 degrees even on very wide tires.

Toe is critical to tire wear. Improper toe accounts for 99% of all inside edge wear and cupping on street vehicles. It also affects turn in. Autocrossers wil often set toe out on the front to improve turn in at the expense of tire life.

Rear camber is always more than front camber to ensure the car understeers. All the manufacturers do this ever since Ralph Nader proclaimed the Corvair "unsafe at any speed" in the 60's. Rear toe in will help the car turn, but will also cause inside edge wear, and even small amounts in excess can turn a good set of tires into garbage in a few thousand miles. AMHIK.

There is no camber plate that will ever make even a fraction of a degree difference in the IS or any double wishbone or multi-link set up. Only the IS250 AWD has a camber adjustment from the factory, but their lower control arm is completely different from the RWD cars, so a retrofit wouldn't even make sense.

I've been digging into this because I typically kill the outer tread blocks on any car I drive with OEM alignment. I've been driving my Scion tC and my Supra TT with -1.5 degrees of negative camber on all four corners for some years without any issues. As long as the toe is right, the tires wear perfectly evenly for me. When the toe is wrong, I've burned up a set of rear tires in as little as 6k miles with steel belts showing on the inside and lots of tread remaining in the center.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

No, driving straight is no indication all is well. You could still have too much toe and burn through a set of tires in no time. You can't tell toe by feel or testing if the car drives straight, it has to be measured.

I would wait a couple of weeks (assuming you drive ~500 miles in 2 weeks) for the springs to take a set before spending the money to get it aligned. It likely will change as the springs "break in." My tC did, my Supra did, my Celica did, etc, etc,...

flipside909

Thats interesting, the toe on my IS never changed after it settled. I went from stock, to Eibach/Bilstein to Tein CS coilovers to date. Perhaps the conservative drop of 1.3" have allowed me to run my OEM Bridgestone Potenza RE040s to 30k, 225/40YR18 Pirelli P-Zero Nero M&S another 40k miles and currently 225/40/ZR18 Toyo T1-R's with no issues other than the usual inner tire wear. I'm pretty confident my Pirellis would have lasted longer if I didn't toe in the -0.5 degrees.

RMMGS4

iTrader: (5)

Just posted Gift Certificates from Custom Alignment .

See the Meet announcement thread for all recently added raffle items.


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