i guess i have to vent a bit...
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 81
agree....i'd say mostly due to the pothole in my case....the car just gradually starts going left or right by itself after every alignment job, then u see the tires are starting wear....i do check tire pressure and rotate them often enough....but i guess it is the natural of the car
suggestion taken!
suggestion taken!
Hit a pothole? Check your alignment. Tap a parking block? Check your alignment. Touch a curb while parking? Check your alignment. Drive? Check your alignment. Turn the wheel while you're stationary? Check your alignment.
Point is alignments will never hold for an extended period of time. Everything effects it. What do you mean exactly when you say 'a bit off'? You sure tire pressure isn't to blame? Road crown? There are a lot of factors.
I suggest having the alignment checked every 6-12 months.
Point is alignments will never hold for an extended period of time. Everything effects it. What do you mean exactly when you say 'a bit off'? You sure tire pressure isn't to blame? Road crown? There are a lot of factors.
I suggest having the alignment checked every 6-12 months.
Chewwwwy
iTrader: (5)
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 3,399
From: Fremont
Car Info: Random, yet well planed selection of jdm cult cars
I walk in with specs, don't get charged. This is at 8 different Firestones from Santa Rosa -> Sunnyvale -> SF ->to a few in Sacramento.
But hey, some people are elitists.
General Pimpin'
iTrader: (7)
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 23,019
From: Knee deep in beer. subabrew crew, ca.
Car Info: MY04 aspen wrx wagon.
I tricked Watsonville in to doing one for me. haaaa.
If you call around they all say the same thing. No custom alignments for insurance purposes.
Oh and my first alignment at fremont was TERRIBLE and my wheels ended up out of balance. I brought it back and dude told me the most they could get was like -1.4 up front so I had him max it out and dialed the rears to -.3 or some crap like that. I don't remember. Anyways... my steering wheel was cocked probably 2 inches to the left. He said oh nothing I can do about that.
Well I got it in to watsonville and it was ALL jacked up. Front was at -1.9 actually.
Oh and when Fremont rebalanced my wheels all they did was stack more weights instead of taking them off and starting clean so I had the hugest stack of weights you'll ever see on a wheel. Bull****. The place sucks.
I HIGHLY recommend going to a proven alignment shop... a performance shop. The lifetime deal is cool if you can find a firestone you trust that does good work and will do the custom alignments. So far no dice for me.
Last edited by OneManArmy; Aug 25, 2009 at 02:44 PM.
You're lucky. The ONLY Firestone I have been able to do a custom spec alignment is Fremont.
I tricked Watsonville in to doing one for me. haaaa.
If you call around they all say the same thing. No custom alignments for insurance purposes.
Oh and my first alignment at fremont was TERRIBLE and my wheels ended up out of balance. I brought it back and dude told me the most they could get was like -1.4 up front so I had him max it out and dialed the rears to -.3 or some crap like that. I don't remember. Anyways... my steering wheel was cocked probably 2 inches to the left. He said oh nothing I can do about that.
Well I got it in to watsonville and it was ALL jacked up. Front was at -1.9 actually.
Oh and when Fremont rebalanced my wheels all they did was stack more weights instead of taking them off and starting clean so I had the hugest stack of weights you'll ever see on a wheel. Bull****. The place sucks.
I HIGHLY recommend going to a proven alignment shop... a performance shop. The lifetime deal is cool if you can find a firestone you trust that does good work and will do the custom alignments. So far no dice for me.
I tricked Watsonville in to doing one for me. haaaa.
If you call around they all say the same thing. No custom alignments for insurance purposes.
Oh and my first alignment at fremont was TERRIBLE and my wheels ended up out of balance. I brought it back and dude told me the most they could get was like -1.4 up front so I had him max it out and dialed the rears to -.3 or some crap like that. I don't remember. Anyways... my steering wheel was cocked probably 2 inches to the left. He said oh nothing I can do about that.
Well I got it in to watsonville and it was ALL jacked up. Front was at -1.9 actually.
Oh and when Fremont rebalanced my wheels all they did was stack more weights instead of taking them off and starting clean so I had the hugest stack of weights you'll ever see on a wheel. Bull****. The place sucks.
I HIGHLY recommend going to a proven alignment shop... a performance shop. The lifetime deal is cool if you can find a firestone you trust that does good work and will do the custom alignments. So far no dice for me.
The Santa Rosa one set my 2.7T A6 on H&R coilovers to a ton of camber front (IIRC 2.5*), and a little bit in the rear (IIRC 1*).
The ones in the Sacramento area are MORE THAN WILLING to set it up with the specs you want. It's actually pretty damn easy. I've NEVER had an issue with it.
My Unicorn was setup for ~1.75* front and .5* rear camber with ZERO TOE (both front and rear set to absolute ZERO) and ZERO spread on the front caster settings.
Honestly, I'd have talked to a manager if told that you can't tell them what the camber/caster settings you want are.
Enchanter's 05STi was taken before and after every track day to get a Firestone alignment... and by god that thing was scary. Henry@Mach3 can attest to that one.
Again, these are just my opinions on everything. I've gone through 5-6 cars all of which have been DAMN hard to align.
