oh ok that's cool then. i have that unlimited alignment deal but just changed all the weight distribution + wheels on the car and should probs have it done again..

 

Do you get a print out of the alignment settings when they are finished?

 

Tanker,

Did they show you the numbers with you out of the car? My gut feel is that it's not much of a change. Probably in the hundredths of a degree with and without you in the car. Anytime you change the ride height on a car you're going to change the alignment. None of the links in our cars work in a linear fashion so you have to expect that everything changes as you're bumping the suspension. Changing the height is no different. The difference will be even less for people with stiffly sprung cars since the height change on the car is so small with and without driver.

I had a friend who came back from a Fordahl alignment and corner weight and they up in arms about the fact that they only used 50 lbs in the driver seat to perform the work. I think what they didn't realize is that Fordahl knew better and that the weight difference will probably just wash out in the compliance (or error) in the system of car, suspension, tires, etc.

On a separate (but somewhat related note). I had a 2400 lb car on a scale before and a friend and I were playing around with the corners weights and we found out that the cross weights hardly change with driver and driver/pass combo. I weighed 30 lbs more than he does as well and I think we saw a 2 lb difference in the cross weights. A difference that will also likely wash out in the compliance of the car.

 

yep.

 

No, I was thinking about asking, but before I did he closed out of the program. If anything, it was neat seeing how it was done and seeing the values change as he adjusted stuff under the car. I'm happy with what was done.

 

Just out of curiosity, how much for the alignment? I haven't been too happy with UMazda working on my car and would like to find another shop to do my alignment when I purchase new treads.

 

I think it's $90 for a basic alignment, but if you want to get picky and go outside of factory specs then it's based on shop time and can run $90-180. Mine wasn't too difficult and it cost $100. My friend that reccomneded the shop to me paid $140. He has a different car and had the alignment shop do a lot more tweaking than what I had done.

Last year UMazda's alignment was $126 and the Alignment values were everywhere, they were in spec, but everywhere. I would definately go somewhere else than UMazda for an alignment. I've had a few issues with UMazda too, like asking them to really inspect my brakes when I brought it in for an oil change, they checked the inspection sheet in the green area for plenty of pad thickness , a week later my brake light came on and when I brought the car back, they tell me I barely have any pads. How do you go from having plenty of pads to nothing in one week/200-300 miles. I since bought a mirror to check the pads myself.


Here's the alignment sheet I got from UMazda last year

 

I've been thinking about this and I have a question for you, if it's just a wash, why even bother with the 50 lbs when I'm 3.4 times heavier? This isn't a sarcastic question, I'm just curious.

 

Tanker, thank you for posting that up. Now I really question how my alignment looks since I had UMazda do it when I purchased my current set of tires back in March.

 

I'm not really sure why they threw in the 50 lbs. Maybe they did it so people wouldn't complain? It actually kind of beats me why, you wouldn't know if it mattered unless you saw the 50 lbs go in and how much the alignment measurements changed.

 

ok hahaha


Well either way, mine is set with my full weight

 

Oh so, something I failed to say. It is absolutely excellent that you found a place that will go to the trouble of letting you sit in it AND adjust it to numbers that are precise. I wasn't trying to sound opposed, it's just my random thinking running its course and it all started with wondering if you got to see the numbers with and without you in the car. I would have been really interested to see that.

 

My current alignment was done by Firestone for $90, -2 camber in the front, -1.5 in the rear, 1/8" toe in at the front and 1/8" toe out on the rear.

 

me too