Rep Power: 320

I've spent the last hour or so searching and found some threads that only give a partial answer to my question.

So heres my car...
I am running 215/40/17s on 17x7s with hubcentric rings along with Hayame coilovers lowered to about one finger gap all around. I'm not tucking at all...I've seen lower 7thgens.
Also a front and rear SPC camber kit.

So I get to Firestone this morning for what is my 5th or 6th alignment in 6 months due to various reasons.

Everytime I've been there when lowered, they (4 different technicians) could not center my steering wheel.
My steering wheel needs to be slightly turned to the left for the car to drive straight + when I let go of the wheel the steering wheel tries to return to center thus causing the car to pull right.

They told me that the tie rods are near maxed out and they cant get a centered steering wheel.
This has happened with 2 different sets of tires that were properly balanced.

I figure they could add negative camber to cause toe-in which means more tie rod to work with?
I've talk to the techs and they don't seem very knowledgeable when it comes to working on lowered cars.
They will tell me it won't work and I will suggest things to them.

The alignment setting when I went this time was

LEFT FRONT
Camber: 0.2
Toe: -2.00

RIGHT FRONT
Camber: 0.7
Toe: -1.47

Does anyone else smell the bull crap or do I need to raise the car?

 
Rep Power: 300

i think you should take it to a different alignment shop, hopefully you can get some better help from better technicians somewhere else

 
Rep Power: 262

i think i need one which is sad after getting new rims like......5-6 days ago feel like i need an alignment already

 
Rep Power: 320

there full of crap. Honestly if your car is modded i would just take it to a tuner shop that works on modded cars on a daily basis.

i'm on tein basics with 215/45/17 and my steer wheel is centered and it was when i was on my neuspeed springs as well. If the road is straight my car stays centered with my hands off the wheel.

i wouldn't take to a firestone, american tire or what ever other main stream places. just pay the $60-90 and take it to a real shop.

 
Rep Power: 251

balanced tires cause a vibration and has nothing to do with your alignment. Sounds like firestone has no clue about what they're doing. Most mechanics work on commision and if your alignment is in warranty they'll do a crappy job(because they're not getting paid). like temjinx2 said, take it to a tuner shop or place that knows what the heck they're doing. I don't see why your tie rods would be maxed out, unless your car has a bent frame from an accident or something. Sounds like B.S. to me.

 
Rep Power: 320

let us know how it went. So other people will know from now on.

 
Rep Power: 320

I'm going in for another alignment at another Firestone tomorrow morning.

Regarding tie-rod / toe spacing, I've got 2-3 threads left on the drivers side and 5-7 left on the passenger side.

I'm trying to figure this out right now so I can tell them Firestone ****'s what to do incase they tell me some bullpoop again.

Will update tomorrow evening.

 
Rep Power: 320

Haha just a case of a crappy technician...well actually more like 4 technicians.

I went to another Firestone and the technician that worked on my car was positive, supportive, helpful, knowledgeable, and just plain awesome.

The technician aligned the camber and toe to my exact likings without a complaint about it being out of spec since most places wouldn't let the car go out of spec in fear of being blamed for crap later down the road.
The store also didn't treat me any differently being that I have lifetime alignment which means they dont make a cent off of me.

For those who are having trouble with aligning their lowered cars, you are going to have to spend the money and go through trial & error before finding that one shop (and technician there) who knows what he/she is doing.

Btw for the SoCal people, I went to the Firestone on Chapman + Brookhurst and the technician's name is Francisco.

 
Rep Power: 424

If you have camber plates.... you can add more camber, it will buy you more tie rod play. If you've got bolts, adding camber won't do anything.
It sounds like you've got a combination of possibly maxed out threads, and a bad alignment tech, but if there's no more room to adjust it, no one's gonna be able to do it.
If the issue is they cant center it up... then they just can't align cars. I can get the wheel straight if I do alignments in the parking lot.

 
Rep Power: 320

Its mostly maxed out threads.

Funny thing is that I've seen pictures of 7thgens on here who are slammed and are able to get a centered wheel.

As of now I have the rears at -1.5 camber / 0 toe and -1.0 camber and 0 toe on the front.
Rears had to be that way to avoid fender rubbing.

 
Rep Power: 247

i just put hr springs on .. think i should get aligned? i feel fine.

 
Rep Power: 281

If you have a mild drop and on factory rims it is not necessary to do it right away but recommended. You can wait until your next service bc you won't be that much out of spec to eat up your tires. If you have rims though I'd get one anyway.

 
Rep Power: 320

You shouldn't be worried about camber as much as toe.
Bad toe WILL EAT UP TIRES.

I went from stock to nearly slammed and my toe was WAY off.
I drove about 50 city miles and shaved off nearly 1/4 inch of rubber for those 2 days.

You have about a 1.3 inch drop so its not as low as mine but if you value your tires I would get an alignment asap.

 
Rep Power: 257

NEVER! Under any circumstance go to Firestone! They are nothing but a bunch of con artists. I know this from first hand exprience. Try NTB or even the dealership first.