They were the only shop to adjust the settings on my bagged out minitruck. NO other shop would deal with that one.
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 81
sunnyvale firestones just quoted me 129.99 for alignment, how's this price sound?
The one in Sunnyvale IS a performance shop. I guess the guys with elises and REAL 427 cobras as well as most of the Z32 guys and z06 guys all get special lucky treatment there. I've been going there since....early 2002? Before the GD was a glimmer in the USDM's eye.
The Santa Rosa one set my 2.7T A6 on H&R coilovers to a ton of camber front (IIRC 2.5*), and a little bit in the rear (IIRC 1*).
The ones in the Sacramento area are MORE THAN WILLING to set it up with the specs you want. It's actually pretty damn easy. I've NEVER had an issue with it.
My Unicorn was setup for ~1.75* front and .5* rear camber with ZERO TOE (both front and rear set to absolute ZERO) and ZERO spread on the front caster settings.
Honestly, I'd have talked to a manager if told that you can't tell them what the camber/caster settings you want are.
Enchanter's 05STi was taken before and after every track day to get a Firestone alignment... and by god that thing was scary. Henry@Mach3 can attest to that one.
Again, these are just my opinions on everything. I've gone through 5-6 cars all of which have been DAMN hard to align.
They were the only shop to adjust the settings on my bagged out minitruck. NO other shop would deal with that one.
The Santa Rosa one set my 2.7T A6 on H&R coilovers to a ton of camber front (IIRC 2.5*), and a little bit in the rear (IIRC 1*).
The ones in the Sacramento area are MORE THAN WILLING to set it up with the specs you want. It's actually pretty damn easy. I've NEVER had an issue with it.
My Unicorn was setup for ~1.75* front and .5* rear camber with ZERO TOE (both front and rear set to absolute ZERO) and ZERO spread on the front caster settings.
Honestly, I'd have talked to a manager if told that you can't tell them what the camber/caster settings you want are.
Enchanter's 05STi was taken before and after every track day to get a Firestone alignment... and by god that thing was scary. Henry@Mach3 can attest to that one.
Again, these are just my opinions on everything. I've gone through 5-6 cars all of which have been DAMN hard to align.
They were the only shop to adjust the settings on my bagged out minitruck. NO other shop would deal with that one.
General Pimpin'
iTrader: (7)
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 23,019
From: Knee deep in beer. subabrew crew, ca.
Car Info: MY04 aspen wrx wagon.
If you are gonna go to Firestone get the lifetime. It's an extra $50 and worth it.
If you're looking to do a one time deal go to one of the shops like AI. It's cheaper.
side note. I'll have to try sunnyvale next time. Thanks MDA.
If you're looking to do a one time deal go to one of the shops like AI. It's cheaper.
side note. I'll have to try sunnyvale next time. Thanks MDA.
The one in Sunnyvale IS a performance shop. I guess the guys with elises and REAL 427 cobras as well as most of the Z32 guys and z06 guys all get special lucky treatment there. I've been going there since....early 2002? Before the GD was a glimmer in the USDM's eye.
The Santa Rosa one set my 2.7T A6 on H&R coilovers to a ton of camber front (IIRC 2.5*), and a little bit in the rear (IIRC 1*).
The ones in the Sacramento area are MORE THAN WILLING to set it up with the specs you want. It's actually pretty damn easy. I've NEVER had an issue with it.
My Unicorn was setup for ~1.75* front and .5* rear camber with ZERO TOE (both front and rear set to absolute ZERO) and ZERO spread on the front caster settings.
Honestly, I'd have talked to a manager if told that you can't tell them what the camber/caster settings you want are.
Enchanter's 05STi was taken before and after every track day to get a Firestone alignment... and by god that thing was scary. Henry@Mach3 can attest to that one.
Again, these are just my opinions on everything. I've gone through 5-6 cars all of which have been DAMN hard to align.
They were the only shop to adjust the settings on my bagged out minitruck. NO other shop would deal with that one.
The Santa Rosa one set my 2.7T A6 on H&R coilovers to a ton of camber front (IIRC 2.5*), and a little bit in the rear (IIRC 1*).
The ones in the Sacramento area are MORE THAN WILLING to set it up with the specs you want. It's actually pretty damn easy. I've NEVER had an issue with it.
My Unicorn was setup for ~1.75* front and .5* rear camber with ZERO TOE (both front and rear set to absolute ZERO) and ZERO spread on the front caster settings.
Honestly, I'd have talked to a manager if told that you can't tell them what the camber/caster settings you want are.
Enchanter's 05STi was taken before and after every track day to get a Firestone alignment... and by god that thing was scary. Henry@Mach3 can attest to that one.
Again, these are just my opinions on everything. I've gone through 5-6 cars all of which have been DAMN hard to align.
They were the only shop to adjust the settings on my bagged out minitruck. NO other shop would deal with that one.
Which is the one in Sunnyvale? http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8...PS1oiPDA&hl=en
There's a few on the maps...
I live near Sunnyvale and do it twice a year + whenever I do suspension changes (which is like, a lot), so $170 seems REALLY worth it
Last edited by verc; Aug 26, 2009 at 04:32 PM.
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