Living in Germany I don't have many choices to take my car to. (Germans don't drive American cars, only there Merc , BMW, Porches, VW, and Audi's and very little japanese cars). Any way I had my car lowered and new shocks installed. I took it to the military base here to have it aligned and they told me they could not do it because since I lowered it everything change and they don't know the spec.

I've just order new tires and need to get this align. Is there any site out there where I can get some info or could anybody give me advice on this,,,

 

They can align it, it's much easier to align that most of the German cars anyway. Specs? Do some searches on alignment specs. Here are some specs I would use:

Camber -.5 degrees
Caster Left +4.5 degrees(or +5.0 if you don't need to compensate for the crown on the road)
Caster Right +5.0 degrees
Toe 1/16 inch positive(.06 degrees)

Depending on the car, the caster may have to be L+4.0 R+4.5, or L+3.5 R+4.0. Having the left .5 less than the right compensates for the crown on the road--you may or may not have to deal with that in Germany. If not, keep the camber the same left and right--and as high as possible.
Give the specs to the alignment shop. If they need help, tell them camber and caster are adjusted on the strut mount. Look at it this way, the stock alignment specs really suck and they are even worse on a lowered car. Now you can get the good specs. If you are nice and tell them something like "you were right, I do need different specs since it lowered, and here they are", they will probably do it.

 

Thanks for the info,,, It's not a matter of being nice,, I know these guys , they just don't have anything to go on. (the guys in the american shop on base) Althought I live in a fairly large Military community there are not many fbodys.. I'll do some more research and get back with them.


Thanks again

 

You know them...well your set then. The above specs are what I've used on many, many thirdgen alignments--back when I was doing front-end work for a living. They yield better(more even) tire wear and better handling.

 

Thanks for the specs,, I'll get with them and see if they can take care of this for me......

 

Plus correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't the same specs be used even if the car was lowered? I didn't think anything special had to be done for a lowered car.. tire contact to the road would be the same...? No?

 

since we are talking about alignments, i need one bad. i am all over the place.

275/40/17's tires, 17x9.5 inch. eibach pro-kit in the front would the same specs be used as stated above? thanks

 

lowering the car makes for more negative camber. and because of this, it may not slide out far enough to get back to the positive camber. but yes the stock specs can still be used. just change the camber to -0.5* makes for better handling without tire wear.

 

Thanks for the info!!

 

Yes you can use those specs on a stock height car. The stock alignment assumes the springs are stock and the car is setting at the correct height--which "should" be measured when the alignment is done. The stock alignment setting are poor with the stock springs. This is even more of a problem when it's lowered--positive camber when running increased rate springs will result in bad tire wear on the outside edge of the tires. The above alignment settings take advantage of the lowered(increased rate) springs.