Took my f150 in for a 8 inch BDS lift

They were getting ready to take it for an alignment after they finished something with the breaks...and a few of them mentioned that the place they take it to "sometimes has a hard time"

So Im sitting here thinking "wtf you lift my truck but cant align it?"

They ask ME if I can bring my stockers or if I have any friends I could borrow their wheels to put on to get it aligned

^Wtf I spend nearly 4g's at your place and you ask me to do stuff that im paying for?

First - I sold mind
Second - My stockers wouldnt have even fit with the kit 17's....i only have 1 full sized spare and doubt that would go on either


Ive been calling local shops and getting a "no" from all of them

Only place I know for sure could do it is the 4wheelparts store but id have to drive maybe 80 miles before I got there (gotta work then the store is maybe 25 miles from work)

My plan B incase they cant get their **** together was just tell them to adjust the bill and ill get it aligned myself

Is it even drive-able that far after getting a lift or is that out of the question and I should just start praying they can pull something out of their *** lol

 

Sorry to inform you that they're not completely the bad guys here. Sounds like the shop that is your lift doesn't have their own alignment machines?? Makes sense as that's expensive equipment. Now your super lifted truck with super big wheels/tires is probably typicla of less than 1% of all vehicles on the road. Standard alignment shops don't cater to us and don't have the equipment to deal with it. Yes, you are going to need a specialty shop for this. I agree, the place that did your lift should have and could have done a better job of informing you on this, but it is what it is. Driving the 80 miles may very well be your only option. It's happened to me too.

As far as needing an alignment, that's a big heck yes! Is it OK to drive the 80 miles for a proper alignment...most likely. As long as it doesn't feel dangerous on the way. But, that would be my next stop.

Best bet that would benefit you is to work together with them and not go in slinging guns like its all their fault. It's just a situation you're in. Just my opinion. But yes, if you paid for it, they need to adjust the price and you take it to 4wheelparts. That's where I've had mine done last and my tires are still wearing perfectly.

 

I've gotten several alignments done with 35s and 37s at a few different shops and nobody has ever told me they couldn't do it because the tires were too big

 

I went threw 7 different shops before I found one that could align mine with 35's, none in my area had the equipment big enough to do mine so I ended up just going to shop that aligns school buses and dump trucks, they were able to do it no problem.

 

I was just going to say.........call a HD (heavy truck/equipment) mechanic, they will know of a shop...that should not be a problem for them.

 

I have been told by every shop that you want to have the tires you will be running everyday on for alignment. With factory wheels they will stick in farther than the aftermarket. The camber may be different therefore you need to have the aftermarket wheels on. You don't want to align it then take a chance of the outer or inner edge wearing faster.

Also, the only wheels I could not get aligned were my 22x14's b/c they made the truck to wide to fit on the rack. I have gone anywhere from a small shop to a very large shop and all have been able to succeed.

 

Yeah they were cool with adjusting the price. Ended up having to take it to 4wheelparts...or should i say 1.5xthecostofeverywhereelseParts lol

I guess its most places are scared to touch after market rims or some bs

Everything is all good now and the 8" lift is freakin sweet!!! I love looking down at superdutys haha!

too dark for pics but ill post em up soon!
thanks fellas

 

It's not because there scared to do it, it's just because they physically don't have large enough equipment for it.

 

Just repeating what they said. I asked the guy at 4wp if they had bigger/special equip and his reply was "No, we just know what we are doing"

He then said something to the effect that places didn't want to be held liable for damaging after market rims

 

I know there's been threads from time to time around here about 4WP's not knowing what they're doing, prices suck, etc, etc; but I gotta tell ya, they've always done my front end alignments and my experience with that part of the puzzle has been top notch. The alignment guy at the shop I go to has always done me right and my tire wear proves he has done great work.

 

had the exact same issue when i did my lift, i tok it to les schwab and they had it all set up and ready to go in under an hour.

 

I had this problem too. I ended having to take it locally to get aligned..to only find out that my lower ball joints need replacement and the inner tie rod..sucks!

 

4wheel parts doesn't exactly know what they're doing. they said they couldn't balance my tires that i bought and got installed by them. instead they put airsoft bb's in them claiming that the shop owner runs them in his 37's all the time. well i couldn't go over 50mph.

i went to tire pro and they balanced them with no problems.

 

I eye balled mine and had my uncle tighten everything down when we got it done. No issues yet. haha

 

Tires Plus or Tire Kingdom should be able to do it and they are everywhere. Most of them usually have a decent enough mechanic to know how to properly align a lifted truck.