PSA on Alignment from BMR
 

I just got off the phone with a mechanic who was adamant that our K-member and adjustable A-arms wouldn't allow for alignment alterations and was even considering loosening the K-member.

Step 1: If this happens, remove your car from the lift and leave immediately.

Step 2: Find a reputable alignment shop with a car forum or car club.

This mechanic also said "it's my job to align the car, it's not my job to torque down aftermarket parts" Yes...he let his customer leave the shop with the A-arms "snug tight" and then the car went out of alignment so he charged him $50 to get it back into spec again.

Step 1: If this happens, remove your car from the lift and leave immediately.

Step 2: Find a reputable alignment shop with a car forum or car club.

I finally got the guy to agree to put the car back on the lift and torque everything down to where we want them, and where they should be. He was a very stubborn person that was setting himself up for a lawsuit.

This made me realize that we should start a list of reputable alignment shops that have provided good work and categorize it by state. Over time, maybe we can make a list that fairly comprehensive and - best of all - bring work to shops that deserve it.

I will start the list with the shop that has always aligned our shop cars and my person race cars here in Florida - Weaver's Tire & Automotive


LIST BY STATE
Alabama


Alaska


Arizona


Arkansas


California
Dave's Frame and Alignment
16182 Gothard St # V
Huntington Beach, CA 92647
(714) 841-2940

Reedley Automotive
1436 G Street
Reedley, CA 93654
(559) 638-9942

Coast General Performance
2855 Harbor Blvd
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
714-540-5710

Schoettler Tire
608 north Gateway
Madera Ca. 93637
559-674-4678
Ask for Scott

Colorado


Connecticut


Delaware


Florida
Starling Chevrolet
1001 E Irlo Bronson Memorial Hwy
St Cloud, FL 34769
(321) 697-7756

Waever’s Tire & Automotive (Tell them BMR sent you!)
310 W Brandon Blvd
Brandon, FL 33511
(813) 685-2906

South Tire and Auto Service
705 N Cocoa Blvd,
Cocoa, FL 32922
(321) 632-0575
www.southtireandauto.com

Advantage Auto
1919 NE Jacksonville Rd
Ocala, FL 34470
352-732-9200

Big Johns Alignment
1210 1st ave n st petersburg, FL
727-822-3108

The Alignment Guy
1028 SE 9th St
Cape Coral, Fl
239-458-4508
http://thealignmentguy.net/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-A...641737?fref=ts



Georgia
Atlanta area:
Gran Turismo East
3306 Shallowford Road
Chamblee, GA 30341
770-455-0347 (phone)
www.granturismoeast.om

Contact Name: Kieran O'Brien. Buddy from track days that has plenty of LS-car experience and knows how to get them setup properly.


Hawaii


Idaho
Big O Tire
1422 Main St
Boise, Idaho 83702
Phone 208-342-5525
Ask for Nick Oates


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


Indiana
Dales Service Center
1575 North Bendix Drive
South Bend, Indiana 46628
574-289-9636
www.dalesservicecenter.com


Iowa


Kansas


Kentucky


Louisiana
Hauk's Alignment
617 Fairfield Ave.
Alexandria, LA 71301
(318) 443-1100

Maine


Maryland


Massachusetts
Walt's Wheel & Tire
1484 Fall River Avenue
Seekonk, MA 02771
(508) 336-8200

Michigan


Minnesota


Mississippi


Missouri


Montana


Nebraska


Nevada


New Hampshire


New Jersey


New Mexico


New York
Craig Autometrics
10 Winthrop St.
Rochester, NY
585-325-3337

Eksten Autoworks
78 Bennington Drive
Rochester NY 14616
585-621-8200

North Carolina
Modern Chevrolet
5955 University Parkway
Winston-Salem, NC 27105
(336) 722-4191

North Dakota


Ohio
Precision Alignment & Tire, Inc
460 Curtis Street
Delaware, OH 43015
(740) 369-8660

Oklahoma
G&A Frame
2885 E Admiral Place
Tulsa, OK 74110
(918) 834-1231

Oregon


Pennsylvania
Phoenix Performance
481 Schuylkill Rd
Phoenixville PA 19460-5200


Fleming Tire & Auto
649 Route 228
Mars, PA 16046
www.flemingtire.com
724-625-TIRE

Rhode Island


South Carolina


South Dakota


Tennessee


Texas
Dale's Alignment & Brake Service
806 N Fm 1936
Odessa, TX 79763
432-385-0651

Utah


Vermont


Virginia


Washington


West Virginia


Wisconsin
Turn Two Auto
5400 King James Way
Madison WI 53719
Phone: 608-250-1768
http://www.turntwoauto.com/



I encourage you all to post up an alignment shop you suggest, and share your experience! Let's make this happen to help our everyone in the LS community get their cars set right!

