shop tells me i have frame damage!!

[PersianLegacy]

so i had to take my lady Z to fire stone in my town for an alignment.

i recently put 20mm H&R bolt on spacers on the rear, and soon after my alignment was a mess. did a lot of research and reading and i came to the conclusion that the alignment could go out of spec if you install spacers but not by this much!!!!!

My rear driver side wheel was at -3.7!!!

the rear passenger side was off too but not that bad.

The dude was telling me that he could only push it out 1 degree since thats how much the bolt allows for. then he goes on and tells me that something wrong with the rear, that i might have frame damage or something is bent.

Now this is not my daily driving car. in the past 2 months i might have put 5k miles on it tops. I have not hit any pot holes to bent my frame or anything in the rear! i have not been in an accident, i dont drive the car like fast and furious style, and do not track it.

so l left his shop with the rear driver side tire at -2.7.

any ideas? any suggestions? my rear tire is shot so i bought new tires and dont want to put them on cause it will just wear the hell out of them...

thanks.

[Mt Tam I am]

It is as if you had your car totaled and repaired by the valet, while you were having dinner.

Good luck.

[kenchan]

spacers will reduce wheel rate so the suspension will act softer, but should not make drastic changes. especially not at only 20mm on sport wheels.

[PersianLegacy]

Originally Posted by kenchan

spacers will reduce wheel rate so the suspension will act softer, but should not make drastic changes. especially not at only 20mm on sport wheels.

he started blaming it on spacer, but i did crazy research before i put the 20mm spacers on. no where did i read that it will cause this drastic of an alignment issue

[kenchan]

Originally Posted by PersianLegacy

he started blaming it on spacer, but i did crazy research before i put the 20mm spacers on. no where did i read that it will cause this drastic of an alignment issue

maybe the firestone place's rack is out of caliberation? you know they use it all the time for all sorts of cars from cool cars to junk cars.

[PersianLegacy]

Originally Posted by kenchan

maybe the firestone place's rack is out of caliberation? you know they use it all the time for all sorts of cars from cool cars to junk cars.

that is what everyone is telling me. i should have spend the money and taken it to dealer or a better shop.. im kicking myself in the *** for it now..

[speedfreek]

You need a rear camber kit and toe bolts to get your alignment back in spec. Take a look at SPC or SPL depending on how much you want to spend.

[PersianLegacy]

Originally Posted by speedfreek

You need a rear camber kit and toe bolts to get your alignment back in spec. Take a look at SPC or SPL depending on how much you want to spend.

But what would throw off the alignment this bad tho...? my car is the stock sport suspension.

[LostSol]

Spacers WILL NOT change your suspension providing they:
are of high quality
are hubcentric
are installed properly

[Daveski38]

If your tire is wearing out I don't think Firestone's equipt. is shot.

[LostSol]

If you look at your wheels, does one appear to be leaning in more than the other? 3.7 degrees is pretty visible.

[PersianLegacy]

Originally Posted by LostSol

If you look at your wheels, does one appear to be leaning in more than the other? 3.7 degrees is pretty visible.

o yea! it was so visible! it was so bad comparing to the other side. the inner wall of the tire is so chewed up, when they jacked it up i saw the surface of the wires showing on the outer edge....

[LostSol]

have you ever hit a curb? been in an accident?

[PersianLegacy]

Originally Posted by LostSol

have you ever hit a curb? been in an accident?

nope never. had a flat tire once on the same side 10k miles ago and got a new tire. thats about it. when i did get a tire i had it balanced, mounted, and got an alignment to make sure all is good. and everything was good.

[speedfreek]

Not sure other than go to a different Firestone and see if they can do better. I have the lifetime alignment with Firestone and ended up going to a different one further away as I did not like the techs at the one closest to where I live. With that said I get my alignments done at a Ford dealership now as their alighnment rack is in the ground and doesn't require me to remove my front bumper to get the car up on it. They did an awesome job getting my alignment dialed in for the track.

The only thing I can think of as to why your rear is at -3.7 camber is if they didn't tighten everything up correctly and you went on some spirited runs and each time you stressed the suspension it worked its way out more and more. It happened to me at Zdayz this year. I got an alignment done before I left at Firestone. And by my last run on the Dragon one of my rears was visibly way out of spec at -3+ camber. Since then I have completely changed shops and haven't had any issues with my alignment. FYI I was running with Swift springs and 20mm spacers on all 4.