GA - Good place to get alignment?

[RT Hunter]

Does anyone know where's a good place in GA to get an alignment?

I brought my 280z to a Nissan dealership, and was very disappointed.

I need to know a place where they know what they are doing.

Thanks

[Inf]

If you are unhappy with their service, and are so inclined, you could do your alignment yourself. With the stock equipment, only the front toe is adjustable.

I did mine last week, probably not as precise, but you have the advantage of being able to mess with it as often as you want at your leisure.

[SteveJ]

You could try calling Eddie Radatz at 770-926-6609. He probably knows of a shop that could do it, at least if you're in the Atlanta area. After all, Georgia is a tad larger than Rhode Island.

[hls30.com]

The only answer I can give that I know will work for you is your local alignment shop, but,

if you are in the Savannah area, take the car to Asian Automotive, it will be done to perfection.

Will

[RT Hunter]

If you are unhappy with their service, and are so inclined, you could do your alignment yourself. With the stock equipment, only the front toe is adjustable.

I did mine last week, probably not as precise, but you have the advantage of being able to mess with it as often as you want at your leisure.

Hi, thanks for the input. I think I could try to do the camber, because it's easier to measure. but how do you measure toes?

I brought it to the dealership, and they set all my camber to positive! And they decided to use 1979 280ZX alignment settings because it was closest specs they could find to use..... ' eh

[Inf]

If you have stock parts, you can't adjust the camber on a stock S30 AFAIK. If you are all stock and they told you they adjusted the camber, they were bullshitting you. You would need adjustable camber plates/camber bushings/etc to do that.

The toe is easy to adjust - you loosen the lock nut between the other tie rod end and the inner tie rod ends. You can then use a wrench to turn the inner tie rod end, pushing the outer tie rod end in or out, which adjusts the toe.

You can measure the toe in a few different ways, and I've seen some pretty fancy methods on Youtube involving strings perfectly parallel to the axis of the car along each side that you can measure the rim relative to at the front and back.

I just used a measuring tape and measured from the inside edge of the center groove on the front tires on the leading and trailing sides, and did a little math to get the toe I was looking for. Not perfect, but it seems to track fine, and it's only toed in a degree or less, so I'm not worried about weird tire wear patterns.

You need to minimize the friction under the front wheel when you're making the adjustments, so that your adjustments actually change the toe as the car sits. Otherwise, there will be some tension in the system, and the toe will change to relieve the tension as soon as the car moves.

I went to Home Depot and bought 4 cheap vinyl tiles and put some chassis grease between them. After driving the front wheels onto them, there was not much friction for the adjustment to work against. Worked out nicely.

But anyway, back on topic to your original question: you should probably post where in Georgia you live. It's a pretty big state, and no one can tell you a place to go without being more specific. You wouldn't drive from Atlanta to Savannah just to get an alignment.

Edited May 11, 2010 by Inf

[RT Hunter]

Now I'm pretty upset. My suspension is all stock, and when i check the camber before/after specs, they barely changed. And I think they only changed because of caster/toe being changed, which affected the camber a bit.

That dealership charged me $106.

BTW, I live in Duluth, GA.

thanks!

[SteveJ]

If you call Eddie, I think he knows of another Z specialty shop on the East side of town. Eddie is over in Marietta. As for knowing your adjustment specs, I suggest you check the factory service manual (FSM). It has the info in it.

[DougN]

Try Gran Turismo East, on Shallowford Road off Buford Hwy just inside the perimeter. They work on all sorts of classic and performance cars and know what they are doing. http://www.granturismoeast.com/

Cheers,

Doug

[hls30.com]

... You wouldn't drive from Atlanta to Savannah just to get an alignment.

I don't know, Mickey Carter does great work!

[gogriz91]

Or try John Williams in Sugar Hill, 770-806-2926