fixed

 

Damn I wish I'd known you needed an alignment. That place blows dick. But ironically I would recommend Balch Alignment & Frame in the heights Thats where I worked and they specialize in altered suspensions and I PROMISE they use torque sticks lol. Sorry to hear you got raped. Or maybe your shits just weak. lol

 

Update: Owner called this morning, wants me to come in at 1 to work something out. We'll see how it goes.

 

I have adjustable coilover suspension on the vehicle. The ride height, dampening, and front camber angle is fully adjustable. So I was a bit surprised when I found that the front passenger side was almost 1/2 inch lower than the driver side for some ungodly reason, and it wasn't even done properly, because the coilover sleeve wasn't even tightened into place, which is just dangerous. I was always under the impression that the definition of alignment was to make everything even on both sides of the vehicle, so it is "aligned." Maybe I'm wrong though, because apparently its actually defined as "just change some stuff on both sides, give the car back to the customer and hope he doesn't notice." However, believe it or not, it gets even better.

When I checked out the camber settings on the top of the front coilovers, the camber angle in the front is off by a difference of one full degree. How is that even a mistake that could possibly be made? It's literally right in front of your face when you look at the top of the coilover. I can't figure out if your tech just didn't know what the hell he was doing, or if he just didn't care because he was about to get off work. Perhaps a combination of both.
$75 dollard alingment REALLY!!!!
I highly doubt they would set your ride height and I believe thats all on you. Coilover collards can come loose on their own and I have had many coilovers do this. I would definetly not trust the alingment marks on the camber plates. I have noticed they really dont do shit for my cars. Did you get a print out of the before and after? SO basically this guy owes you $1.29 for a wheel stud. IMHO if he gives you the money back you are a lucky man and I applaud the dood for making things right.

 

Why were the wheels removed for an alignment?

What the upper mount shows for camber and actual readings can vary quite a bit, just tossing that out there.

Ride height should be equal all around, to a degree. If it was done with a driver in it (ie, "custom specs" that some people want) it can have an unsprung ride height difference that is significant (had one that I had to raise the car 3/4" on the drivers side to compensate for the driver).

Impact wrenches are not the problem, improperly trained techs are.

Just weighing in on the shop side, although it sounds like you had a real bad deal on this one.

 

QFT. Unfortunatley there are many in our area (shops anyways...) Thats why when I get my tires mounted i just throw the wheels in the back of my car and go home to put em on, i have never broken a stud from me myself tightening it. Also happened to a friends S2000, they must like to get trigger happy on their airguns :/

 

YOUR RED NOW FGT

 

It wasn't on me. I have fortune coilovers, which as I'm sure you know, you can adjust the height with the base of the coilover instead of just the spring perch. That isn't something that can just "come loose." I realize that the camber marks aren't precise, they aren't meant to be. There was something clearly incorrect with the alignment on the car based on how it drove.

Thats what I thought too, however, I have 10k/12k rates. I weigh 165lbs. My body weight isn't enough to even think about having to compensate in ride height.


I'm happy to say however, Mr. Balch himself called me this morning and apologized for everything, and asked me to bring the car in this afternoon. I was a bit skeptical at first, but they fixed the stud and redid the alignment to whatever specs I wanted, and everything seems to be correct this time. It's unfortunate that I couldn't have had this experience on the first go-round, but he definitely made it right in the end.

 

FAIL!!!!! you should apologise to the owner for making this thread

 

Never. Cause making threads bashing businesses on teh intarwebz is what gets things done.