htowncivicEX

Whenever I'm in a new city, I have to call at least 4-5 different places to find a place that is willing to do an alignment on my car. My car is slammed pretty low - about 3-4" of clearance between the lowest points of the car (exhaust b-pipe and jack supports) and the ground; I've got about a 1-finger gap on each fenderwell. So there's no way it has enough ground clearance to be lifted by one of those yellow arm lifters. All of the times I've gotten an alignment done, it has been on a Hunter alignment machine (red ramps where you drive the car up the ramp). Granted, I still need a pair of wooden blocks on the ground to make sure my car doesn't get stuck on the way down, but hey...

99% of the shops that I go to tell me one or more of the following:

"We don't do any work on modified suspensions, sorry..."

"There's no way in hell your car is going to fit on our lift, sorry..."

For all you guys with lowered rides, let's use this thread to post where you were able to get the alignment done and how much it cost you. I'll start off - when I was in San Francisco, CA the only place in the city that would do my alignment was Robert's Tire and Wheels on Harrison St. They charged around $70. In Houston, I've gotten an alignment done at the NTB near Willowbrook Mall on FM1960 (ask for Marco) for $79.99. Marco used to work at the NTB near the Galleria and did all the alignment work for Carboy, so he knows his stuff. I was having a major rubbing problem on one of my wheels and my coilover was STUCK so I couldn't raise the ride up. Marco just dialed in some more negative camber, adjusted the total toe so that I didn't have any uneven treadwear, and bingo the problem was solved.

Seems like shops that do alignments on lowered cars can basically charge whatever they want, seeing as so few shops are willing to do the work.

01SOHCcivic

iTrader: (1)

i dident read your whole post
but d*mn 3-4 dropmust be pretty d*mn low

htowncivicEX

Well I don't know if the total drop is 3-4", but yeah there's less than 4" of clearance between the lowest point of the car and the ground. I had to buy one of those $200 AC hydraulic jacks (3.5" clearance) from Germany because that was the only thing low enough (besides the factory hand jack) that would fit under the car. The AC jack works like a champ, though! A bit heavy (around 70 lbs.), but definitely recommended! Strong as an ox, can lift the car up to 17" - it blows the doors off of the $40 Larin hydraulic jack I got at AutoZone. That Larin was a POS... it wouldn't even lift my car high enough to put jack stands underneath.

MugenEx7

iTrader: (2)

The mack truck hydraulic jack at wal-mart is pretty good too. It gives it good quick lift and enough to get the stands under it. I think it runs around $30

htowncivicEX

<< The mack truck hydraulic jack at wal-mart is pretty good too. It gives it good quick lift and enough to get the stands under it. I think it runs around $30 >>



What's the minimum ground clearance on this jack? My main problem is finding a jack that is low enough to fit under my car. Basically the only hydraulic jacks I can use are the race jacks w/4" clearance or less that cost $150 or more.

whitecivicxs2

Damn that is really LOW...... what are u?? Formula 1 ?? ?

htowncivicEX

ttt

Ok so I take it NO ONE has gotten an alignment done on their lowered car?? See, this is exactly what I'm talking about when I say there are so few quality informative threads on this board anymore. I tried to start this thread to help out some other people and talk about good shops to get an alignment done on lowered cars, and I get ZERO responses.

Instead there are dozens of FVCKING RETARDED threads about people racing their 7thgenCivics against Camaro Z28s and there are multiple page flame threads in the Off Topic forum with guys and girls bjtching at each other back and forth arguing over who is pretty and who is ugly. It is really getting to the point where I find myself spending less and less time on this board. If I have a serious automotive question, I know that 90% of the time I will get more mature, knowledgeable, and thoughtful replies on another board like Honda-Tech.com or Honda-Acura.net.

If a pay subscription service is what it takes to get some serious discussion going and to clean this board up, just give me the address and I'll send my check in the mail tomorrow!

Sorry, just had to vent....

P.S. Just in case there are still ZERO responses to this thread, I am going to post the name and # of the shop where I got my AC hydraulic jack from. This thing is terrific and has a really low 3.5" clearance. It does weigh a lot though (around 50-60 lbs). You can get it for $180 from John at Krazed Kustoms (832) 721-7954. Shipping is $30, and there is also a rubber pad ($12) that you can get that will protect the underside of your car when using the jack. To get these prices, mention that you want the Honda-Tech.com price. Hopefully this info helps at least one person and that this thread hasn't been a complete waste.

Read more about the AC jacks here.

Later,
Aaron

EDIT: the above price is for the DK20 model, btw.

FamilyMan

Hey HTown: don't get distressed. I think you bring valuable content here. You have kept me informed. Just remember for every 100 ignorant ham heads, there are 400 or so quite readers that get something out of this thing. To answer your question, I get me alignment done at Les Schwab Tires. There is also a shop in Salt Lake City that is called Jays Alignment that can do anything that deals with the suspension of any car. Les Schwab is all over the Pacific NW and based in Prineville OR. Best bet is to hit the tuner shops where ever you are and let them recommend someone. The hard part is finding a tuner shop that isn't punk, at least that's been my problem.

Silver02EX

iTrader: (3)

If you are around the west area, I think there is Les Schawb. I can't remember what kind of jack they use... There is Midas (I'm almost positive) Firestone tires, meineke, Tire Factory, body shops... When I was looking to get an alignment done, I just look up alignment in the phone book and came up with tons of shops... If they can lower a car, then they might have a jack that would work...

FLY

*im would be on of the quiet readers i posted alot when i first became a member but recently i just read whats goin on and throw in a post here and there so keep up the USEFULL post HTOWN