I recently installed the Koni Sport Kit (thanks to Wild Weasel), and this morning I went for an alignment. The guy came back 10 minutes later to tell me I didn't even need one. He showed me the printout and everything was square.
Now I'm curious, everyone says you need an alignment when you swap suspension, but the guy said you only need it if you mess with the tie-rods (I think thats what he said. It was early and I hadn't had a coffee yet).
Has anyone else run into this?
P.S. The Koni kit is great. I recommend it to anyone looking for a moderate drop from a reputable company.
anytime your remove the struts you need an alignment
Fink wrote:Now I'm curious, everyone says you need an alignment when you swap suspension, but the guy said you only need it if you mess with the tie-rods
If he said that, then he is an idiot. When you change springs and struts you change the geometry. An alignment is absolutely necessary. Consider yourself lucky; maybe your alignment was off before you put the parts on
did you by chance check the time on the printout? i ask b/c a friend took his car in for an alignment and they said he didn't need one either...but the car pulled like shat!! we looked at the date/time on the printout and it was from a day before
I've done struts before and taken it in only to find the alignment is fine. It's happened to me once.
It's like shooting a basketball. Get enough people to try, and someone is bound to make it on the first try. That does not mean everyone else will make it on their first try.
Most places offer to check your alignment for <$25. And will take that off the price of an alignment if it's off.
The rear camber and toe will be fine, they're very hard to change. It's the front camber and toe you need to have checked. The front camber will
almost certainly be off. The front toe may be off slightly too. Either being off is bad news for tires.
Also, I've done several tie-rods. I've never had it right when I take it in.
This only means that I did an uber-excellent job on the reassembly and eye-balled it all perfectly.
Basically, it's a crap-shoot. I think it's pretty cool that they told you that and sent you on your way rather than charging for the alignment if it wasn't needed.
How much did they charge?
it was their minimum, twenty bucks. I mean, they did hook up the car to the machine. I'm just pissed because it was 1/2 price alignment this week and I was looking forward to saying some dough on it.
The only thing that was off was my rear passenger toe by 0.03 degrees. Miniscule. In fact, I think it was also off the first time I got an alignment last summer when I bought my rims. So it's all Kosher.
And yes, WW did do an excellent job an the reassembly... would you believe he lined it up by with only a punch and some string!
heres my opinion, i just did my car today and there is no adjustment for the front that i can see? the bolts are not odd shape to adjust anything and there is no play in the holes?
i will bring it in again i think i might of over looked the play in the actual strut holes.
When i lowered mine, the pass side was perfect (i think its because there were no "cam" bolts), while the driver side did, and was off. After adding the control arm bushings, the toe was off, and off before that, which baffled me considering the tie rod ends were never removed. I never did get a print out either time, but always asked, and they would tell me. The driver side the first time was off in caster by 3 he said, assuming degrees, but he never said which way. It might have changed, since the strut bolts werent tightened all the way down (which i discovered about a week later). She drives straight now, and great.
