I finally got my camber kit so i could put on my sportlines and illuminas. I installed everything and took it in to get an alignment and was really exctied to get on the road and test them bad boys out. anyways the guy who did the alignment said it cant be aligned where the wheels are flat on the ground in the front AND the rear. He says he can get the car to go strait but cant get the tires on the ground. He worked on it for 2 hours so now i have to spend 180 bucks in labor with absolutely nothing done to my car. The whole point of the camber kit is so that the tires are able to be flat on the ground like stock right? My father says if it cant be done then i have to get rid of the suspension and use oem. The camber kit is a 1.00 to 3.00 in front and -1.00 to +3.00 in rear. Anyone with sportline springs that has degree specifications that i can tell the guy to use? What do i do?

Did the guy at the shop give you a print out of what the specs were when he first got the car versus after? When I took mine to a Brakes Plus location here in the Phoenix area (I run GR2s and Sportlines), they gave me a print out showing the before and after they did their thing.

I got the toe dialed in, but I do not have camber kits on the car, so there was no camber adjustment to be made. They wanted me to pay over $700 for adjustable ball joints and all that, but I told them no thanks, since I was planning to go back to stock.

The good news, I think, for you, is that in addition to the camber kits you got, you can also do the DIY camber mod in the rear to help out. For example, if the rear kits allow 3* of adjustment and the tech was still 2* off after that, then you could do the DIY mod and pick up those 2*. Then the tech could use the kits back there to make the final adjustments. Make sense?

In any case, you need to know how close he was able to get things. People use Sportlines all the time around here and the only reason why people have problems is because they DON'T get the camber kits or even bother with an alignment.

As someone who even made the Phoenix to Los Angeles run across the desert on blown stock struts wearing Sportlines with no problems at speeds better than 100mph*, I can tell you that the getting the toe set right is the most critical adjustment to your suspesion. So long as the car tracks straight, you will be okay, but improper camber WILL result in your going through your tires in less than a year. We're not talking time to think about getting new ones, we're talking tires on the verge of disintegration.

This is what happens to rear tires on Sportlines without camber adjustments.
http://az2gnt.net/DR1665/misc/gotCamber1.JP G (lose the space - huge pic)

FYI: Just installing the DIY kit in the rear reduced this wear by better than 70% imo.

Good luck to you. Get that before and after sheet. If they can't or don't provide it, take your car somewhere else. An alignment shouldn't cost more than $50 anyway.

EDIT:
* I do not advocate driving that fast on a public highway, however this particular stretch of highway literally runs across a desert much like you have seen in Roadrunner/Coyote cartoons and has a speed limit of 75mph, resulting in the flow of traffic often travelling in in the 90mph+ range. There is literally nothing out there for a good couple of hours.

when i put on the camber kit i put out the camber kit all the way positive for both front and back so he could adjust it so i know it was way out specs. he stared at my car for 2 hours and didnt make ANY aadjustments at all and i still have to pay almost 200bucks. so what your saying is that even with the camber kit i will still wear down the tires becuase they wont be flat on the ground?

Sounds like the guy is an idiot and doesnt know what he is doing.
With the correct camber kit, installed correctly, you should have no problem getting it in OEM spec.
I would complain about the money that idiot spent/charged already.

tell them you want a print out of what the spec is at now and what its at after he tried to align it.
and a little negative camber is typically fine (like -1 deg or so)
Its the toe that becomes a problem and shreds tires really quickly.

You might have the wrong camber kit if you cant get it aligned.

Okay so i got the car back today he only charged me the 89.99 for the alignment instead of the $250 staring at my car which he called labor fee. it drives strait now, but the tires still arent aligned right. if u look at it from the front the tires are like this / / slightley. I got a friend who works of V-dubs who said he can get it right. when i put the camber kit on and drove it the car bounced like a mother effer. i didnt now why so i looked at it today and the control arm is touching the inner wheel well of the car, so the car moves with the shocks and springs. Its just barely touching so how can I take care of this? Can i make any cuts or fabrications to the wheel well? Also what problems with the toe am i gonna have?

searched and found how to fix the arm i have to grind the little lip on the tip of it and bash in the wheel well a lil if it comes down to it. then i thought about it and the alignment done by the dude that he did do will now go to pot since it will be lowered another .5 after i fix that problem. anyone else want my money since i seem to be handing it out?

Originally posted by Idontgotnothn88
anyone else want my money since i seem to be handing it out?

oo oo me, me.. Ill take some money.

yep get that lip ground down, and get it back to a "qualified" alignment shop.
For your toe question, the toe adjustment is part of a regular alignment procedure. they check the caster (which can't be adjusted easily) the toe, and the camber.
Toe and camber are easy fixes, the caster changes require a good alignment shop because most won't do it or even know how to do it right.

good luck

okay finally got everything straitened out, if u want something done right u gotta do it yourself. I decided that the guy didnt know how to adjust an adjustable camber kit and wouldnt balls up and admit it. But anyways the suspension is now fully functional and WOW.... it handles amazing i can take turns like no other, almost no body roll during hard cornering and its smooth as stock.

Glad to hear it, man. Dad is satisfied as well?

indeed he is

I do alignments (and other repairs) for a living, and also have sportlines, illuminas, and the same camber kits on my Talon aligned to factory spec.

He wouldn't have been able to align (correctly) your car without modifying the upper control arm. I don't know why it took him 2 hours to figure that out, but I would have charged an additional labor charge if I had your permission to modify the control arm, or just a $25 check out fee if you didn't want to car aligned properly.

Our shop RARELY changes the labor quote given to you, (if a 1hr job takes 2hr's we don't charge you for 2hr's).