Just got an alignment today

[crazy9ceguy]

Just got an alignment today at west end alignments in gardena, man those guys really know there stuff, i also got it corner balanced as well. my car weighs 2630 with a little over half a tank of gas and without me in it. the weight distribution in the front is 55.7% and 44.3% in the back. anyways the car handles like a champ now. just htought id share my expereince with west end with you all and i highly recommend going there for an alignment.

[Dousan_PG]

sweet. what is your alignment setting and what suspension you run
and how much was the cost for the corner balnce and align?
thanks. i want to get mine balancd, thing alex p will do it for me

[crazy9ceguy]

i have the zeal super function coilovers, all the control rods and arms are spherical bal bearing, moog ball joints, moog tie-rod ends, energy suspenion front lca bushing. i went with the agressive street setting with a -1.9 degree of camber in the back. the total with alignment and corner balancing was $200 and it took 4 hours being in the car.

[Dousan_PG]

wow really not bad at all! thanks
super functions rule, my friend has them. amazing coilovers.

[supportTHEezln]

alex did mine, i dig it, cheap too. corner balance, full alignment etc.

[seiyess]

alex did mine, i dig it, cheap too. corner balance, full alignment etc.

how much was cheap?

[Powered by Jay]

darren at west end alignment is awesome.

[Flybert]

I'd like to reiterate that Darren is the man. He does excellent work and is a pleasure to talk to. I'm looking forward to taking my car back there after getting some new arms for it.

[DavidC]

make sure to get your appointments in early at west end. I called to make an appointment this past monday and the earliest was 2 weeks later.

[cheez80]

how much was cheap?
i think the going price is 90/hr at g-dimension/alex pfeiffer

[sideview_180sx]

i have the zeal super function coilovers, all the control rods and arms are spherical bal bearing, moog ball joints, moog tie-rod ends, energy suspenion front lca bushing. i went with the agressive street setting with a -1.9 degree of camber in the back. the total with alignment and corner balancing was $200 and it took 4 hours being in the car.

What place did you go to exactly?? Post contact info and such for us who want to get the same treatment haha.

[DavidC]

did you not read the thread??? West End Alignments

[98sr20ve]

For $90 an hour you should learn how to do your own alignments. I know it's a good job he does but as much as we tear into our suspension it's worth knowing how to do your own.

[Ian]

it kinda takes just a little more then regular hand tools to do an alignment...

90/hour dosent equate to the thousands it costs for an alignment rack and computer system

[MakotoS13]

For $90 an hour you should learn how to do your own alignments. I know it's a good job he does but as much as we tear into our suspension it's worth knowing how to do your own.

you obviously lack the understanding needed to do it on your own since fine tuning requires proper tools and experience. any of us can ballpark it, getting it perfect is what the professionals are for... thats why they're professionals.

[sideview_180sx]

corner balancing is something that just about all of us will not be able to do unless we have $1400 to spend on a longacre 4-way scale. Measuring toe,camber, and ride height is easy. having the other tools at our disposal to get a complete job is well outta range of my pocket book.

[Powered by Jay]

you obviously lack the understanding needed to do it on your own since fine tuning requires proper tools and experience. any of us can ballpark it, getting it perfect is what the professionals are for... thats why they're professionals.

I think 98sr20ve has the understanding needed to do it. Now teach us! Well anyways iirc 98sr20ve is the darren on the east coast for the SE-R guys. He provided the east coasters who couldn't go to west end alignment with beam bending service.

I'd like to learn how to do it myself. Can you help me out 98sr20ve? What tools are required?

[98sr20ve]

you obviously lack the understanding needed to do it on your own since fine tuning requires proper tools and experience. any of us can ballpark it, getting it perfect is what the professionals are for... thats why they're professionals.

Who obviously don't know what you are talking about. Using Toe Plates is not hard at all. If you level your garage floor doing camber is easy as well. I do it all the time and people pay me $50 an hour to do their cars. (BTW, this is how Darren does some of his cars as well, toe plates on a level pad) Most people who don't know how to do an alignment don't understand that for about $200 in expense you can do a full thrust alignment on any car and own the tools to do it over and over and over. You can not do cornerweighting with out a $1200 or so outlay in cash but any real car guy should learn how to do their own alignments. For $55 bucks you can start with learning how to set your own toe. That will take car of most things for you so your tires don't get eaten alive.

[98sr20ve]

I think 98sr20ve has the understanding needed to do it. Now teach us! Well anyways iirc 98sr20ve is the darren on the east coast for the SE-R guys. He provided the east coasters who couldn't go to west end alignment with beam bending service.

I'd like to learn how to do it myself. Can you help me out 98sr20ve? What tools are required?

Last time I posted how to do this stuff on this forum people got all pissy for some reason. This is what you need.
1) Toe Plates (this is all you need for toe adjustments in the front)
2) A very good laser pointer
3) Level Floor plus a camber gauge/OR a bar with two screws set at the same distance as the flats on your wheels. This plus a level, and a dial caliper is all you need for toe.

