Good Alignment Shops in Portland OR
 

Hello,

I spent a good 20mins searching, and cannot seem to find a solid recommendation for a good alignment shop in the area.

Looking for a shop with fair prices, good people, and one that allows the driver to remain in the car while the alignment is performed.

Any recommendations?

Ive been to les schwab for all my previous cars, they haven't let me stay in the car...

Thanks in advance.

Why do you want to sit in the car while it is being aligned?

:lol:

Hey be nice :)

AR Auto Service in Lake Oswego is a great place to go. They did my alignment and corner balance on my car.

http://www.arautoservices.com/

Actually being in the car is very important, about 200 pounds is a lot of weight to have on one side of the car and will affect the alignment, also tire pressure is important too. If they won't let you in the car try to find some weights to put in the drivers seat. I know of two good shops up in Seattle. One lets you sit in the car, the other puts weights in the seat. :)

^I know sitting in the car or adding weight to the drivers seat in important when getting corner balanced. I have not heard of people doing that for an alignment.

If you are being picky it is. If you go to a mazda dealership and have your alignment in spec with a -1.8 rear left camber and a -1.1 rear right camber then no :lol2: thats what I had on my first alignment. But when I took it to a race shop for tracking and I wanted everything to be precise, then it is :) The alignment tech asked for my weight to add the balast

Thanks for the advice pdxhak, went over to AR. Great guys very helpful, got a tentative appointment set up, and they were able to help me out with some other issues im having with the car.

Regarding my pickiness, I have done "good alignments" in the past and then got into the car and had it feel unbalanced and not quite right. The 8 holds its alignment beautifully compared to my previous cars, so I think it is valuable to get a precise alignment for my weight.

(FYI I weigh 250, so definitely throwing some balance off xD)

Glad to help. AR is a great shop and is the only place I will take my 8 for suspension work :)

To add one more thing, it's also best to have a half tank of fuel to give you a good average between full and empty. All of this wouldn't be necessary on a minivan, but for a track car it does :)

You sure you are not thinking of corner balancing?

Yep i'm sure, though i'm glad you did do that for your corner balancing otherwise you wasted your money haha.

Think about it though, as you add weight your negative camber will increase. Take the weight off, less camber. This way your alignment is set for when you are driving. Add an instructor you have a different alignment. Anal? Yes, but if you spend the money and time to be precise, be precise :)

I guess the argument can be made, is it necessary? Depends what you want. Is a corner balance necessary? If you can shave three pounds off a wheel, will that make a difference? Probably nothing that I'd notice, but there is a difference, and setting the weight of your car when getting an alignment is free and it will be a more precise alignment. Sorry for all my chatter :lol2:

Yea I did not think of that, but that is sound. Will do half tank when I get this done.

Thanks again everyone.