Modern Chevrolet in Winston-Salem, NC had no problem aligning either of my cars with aftermarket parts.

Modern Chevrolet
5955 University Parkway
Winston-Salem, NC 27105

 

UPDATED 12/13/12


Thanks guys. Been slacking on the updates for this!

- Kevin

 

Great thread! I had to fight with the guys to align my car. They wouldn't adjust my panhard bar so I had to walk out in the bay and show them how to do it. When I got home it still wasn't right so I just did it myself.

 

Updated again.

 

Very common complaints. You're not going to find too many shops who will adjust a panhard bar...yet they will still charge you the price of a four-wheel alignment. Most solid axle cars have no ability to align the rear - just the front. When you get your bill, it will be a full vehicle alignment like a mini-van or a Civic with adjustable rear toe and camber...I never thought this was cool. Most alignment shops are a total joke.

- Kevin

 

I can not recomend my self as I am not a sponser/As I retired 5 years ago after 30 years and 9 month @ same shop aligning autos, was not perfict but was still learning. How ever I will recomend checking the link below for some align info.

Over the years I worked with my freinds/drivers and allways try to explain the differance between OE specs and custom specs, and tried to set to their requests after explaining what I think the out come would be.

Please excuse the long rambleming letter and spelling/grammer

I will point out several points which most should be awear of.
First: I do not beleave the align tech should be exspected to go over all the after market/other parts whick drive/owner/other shop has installed/who ever install parts SHOULD tighter them up ( if the align tech does not need to loosen/adjust a part to complete HIS/HER work they ars not going to go over all new installed part to be sure they are tight as the tech is payed to ALIGN your auto not paid by the hour/time used to recheak, your / other shop's sloppy work, there fore it is possible for some parts to work loose and change the alignment.
# 2 some sharp lawyers have filed on shops because the tech set the specs out of the OE specs ( even after the tech explained all to the driver and NOTED ALL on work ticket, because the lawyer states the driver does not understand the serstances involed)
# 3 as to loading lowered cars: many times I have used boards to load lowered cars ONLY after explaining problems which may happen : tire spin/kick out the board and and allow the car undercar to hang on rack/bend exhoust,( then driver would like the tech to repair auto )
I pride my self for taking care of the auto I worked on, three years after I retired I loaded my lowered SS onto the align rack by useing boards all went well untill I begain to exit the rach at this point the car spun just enough to kick the board enough out which caugh the front finder and tore 1/3 of the fender off, cost 1627.00 to replace the fender
As to a 4 wheel align on a f-body, the rear thrust line should be refenced in ouder to set toe if car has adjustable lower control arms the rear thrust line should be adjusted.

Just my .02' Johnny

 

I hope someone chimes in about a good shop in Tampa. I dont want to drive an hour to Brandon just for an alignment.

 

What part of Tampa do you live in? I can reach Weavers from my apartment in South Tampa in about 20 minutes...Brandon is only about 20 minutes away. Trust me, this is THE BEST alignment shop in the area. They gave my GTO a full road race alignment with -2 degrees of camber at all corners. Weavers also has aligned every BMR project car with excellent speed and service.

- Kevin

 

I live in Carrollwood. Kyle told me about that place a while back. I just have a shotty Firestone aliignment on the Camaro right now to get me by.

 

I used this guy before I started doing my own alignments:

Addison Wheel Alignment
720 West Lake Street
Addison, Illinois
Phone 630.543.3042

http://addisonwheelalignment.com/

 

Another good one in Rochester is Eksten's Autoworks, they are a primarily Euro shop but they also build and race Corvettes and are familiar with pretty much everything performance oriented. Hell, if you can work on German cars and excel at it, you can pretty much work on anything lol. They also have a Dynomite chassis dyno, although us WNY'ers typically go to New Era for any dyno work. But again, it lends to their quality of work

Eksten Autoworks
78 Bennington Drive
Rochester NY 14616
585-621-8200
http://www.ekstenautoworks.com

 

Here's the shop I went to in Ocala. Guy's name is Vance. Been aligning cars 40 years. He only works part time- Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Best around here as far as I know.

Advantage Auto
1919 NE Jacksonville Rd
Ocala, FL 34470

352-732-9200

 

Just had mine done to the specs I brought in

BMR springs, konis and umi roadrace control arms. These guys are great and they have an old school pit if you are really low.


Big Johns Alignment
1210 1st ave n st petersburg, FL

727-822-3108

 

List updated, thanks for the submissions guys. Quality alignment shops are getting harder to find it seems, so lets recognize the ones who do good work.

 

Here's the shop in central California that currently does my custom alignments.


Schoettler Tire
608 north Gateway
Madera Ca. 93637

559-674-4678

You'll want to ask for Scott to do the alignment, since he's the only guy there that will set you alignment to custom specs.

 

I need help finding somewhere in Kansas... had my car at Firestone today because I just finished my new front suspension this past weekend and autocross season starts next weekend... Firestone didnt touch anything but the toe and told me that they need a special tool for aftermarket parts and that I may need special shims for after market parts. When I told the guy its no different, he said they did all they could... however, my before and after numbers didnt change, so obviously they did nothing.

 

added, 99Bluz28. Thanks!


I hate hearing things like this. I hope you at least were not charged for a full alignment. The camber and caster is actually very easy to adjust on these cars, most shops just don't have the understanding of how suspension systems work to know how adjusting key points will affect it, or sometimes where to even look for the adjustments.

 

Anybody have any suggestions around Pensacola/Fort Walton Beach area on the Florida Panhandle? BMR springs and A-arms are next and ugh on alignment shops at big box places...

 

The stock lower a-arm has a pocket to place a tool to move the lower a-arm. Aftermarket a-arms have no where for this and some shops get confused. A lot of shops use a pry bar to move the a-arm, which works but they are afraid of marking the new powder coat (which is good) they just need to be careful is all. Alignment on the 4th gen I think it is actually a pain in the butt since you need to force the the lower a-arm around in the slots. The old school shims on the upper a-arms... now that is easy!

 

I can't tell you how many times I have had to try to explain why there is nowhere to put shims on the upper control arm, or why noone makes "caster/camber" plates for a 4th gen. Or sometimes have flat out arguments where someone says their 4th gen doesn't have an upper control arm at all. I am actually working on a little something to help solve this issue hopefully