Turned down for an alignment

Stupefyer

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So I recently lowered my car (FK7 Sport) with D2 springs and after putting some miles on them, I decided it was time for an alignment. So I take it to a local auto shop and they said they would gladly do my alignment. So I wait for 3 hours and I understand that it was busy so I didnt make a big deal about the wait even though I had an appointment. However, I see them pull my car into the garage and not even 5 minutes later I see them backing it out and parking it. I then ask whats going on and they told me that they couldnt do an alignment on my vechile because their alignment machine didnt have the specifications for my car and that I should just go to the dealer. Not much I couldve done because I had work in a couple of hours. Has anyone ever gotten that kind of excuse before? Honda Civics are one of the most common cars on the roads in the states so its really hard for me to believe that they didnt have the specifications for a simple alignment.

TL;DR - I waited 3 hours for them to tell me that they couldnt do an alignment on my car.
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86salmon

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I bought a Firestone lifetime alignment when I lowered my truck. It paid for itself in two years

It's crappy they didn't look at your car before wasting your time
 

360glitch

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I had one local shop tell me the same. Thankfully they took three minutes to tell me, not three hours. I offered to provide alignment specs but they claimed their (ancient) electronic alignment machine would not allow them to use them.
 

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I was turned down before at Walmart with my EH9 because it was too low to go on their ramps. I ended up taking it to this old school alignment shop where they somehow aligned it with chaulk and strings.:dunno:
 

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TL;DR - I waited 3 hours for them to tell me that they couldnt do an alignment on my car.
Ask again and tell them the specs that you'd like. They'll probably tell you that they can't guarantee against extra tire wear since they don't know the actual specs (understandable, since the specs would be your responsibility), so tell them that you'd be willing to take the risk anyway.

I've had a shop along to my specs, too, and that's how the deal went.
 


Dying2Live

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I have been to every alignment shop in southern california over the years and have found exactly 2 places that know what they are doing. This is a lost art and the people who know how to properly do them are worth their weight in gold. 2 places are

1) JC Alignement in Huntington Beach
2) Revolution Tire and wheel in Cypress

there is also west end alignment in Gardena but have found it to be hit or miss, plus wait times can be weeks out which is just stupid
 

indexcow

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I had my own Honda dealership turn me down, I think it was March of 2016. I figured that the Honda dealership would have everything to align a Civic by then but I guess not.
 

Dying2Live

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the computer only does the alignment within the factory specifications range, which does nothing for you if your slammed or lowered, thats why the stealership wont/cant do it
 
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BarracksSi

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the computer only does the alignment within the factory specifications range, which does nothing for you if your slammed or lowered, thats why the stealership wont/cant do it
I don't think that's the reason. Dealerships don't want to work on nonstandard parts and set nonstandard alignments for liability's sake. That's why you either do it yourself or go to another shop.

Liability is also why NTB wouldn't guarantee my tires' lifespan when I asked for a custom alignment.
 

Deezy

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the computer only does the alignment within the factory specifications range, which does nothing for you if your slammed or lowered, thats why the stealership wont/cant do it
I thought using camber arms allowed you to bring it within factory specs?
 
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Dying2Live

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it would correct it, however i think barrack is 100% correct when he says the dealer would look at this as non standard and trip out over liabilty. this assumes however they know what they are doing in the first place and in my experience they dont, i would never have a dealer work on my car anyway so its a win win
 

putnam_fc3

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I personally work at a tire shop doing alignments. Depending on their system and/or how often they update it they may not have the correct specs for your vehicle.
I have had to go back a coupe years on a car or 2 (still the same chassis code) because the shop I work at hasn’t gotten ours updated in a while. With the electronic steering system in our cars I would NOT align the car off of specs you found offline as you more than likely will need a steering angle refresh afterwards offered by a special tool that newer machines have. which would be affected by different years and newer options as well. I have yet to do a alignment on a civic newer than 2016(we have up to 2017) though.

Being “too low” is also not an “excuse” most of the time it is to keep the shop safe and your car safe from damage. Our machine clamps “heads” to your tire and adds .5”-1” to the diameter at the point of clamping. This would not affect anything if you did not have to compensate for wheel/tire size by rolling the vehicle with the heads on or clearing fender/bumper during caster sweep(moving the steering wheel back and forth multiple times). The d2 springs do go fairly low so I would say this is probably the OP real issue.
We usually take a head out to the car and show the owner why we can’t do the alignment. Or let them see the car just won’t go on the lift.
 

HondaDNA

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I work for a multi-million dollar dealership chain and can't do alignments on 18+ Accords because they have yet to update the alignment machine (which 3 separate shops share)
 

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I work for a multi-million dollar dealership chain and can't do alignments on 18+ Accords because they have yet to update the alignment machine (which 3 separate shops share)
Great Lakes?
 

Kane666

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did you get the camber arms? take it to goodyear that's where I went.
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