When should you do an alignment after you install your springs/coilovers on your car?

Should you do it right after you install it or let it settle for a couple of days and then do an alignment?

On my Integra, i did the alignment right after i installed my springs and shocks and it seemed ok after it settled but have not aligned it before i sold it so i don't know if it affected the camber or toe.

 

Just wait for a few days. You wont be doing that much of harm. Worse comes worse, you shed off a few miles on your tires.

I made the mistake of aligning my car right after i installed the suspension. A few days later, my car was sitting about 0.25-.50" lower all around. My front tires had camber wear in 1500 miles. Had to flip the tires around to wear out the other side and that lasted me 500 miles. Rear tire were still good though. Probably because they dont have to turn like the front tires do.

So wait, unless you feel like aligning the car again. It's a safe bet to wait until the suspension settles down. Your car isn't going to snap oversteer or understeer, nor will it unpredictably lose control.

 

i need an alignment and i want to raise the car too. is this the same when raising and lowering? or only for installs?

 

raise the car up, drive around for a few days, and then get an alignment.

 

I agree with GSteg. I like to wait a little more than that though. I wait about 2 weeks before getting it alligned. But I tend not to drive that much, maybe 600 miles a month if I'm not busy.

 

haha yea thats the mistake i made. I got an alignment right after i installed suspension, and now my front tires have camber wear. Gotta raise it up a bit and then get it realigned.

 

Guys, just get the Firestone unlimited lifetime alignment. Thats what I signed up for right when I got my first set of coilovers. It's about $150 and basically you can go in as many times as you want. Heck, install your suspension and get it aligned right away. Then again in 2 days, then in a week, and so on. They will probably hate you, but hey it's unlimited

 

I wish I could do that. Firestone and those tire chain store here in socal sucks monkey *****. Even Super Autobac (big tuner store) messed up my alignment. We can only rely on those places where they dont just hire anyone.

Some of the best alignment shops in socal are actually done the old fashion way. If I could do unlimited, don't you think my car would have a set of coilovers already?

 

GSTeg, do you know the specific alignment specs you want or need on the car? Whenever I take my car to Firestone, the guys are clueless as to what to set the suspension to because the car is slammed. I give them specific camber, toe, cross toe/camber/caster, and caster degrees for the front and rear. I also stand next to them and watch the monitor and make sure they get all of them to my specified values

Oh yeah, be sure to slip the guy $10 under the table before doing the alignment so he is more willing to be more patitent with you and take more time/care when doing your alignment. It's very time consuming to get the exact values. I usually get them to be within 0.02 degrees of my numbers . The most important thing is to stand at least where you can see the monitor and number values while he's doing the alignement.

 

The problem I had before (at autobacs) was that they forgot to tighten the passenger side tie rod nut. I was wondering why my steering had this vibration after awhile. heh.

I'm not too worried about the specs. It's the way they drive my car that's the problem. The guys at the local tire shop are kids who are still in high school. They drive the average corolla/civic and the best car they see during the day is probably a Ford Mustang V6. So whenever I pull my car up, their eyes light up and I know they're dying to romp on the throttle. I just dont trust them

So I adjust my own toe from now on I actually got it to 0 degree on both sides. I was surprised when they read the alignment for the first time Too bad I cant adjust camber on my own . heh

 

what i want to know is can these cars be true aligned when droped? im thinkin bout dropin mine but i dont want to waste my 20s. tires are costly to be going threw every few months.

 

Our cars cannot be put back to stock spec if that's what you're asking because our cars do not offer the camber adjustment needed for very low drops. Our OEM camber were intended for factory adjustments only. They only allow enough for slight adjustments. This is why I have L-tuned suspension because it provides about 1" drop all around, yet the specs (toe/camber) are the same as stock suspension. If you're worried about tire wear, then get springs that offers mimimal drop (around 1.5" or less). Any lowering is better than no lowering when you have rims on, as far as looks.

 

i got 20's and would really like to drop it just about an inch. been looking at differnt set ups any ideas for springs i just replaced the struts, so i really dont want to go with a coil over system.

 

I think I'm just going to do a minor drop when i get my coilovers install so i don't go through so many tires...

 

A couple of questions. When you guys get an alignment after you install a new suspension do you put your stock wheels on for the alignment or put your aftermarket wheels on? When I was looking to install coilovers last summer a local shop gave me some BS story that they cannot align my car with my 19"s on. Does this sound right??? Also, if I buy coilovers and they cannot align to OEM spec then what spec do they align the car to? After an alignment If the car drives straight and there's no wobbling while driving does this mean that your alignment is good or not necessarily...are there other factors???

Thanks,
Nick