I have removed my JIC FLT-A2's(for sale here) and am currently riding on the stock setup, which is horrible(relatively speaking), and I was just curious as to how long I should wait before I get an alignment, because I haven't had a chance to go yet. I have always heard less than 500 miles, but I wanted to get some opinions.

 

If it's General why ask in the 5th gen forums?

And, yes, you should get it aligned. I have my car dropped for about 20,000 miles, and I never had to get an aligment.

 

It all depends on how much tire life you want to jeopardize. -------> Polak

 

sorry about the location, i guess i just trust the 5th genners more.....

 

If the car isn't pulling to the left or the right and the steering wheel isn't shaking that much then there is really no need to have it done.

 

Instead of shooting bullets in the dark, have an alingment shop test and see if it does not in fact need one... instead of, "it doesnt pull etc "

 

Sure you can go and test it...but if the conditions I said exist...then there is no need to go because the most you'll be off by is like .20 which isn't enough to really justify getting an alignment as long as you rotate the tires when you are supposed to (every 5k or 6k miles)

 

After installing a set of coilovers, and reinstalling the stock suspension as the original poster is, why not just get the alignment ....

 

my question was not whether to get an alignment, it was how long can I go before i incure irreversible damage........the reason being is i haven't had time yet and won't for the next week.....

 

the only damage you'll cause is tire wear. it's not going to hurt anything on the car.

and ANY time you change the ride height, you NEED an alignment. the way our front suspensions are designed, even a 1/4" of ride height change can seriously affect the front wheel toe on our cars- especially if you're already lowered a bunch.

just because it doesn't pull one way or the other doesn't mean it's not out of line.. the problem with a front wheel drive like this is that the car will self-center with both wheels pointing in/out the same amount.. unless you have camber or caster differences in the front, the car will still drive straight and you will think you don't need an alignment.

disagree? go stick your car on an alignment rack and then start raising/lowering the body of the car on the alignment rack with the frame jacks. watch the screen to see what happens with the toe.
been there, done that. been doing alignments longer than many of you have been driving.

 

thank you much

 

he's right. as the mechanic did my alignment, he asked me to push down on the susp to let it hop a bit. i am assuming he wanted to set it to a point so that if i was even hopping around, i would stay within spec.

 

its called 'jouncing', and it basically removes preload from the adjustment, allowing the suspension to settle.


aaand.... what matt said.