I just went to Complete Auto Service in Blaine for an alignment (they were the only ones who had an opening today) and had a confusing experience. Their technician put my car up to do the 4 wheel alignment, he calls me back to look at the screens and it shows everything a little off. They say they can adjust the toe, but cant adjust camber or caster without this kit (and this is all on the front wheels). The kit had a plate and some screws in it, the guy also talked about cam bolts... It seemed odd since Nathan has done the last 3 I had and BP Subaru did the one before that and this never came up. Basically they told me they couldn't do an alignment without me buying some extra parts, it sounded really odd to me and I told them I wanted my car back. Am I off on this? I dont know a whole lot about suspension, but what I've learned over the past few years gave me an odd feeling about this. I've got prodrive springs (see my mods below), but suspension is stock otherwise. Oh and I am choosing to leave out the part where they argued with me and then told me to take my keys and never come back... 02 WRX, Exhaust, TC, Cobb stage 2, Prodrive lowering springs, 17" Rota Tarmac 2's
my stock 04 rex, had stock camber bolts that i belive are in the bottom part of the strut mounting plate on the spindle
BS. I've pretty much got the same setup, 02 on Prodrives, 17" wheels,accept I have F/R RSBs. Nathan got -1.5 camber 0 toe in front and -1 camber 0 toe in the rear with no camber bolts or "kit". Especially if the last 4 aligments were fine with same parts.
When I lowered my car I had no problem getting everything back to spec. I dont remember the numbers off hand but I will look for them.
what he is telling you is wrong and he's an idiot. You have eccentric bolts (aka camber bolts) on the top of your front struts that can be used to adjust your front camber. If he didn't know this he probably hasn't aligned very many cars. Your rear camber is not adjustable, as you don't have any camber bolts back there stock. You can buy some and put them in if it matters that much, but the rear camber on a subaru stock is pretty well set up and doesn't need much adjustment, unless you hit it into something, thats when you get to find out that another name for camber bolts is crash bolts since they're also used to realign a car with a tweaked frame or suspension that otherwise cant line up. he was trying to bs you into buying some camber plates, probably from him or through him or his buddy or whatever. they're nice for adjusting camber on cars that people race, but unnecessary for your need.
I've had my car up on the racks, never needed any kits either. Sounds like BS to me. Put this place on the blacklist.
don't know about you guys but took my 02 wrx for alignment at BP subaru and dude there call me back and say that they cannot do it because one of my strut is bent. They lifted up my car and checked it. Yesterday, I did my AGX struts and found out that its not the Strut. Its the upper Strut Mount thats tilted/bent. I save myself $230 from BP subaru. Thats the price for changing ONE strut only. So instead I spent about $450 and get all new KYB AGX struts. I would say most Mechanics guess on most of their Customer's Vehicle problems. Even Sears Auto says Bent Strut(they also lift my car too and check).
Ummmm subarus come standard with camber bolts on the front and rears... rears are a pain in the arse sometimes, but the fronts are straight forward.. the stock ones are about .5 degreee adjustment I think... not a whole lot but usually enough to be within stock specs unless major lowering has been done etc... it is an upsell that is un-necessary and why i hate this industry cause I bust my arse to build trust being honest when *******s like this rip people off...
