Hi gang, I need some advice. I spent some quality time with LAASER today. I went out and got him some new shoes (BF Gfroce Sports, 215’s ZR 17s anyone have good/bad experience with them?) I got a good deal on them. My Toyos were bald. So I decided it would be a good time to get an alignment and put in the Ireland Engineering fixed camber plates that have been colleting dust on my desk. I wanted to help stop the slight mushrooming I have. I will also but tower bar on as well.

It was a disaster. First they could not get the BBS caps off, then 2 hours later the mechanic comes out and tell me that he got the plates in and wants to know how much positive camber there is suppose to be????? I told him that there should be negative camber and that he put the plates in the wrong sides He proceeded to tell me that they could go in either way. I asked him why I would want positive on a front wheel drive car. Anyway another 2 hours go by (I think I heard them say in the back that “why don’t you just swap the struts instead of re-installing them?”). They finally have my car ready. I get home which is about 14 miles away. I know that it takes a little time for the suspension to settle, but the gap between my driver’s front wheel and the wheel well is much larger than on the passenger side. I can easily get 5 fingers in on the drivers and on the passenger side I can barley get four. The car is LEANING! Has anyone else had this problem? I am reluctant to go back there again. What do you think they did wrong?

Thanks,
Michael

 

Wow... it sounds like they totally hosed the install to me. Without seeing pictures, it's hard to tell what they did. It's my sincere hope they didn't completely jack something up!

Swap the struts, eh? They're SIDE SPECIFIC!

 

...it is possible that they torqued the pinch bolt while one damper was not completely settled into the knuckle, but that only amounts to maybe 3/16" at most. Otherwise the pinch bolt will not pass.

Maybe they installed washers under one plate and not the other...perhaps they forgot to install isolators under springs etc...

 

Haha, ya, if it wasn't *my* car on the lift, I'd be saying (in my best imitation of a New York accent), "Ya, you go ahead and try to swap those struts, buddy. Let me know how dat works out for ya."

 

Thats funny. I will take the car back this afrternoon to see what is going on. Something is not sitting right. But no noise and the ride is fine. I know I have mushrooming on the towers but I can not imagine it would cause an inch and a half height difference between the two front tyres??????

 

I can't imagine that it would cause that much of a difference... Things to check have already been mentioned. Good luck!

If you want to shoot some pics of the strut tops, the strut itself, and the lower strut carrier and send them to us, I'll be glad to check them out...

 

As far as the BFG G-force sport tires go, they're pretty good and cheap. Not up to the standards of Goodyear F1 GS-D3 / Bridgestone Potenza S-03 Pole Position in terms of grip, but cheaper.

About the same price as the Falken Azenis / Hankook RS2, less grip in the BFG, but the BFG will last longer.

So, you get good price, good grip, and good life - no extremes in any category. I think they make a good daily driver / weekend tire for the summer. Especially if you have another set of wheels with something stickier for the real fun stuff.

 

I'd take it back, get them to figure it out, and then never take the car there again(!)