I'm just over 17,000 mi and haven't had one yet. I've lowered it on sportlines and I had a pretty nerve-wracking run-in with a curb (that resulted in a bent steelie). I noticed today that the littlest things/unevenness in the road will move my steering wheel and it pulls like a bitch...so yeah. I think I need an alignment. :P

How much should alignments run for lowered 'balts? I've had a place quote me $80, another place $100 + $80 (because I've "extensively modified the suspension"), and Big O' Tires said that they won't even touch it because it's lowered... so let me hear about your experiences.

LOWERED COBALTS ONLY!

 

i know you said lowered cobalts only, however my old 86 cavy had extremly modified suspention (92+ knuckles and brakes, addco swaybars, kyb struts, sprint springs, urethane bushings in everything) and it cost me $39.95. some shops arent able to do extremly low cars, others just dont want to touch lowered cars. what you need to do is find a smaller independent shop that does alignments. imho, if your paying more than $80 for an alignment, your being ripped off.

 

^agreed..........should be no more than 50

 

when i worked at sears they aligned a protege 5 with coilovers, and a bunch of other adjustable suspension parts on it

 

Awesome...I'm glad you guys pointed that out. So it looks like I'll be looking around a little bit. IDK, but I've always been a little weary of independent shops...am I just being stupid?

Also, because I'm lowered, does that change the alignment specs that my car needs to be adjusted to, or do they use the same stock specs?

 

Same specs.

 

Sweet. Thanks. So it isn't any more work or effort than usual...why charge extra? hm Well I guess I'll take a good look in the phone book tomorrow for a shop...

 

my alignments effed up majorly cuz i hit a block of 4x4 wood in the middle of the road at 70 MPH...no damage to any parts tho...

i think im getting sportlines next week so im just gonna wait till i get them in to get it done

 

independent shops are nothing to be scared about. just because they arent owned by a corperation doesnt mean they dont do qualifty work. obviously dont go to some back yard shop, but there are always plenty of well established independently owned shops out there with good reputations, and they will all have at least one certified technition that works there.

in my experiance (im a transmission re/re tech by trade) large corperate owned shops are the ones to avoid. most shops stay away from transmission work sending it to the transmission guys, and i get so many vehicles sent over with engine problems that they think are transmission issues its not funny.

 

Be careful. My car's alignment was off and I thought the same thing. When I brought it to get aligned they told me it wasn't possible because of damaged parts.. totalling over 1800 dollars!

 

nah im good i had my body shop here at work check it out and measure up the components to make sure nothing was damaged