terminator0723

Going to start off by saying I know absolutely nothing about alignments. I took my SS in for an alignment today, and about 30 minutes later, they came out and told me they needed to drill my strut because they couldn't adjust the camber as much as they needed as is. Now to me, this just doesn't seem right. Why would you need to drill something to get more adjustment? He asked me if I hit something or if I hit a huge pot hole. I told him no, but I just get the car, so not sure if something happened before I got it.
In addition to drilling the strut, the also said I needed a shim kit on the LR, to get it set to what it needed to be. This alignment went from $69 to $350 lol. Does this seem right to you guys? Here's the sheet they gave me.

Snail_SS

iTrader: (3)

Well unless your camber is completely off you would need some adjusting and im guessing by drilling they want to make space to adjust that camber and i cant see the picture

Slowbalt2000

iTrader: (1)

Drilling out the strut bolts is standard procedure for gm if it is out of spec. Also the rear on these cars is unadjustable so yes technically a shim would be needed but there are 6 bolts that hold the rear subframe on and you can loosen them and shift the rear end until its in spec.

terminator0723

Having all kinds of trouble uploading it.. Did that work?

sstcsfsd

$280 to elongate a hole sounds pretty steep to me. I remember doing it on a grand prix that had no camber adjustment and it didn't take that long at all. Why does it say cobalt except ss, sport on the top of your printout?

blueLNFftw

iTrader: (16)

They are using the wrong alignment spec sheet btw


Do it yourself. Just take a Dremel to the top holes on each strut. Mine took me five minutes total. I have my front at -2 now so I didn't have to worry about fender rolling.

Slowbalt2000

iTrader: (1)

Yeah they are using the wrong specs

Slowbalt2000

iTrader: (1)

If they fixed your toe in the front it might bring the camber closer to where it should be and it looks like a rear subframe shift could fix your rear alignment issue.

Snail_SS

iTrader: (3)

I wouldnt even trust the numbers since its not the correct specs he needs for our suspension

sstcsfsd

i would think the readings would be correct, but I don't know about the value ranges.

terminator0723

It was for the hole and for the shims.. I thought it was a little steep too.. They were charging 22 for the shims, and 27 for taxes. The rest was labor. 1 hour for drilling and 2.5 for the shims.
Lol 5 mins.. They're charging for 1 hour. I may have to look into doing it myself.

I didn't notice until I got home that it said except SS. Are the specs a lot different?

Slowbalt2000

iTrader: (1)

They charge you what flat rate calls for. If service info says it takes one hour, thats how much they charge. Could take them 5 minutes or 5 hours, thats just how flat rate works.

The ss specs arent a whole lot different but they are different none the less

SR Tech

iTrader: (2)

This is why they make camber bolts. Get a set, put them in, bring back to the shop for camber adjustment.

Changing front toe will have 0 effect on camber

But get it back on the machine with the right specs and see what your dealing with

blueLNFftw

iTrader: (16)

Meh. Camber bolts are more expensive than a dremel bit. Plus, even GM calls for ovaling the struts and not camber bolts.

ItalianJoe1

iTrader: (10)

For the rear to be out that much, the axle may be bent.

Are you getting excessive tire wear on the left rear? Steering wheel off center/vehicle pulls?

I'd address the rear toe first, as it will matter the most. The front camber, while excessive, isn't bad and won't be noticeable to you when driving. It will actually improve handling but at the cost of slightly higher inside edge wear on that tire. Seeing that the other side is excessive as well (-1.7 is still a lot), I'm assuming the car is lowered? How different are the ride heights, fender lip to ground, from LF to RF? If the car is a little lower on the right the camber will be higher. Could be a simple sagging spring causing that.

Need more info here to give a full recommendation, but I would address the rear toe first and go from there, the shims work but on a rear disc car I don't like them, it puts the rotor out of parallel with the cailper bracket and leads to uneven pad wear.

SR Tech

iTrader: (2)

They're $20. And easier to adjust with when the car is on the alignment rack imo. I have never opened strut holes in my 10 years in auto tech. But to each their own

But as stated above, always adjust the rear first because it will change the front measurements

terminator0723

I think someone has been screwing with the springs, because the back end sits high, and the front seems low. I thought about getting some stock springs to even it back out.... Tire wear I'mI'm not 100% sure about. I've owned it for less than a year, and its been sitting in a parking lot for most of that time, as I'm in college. Looks fairly even though... It does have a slight pull. Nothing extreme though.

RyBread761

iTrader: (2)

I just had my alignment done at Chevy, and th way off to the right after doing new struts and springs. He said he cant do anything about the negative camber, but I was only at -.4 degrees, which I told him wasnt bad anyway.

chris88z24

Find another shop that knows what they're doing. They should offer to install a camber bolt kit and be done in 20 minutes.

You can't shim the rear. The only way to fix that is to replace the rear axle beam.

kzak104

iTrader: (1)

if that came into where i work i would put camber bolts in the front to fix the camber adjust toe and loosen the rear axle and shift it to the right to equalize the rear tow, thats what i did t othe rear of my car and it was perfect.

RyBread761

iTrader: (2)

I think they didnt even want to bother with it because it was lowered and modded. I have a camber kit coming and I will just fix it myself, or just take it back to them. It looks like way more than just half a degree. Its like maybe 1.5 degrees lol