i was curious if those who got an alignment on their R56 mini could tell me where they went. i put some Mach V springs on my car and i cant find anyone to give me an alignment. Places either dont have the specs or the tools to do it. i've tried Firestone and Les Schwab, i figured they are popular so they could do it but it was a no go. any help would be appreciated thanks

 

Did some looking and no one on the Porsche forums I look at knew of one. They travel 125 to a Porsche shop to have it done. One Lexus board recommends:

Autobahn Performance
6101 franklin blvd
sacramento ca.
92824
916-428-6338

Good luck.

 

im gonna do some more looking around on monday. so far i ahve not found anyone. i called stealership and they want $120 for an alignment which i think is rediculous. but if thats the only place that will do it then so be it. out of curiosity, putting springs on wont void any warranties will it?
thanks

 

They most likely won't honor the warranty on your shocks but I couldn't see them feasibly saying the springs caused harm to any other component. However, as always, it varies from dealer to dealer.

 

call Mach V...their mechanic aligned mine this week and can give you guidance on numbers

 

There is a place a couple blocks from me that did mine. It might be a bit of a wet drive for you though.


a bit high but not rediculous (for a dealership). The 3rd party shop I went to charged $90 to align all 4 tires - and it was considered one of the cheaper places for a 4 wheel alignment.

 

did you install them yourself?

 

I went to Big 'O Tires here in San Jose last week and they did an excellent job for $79.

 

thanks for the replies. i ended up taking it to Autobahn by my house. they were able to get it within specs with no problems. i have no idea what les scwab was talking about when they said they needed a special tool to do the job. anyway, its done and im happy with the springs

 

how much did they charge?

 

i beleive they me charged me 79.99

 

Was it a properly weighted alignment? i.e. Did they account for fuel in the tank, you in the driver's seat, etc.? It made a much larger difference than I thought the first time I aligned my E36 M3 myself after putting a Ground Control suspension on it.

 

you know, im not sure. i never asked. i hope they did

 

It is laways safe to assume they did not. They would need to know your weight, first of all. I also think it is recommended to have 1/2 tank of gas. Some say it should be full. I would suggest your typical happy-medium. If you always fill up when the tank is 1/2 full, then it should be 3/4 full for the alignment. If you let it run down closer to empty, then 1/2 full is probably correct. If you usually have passengers, or the car is weighted with other parcels, then that should be taken into account.

 

well after reading your post im sure they did not take that into consideration. they did not ask my weight or how often i have passengers. so im guessing they did not align the car with that info in mind. how much will it effect the car and in what ways? is this something i should be concerned with?

 

Overall concern? Not much. If you typically have the car weighted down for whatever reason (passengers, payload, etc.) and you notice uneven tire wear, it might be worth a rotation/swap around of tires and a properly weighted alignment. But if nothing out of the ordinary, I wouldn't worry about it at all. No cause for alarm.

 

so how often would you say i need to ahve my tires rotated/balanced? and is this covered under the dealer warranty? oh by the way, thanks for all the info. i appreciate it

 

The rotate/balance will only be done by the dealer under the service plan (that might be listed in the manual). Some do it every 5-8,000 miles just to be safe. All depends on driving style, if you have suspension mods, and personal preference. The best judge is when you see wear that looks like a rotation or left/right swap would balance it out.