I am busy with a move and don't have time to repeat all the stuff I posted on another forum. Look at this thread

http://www.sr20forum.com/showthread.php?t=109023&page=1&pp=20

[MakotoS13]

Who obviously don't know what you are talking about. Using Toe Plates is not hard at all. If you level your garage floor doing camber is easy as well. I do it all the time and people pay me $50 an hour to do their cars.

so you're saying those folks are stupid/lazy? one of the few things i dont want to screw with is alignment stuff, big deal? i get it in the general area so some guy doesn't have to spend hours and hours screwing with stuff,

besides, if you a lot of suspension stuff at once it shouldn't be a big deal. thats why i haven't gotten an alignment yet.

[lilredstiffy]

Makato I think the word he would use is apathetic. His point is if you are willing to tool on other parts of your car, doing an alignment is nothing hard in comparison with just a few tools and a little knowledge. I also have no clue what you mean if you do a lot of suspension stuff at once it should be no big deal :fruit:

On topic, $200 is a great price for an alignment and corner weighing.

[98sr20ve]

so you're saying those folks are stupid/lazy? one of the few things i dont want to screw with is alignment stuff, big deal? i get it in the general area so some guy doesn't have to spend hours and hours screwing with stuff,

besides, if you a lot of suspension stuff at once it shouldn't be a big deal. thats why i haven't gotten an alignment yet.


If you don't want to do your own thats fine. Big Deal. All I am saying is that for 1 hours time from someone you can get 1/2 the tools you need for your alignment. Thats it. Nothing else. In my experiance many people just don't realize this fact. Anyway, I am moving to Colorado, Won't be near a computer for 5 days. You all have fun.

[anotherblusi]

If you don't want to do your own thats fine. Big Deal. All I am saying is that for 1 hours time from someone you can get 1/2 the tools you need for your alignment. Thats it. Nothing else. In my experiance many people just don't realize this fact. Anyway, I am moving to Colorado, Won't be near a computer for 5 days. You all have fun.

You make it sound like doing an alignment is cake, but really it is not. The first point you made is doing it on a level surface. Not everyone has a level garage. This means figuring out what corners need to be lifted and how much to get the car level. Next is adjusting toe. The fronts are pretty easy since you can just rotate the wheels to get to the tie rods. But the rear will have to be jacked up and lowered and jacked up until you get it right. Then you have to figure out if you front wheels are lined up with the rear. Also the same deal with camber. Rear will have to be jacked up and down till it right. Next would be corner balancing and adjusting coilovers. Which again requires the car to go up and down. This to me is a huge pain in the ass and I would rather cough up $200.

You are right on one point though, you don't need some expensive computer controlled alignment machine to do a great alignment. All you need is the love of tedious work. ;)

[98sr20ve]

You make it sound like doing an alignment is cake, but really it is not. The first point you made is doing it on a level surface. Not everyone has a level garage. This means figuring out what corners need to be lifted and how much to get the car level. Next is adjusting toe. The fronts are pretty easy since you can just rotate the wheels to get to the tie rods. But the rear will have to be jacked up and lowered and jacked up until you get it right. Then you have to figure out if you front wheels are lined up with the rear. Also the same deal with camber. Rear will have to be jacked up and down till it right. Next would be corner balancing and adjusting coilovers. Which again requires the car to go up and down. This to me is a huge pain in the ass and I would rather cough up $200.

You are right on one point though, you don't need some expensive computer controlled alignment machine to do a great alignment. All you need is the love of tedious work. ;)


You don't need a perfectly level surface for toe. YOu can do a 240 with the car on the ground. I do it all the time. Takes me an 1.5 hours or so to do everything with the help of a friend.

[s13silady]

alighnments arent hard... they are tedious...i do more than 10 alighments a day, every day.

[MakotoS13]

with the help of a friend? some of us don't have the luxury of having friends readily available all the time. actually, most my friends dont know piss about cars so im sort of on my own when it comes to this. thats fine, i prefer it... i'll pay a pro to do it right the first time.

[citizen]

with the help of a friend? some of us don't have the luxury of having friends readily available all the time. actually, most my friends dont know piss about cars so im sort of on my own when it comes to this. thats fine, i prefer it... i'll pay a pro to do it right the first time.
time to upgrade your friends then i think!

[MakotoS13]

loyalty is all the requisit one can ask for.

[Dousan_PG]

alignments are easy to do
basic tools can do it
ive done mine quite a few times when changing suspension basictools like boards, boxes rulers, tape measures and hand tools
might take an hour or so but its pretty close. test drive and adjust accordingly
with a lift i do that too put it up and do it on the lift and fine tuneon the ground, suspension doesnt travel too much on the car and can get it somewhat close.

after doing my 'ghetto' alignment took it to shop...i waspretty close..a tad off for a perfect fine tune but overall, i could have driven it for a very long time w/ little to no problems in tire wear.

i do need a corner balance though, thats for sure