Hey guys,

So the V I just bought came with a set of H&R lowering springs that I put on earlier this week and then went and got it lowered yesterday at Tire Kingdom with the 3yr unlimited alignment package.

When I came back the guys said they couldn't get it in spec (I kinda expected this on the camber side of things) but they were freaking out saying its going to track weird because of it and advised getting some new adjustable control arms in both front and back so it could be better aligned. (They also commented on "Isn't this the fastest sedan in the world")

Here's the specs, should I be worried about this? I read some threads asking what to align for but nothing about not being able to get it to something reasonable.

 

Take it to a qualified shop
Did I read that right in the rear?
U should try for -1.5
I got -2.2 in rear and everything else in spec

 

Yeah, I was hoping for the -1.5 to very low 2 range...

I assume the guy aligning it just didn't know what he was doing? I forget which all companies their warranty applies to....Its like five different ones but atleast I can go as many times as I want within the next 3 years haha. I'll try another shop under their umbrella I guess so I don't have to spend more $ on what could turn out to be the same answer.

 

Any chance car has been hit before?

 

Yes, it got tagged in the back passenger quarter. Didn't look like enough to do any structural damage though.

There's a new lower and upper control arm and trailing arm on the rear passenger side.

 

That doesn't sound like a minor cosmetic fix if the suspension arms were replaced as a result of that accident. The difference in caster up front bothers me more than the extreme camber, but there's no adjustment for that.

My experience is that the average alignment shop tech is trained and experienced in getting average cars aligned to average numbers. Anything out of the ordinary is a crap shoot as far as if they're able to handle it. I would definitely try another shop. Even if you have to take it to a shop that deals with lowered and race setups and pay for their labor, any future touch-ups will likely be able to be handled by your 3yr deal at the other place.

 

Looks like we were on the same alignment machine or the software of it is the same, here are my results, hope it helps?!





Best regards,
Ronald

 

This is the extent of the damage. The body shop cut a hole in it to see the extent of damage underneath and said it looked like all that was needed was the skin. Thanks for the results Ronald.

I forgot to mention that I did just put in a new steering rack. I wonder if they were having problems getting the tie rod lengths setup right...

 

i need to see two pictures to tell you if your car is aligned properly.

take pix of the lower suspension arms for both the front and rear where they are bolted onto the car. After i view the pix i will tell you if your alignment shop is full of it or not.

 

Caster is adjustable on the front end of these cars but agree that the fairly large difference between each side is worrisome.

 

Rear Driver

Rear Passenger

Front Passenger

Front Driver

 

looks like you are gonna need a dremel and cut a couple mm inwards so you may have less Neg camber...

If you dont feel comfortable doing that, then you are pretty much stock with race style alignment...

 

Do you think it'd be easier taking a drill and bit and work it over instead? Seems like it'd take forever to get a dremel to make the slot longer.

Will fixing the camber a bit allow a little more flexibility in the caster?

 

Lets meet half way, the drill bit is a waste of time, you need a cutting tool like the ones found on a dremel but for a pneumatic drill. Mark your lines and cut in 3/16". That should bring you down to manageable camber. I cant make any promises on the caster but you can try...

But trust me on the camber...

 

I did like Naf said with a carbide burr after removing the lower control arm. You can extend the slots a good bit, but then the lower control arm will contact the frame. I cut the excess material off around the bushings. Search "camber issues after coilover install".

 

Thought I'd resurrect this a bit since I finally got around to partially doing it. I only did the slots in the rear, but I'm still not sure how happy I am with the rear alignment....I'm happy with the camber now but I'm not sure why they couldn't get the toe a little better.






According to the tech, both rears were -1.9 and the -2.3 is a mis print.

 

You're final specs look fine. The before ones are a mess though.

 

Yeah, the rear toe was all dicked up because I had just eyeballed it in order to get it to the shop...Apparently I'm blind.

I'm planning on doing the front this coming weekend.

 

You end up using a standard dremel to get it cut out??

 

Yeah, a corded one with a grinding stone attached to it. It took a while, but it's extremely tight to get tools in there. I'm not sure where the stock exhaust runs, but the Corsa is really close to the front slide hole. I really wanted to just use my grinder but it wouldn't fit.