Please follow the same format as you see above:

Shop Name
Address
Phone Number
Website (if available)

- Kevin

Shop Name - G&A Frame
Address - 2885 E Admiral Place Tulsa, OK 74110
Phone Number - (918) 834-1231
Website (if available) - The old man doesn't do websites but he does damned good work!

pep boys did a crappy job on my car..........the dealer did it right :P

Excellent idea. I recently lowered my car and took it to the local tire chain store for alignment. They got the steering wheel strait and got it driving better but I don't think they did all they could. When I got home and looked at the sheet they gave me, I noticed some of the numbers were still redand no where near the same side to side. Then I noticed at the top of the page it said "1987 to 1992 camaro z-28", I don't evan feel like letting them mess with it anymore. So I'm in the market for a good shop inthe northern kentucky/cincinnati area.

Kevin, you guys aren't the only ones with this issue. We run into this a lot. A lot of the service techs tend to have attitudes too and already know everything, when you try to help they get offended.

I highly suggest asking the alignment shop if they can work with aftermarket suspension items before taking it there. Aligning with aftermarket items is exactly the same... but they tend to get intimidated for some reason.

Indeed Ryan, I didn't mean to imply we were the only ones who deal with this issue DAILY. lol This thread is something I've been brainstorming for a while and I felt that after my conversation with that guy, I had to finally start this thread. There are so many alignment shops out there who are extremely incompetent. I feel really bad that our customer was caught up in this mess and charged an additional amount of money simply because the guy doing the alignment didn't care to FINISH his job.

Do you have any shops in your neck of the woods you would suggest?

Dales alignment in Odessa Tx. 806 FM 1936. 432-385-0651. Shop has been around 20+ years.

Yes, finding a good alignment shop is hard. I took my car to a local GM dealer and they tried to charge me $150 extra because I had LS1 spindles and brakes. The base price was $72, and they took 6 hours trying to get it aligned and it still wasn't right.

I'll see how the next ones goes before I give the shop name and contact info

Good idea guys.

Also how about adding some different specs? Here are the ones I found...

Alignment specs:
________________Camber____Caster____Toe
______Factory:_____+1_______+3______.15
Street/AutoX:____-.5 to -1__+4 to +5___0.0
_______AutoX:_____-1.5____+4 to +5___1/16” Toe Out

Do you have an address?

Thanks!

This is one reason that's making me adament about buying rear adj suspension. The shops here use machines, and I've been told that if the rear wasn't designed to be adjusted, then the machine wouldn't even have the parameters loaded.....

Granted, this was the same shop that put the lift pad under the fender bracket and mushed it.....

Its 806 on north FM 1936. No website either.

Precision Alignment in Delaware OH (just north of Columbus) does stock and custom alignments on stock and aftermarket suspension components. They aligned my trailblazer (stock) and I was quite pleased with them. Just this morning I had them weld up my exhaust on my Camaro (saggy clamped setup) and they did a good job tucking it up as well. They also do full custom exhaust with mandrel bends also.

Excellent! Post up their contact info and I'll add them to the list!

Would have earlier except I was on my phone at the time and didn't have the info with me.

Precision Alignment & Tire, Inc
460 Curtis Street, Delaware, OH 43015
(740) 369-8660

I have 2 lowered LT1 cars and one uses a complete BMR suspension including kmember. I had them both aligned at:
Dales service Center
1575 North Bendix Drive
South Bend, Indiana 46628
574-289-9636
www.dalesservicecenter.com

Dale has been in business since 1979 and services muscle cars and hot rods as well as your average cars. He is also avid car nut himself owning a 1000hp muscle car of his own as well as being involved in many local car events. One of the nicest guys you could meet. He also has a alignment pit for lowered cars.

When we had our cars aligned Dale stood in the shop with us the whole time and talked cars. Showing us one of the many cars he has owned that made it into a magazine. He also took the time to ask us what all has been done to both of our LT1's. It wasnt just random talk either. He was really interested. I would recommend Dale for any of your alignment needs as well as anything else you do not do yourself.

Great thread idea. I recently went to STS for an alignment and they wouldn't even let me get on the rack since my car is lowered.

A recommendation to an aftermarket-friendly place in northern New Jersey would be great.

Thanks for your contributions! It's going to take some time, but at least there will be something like this that could potentially become a sticky.

New additions added!

Agreed! For specific alignments, you want to go somewhere that will do racing alignments for you. The typical mechanics will probably give you $hit if you ask them to do anything outside of the stock range.

Can they get in any trouble too if they are helping you setup your car out of the stock range? If this is the case, it could be another reason.

I got a place near me in the MA RI area that I go to for all my wheel tire mounting and whenever I want a specific alignment.

Shop Name Reedley Automotive
Address 1436 G Street Reedley, CA 93654
Phone Number (559) 638-9942


I've been going here for a few years. I have fully adjustable rear suspension (with a 9" rear) and they have never had a problem. The shop owner does all the alignments himself.

Thanks!