[QUOTE]Originally posted by Clovis
[B]I'd give a strong recommendation for Autoscope.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by gernby
[B]

I just had mine done at Autoscope, and it was $168!

 

Christ, you people must be made of money. I went to Streetwerks in Denton off of 35E. They are just north of Exit 460 (take exit 460). They have a NICE Hunter rack and aligned the car with me in it. They charged me $79. They even made an appointment.

City Garage in Arlington off Green Oaks did the same deal for me when I had a Prelude but they are first come-first served.

 

I had the 1st alignment done at about 5000 miles just because I had been reading all about the poor factory alignments. The alignment got screwed up at the next autocross, because one of the bolts wasn't tight. I took it back and they did the alignment again for free. A couple autocrosses later, I hit a pot hole at 90, and screwed it up again. I didn't want to take it back to the same place, so I went to Autoscope for the 3rd alignment. I chose Autoscope since I had heard good things about them, and because they deal with "race" cars, and because they are 200 yards away from my office. They charged me extra for the alignment, saying that I had a bunch of chassis bolts loose.

 

have you tried Honda House in Addison all they work on are Hondas.. i used to take my older Accords there and they were very cheap and did a great job I am not sure of how much experience they have on S2000's but they give referral discounts and new customer discounts it is worth a phone call.,...and they are very honest ....i have used them for at least 3 yrs...i will start using them again once all the freebies run out with Lute Riley

 

Gernby, you must walk in looking like you're made of money or something.

It's not in Dallas (pretty close to Fort Worth, for that matter), but I'd recommend Peterson's Automotive in Haltom City. They deal with plenty of racers (including many of the Miata owners - and former Miata owners, like Spawn) in this area.

Instead of $168, or $180, or whatever outrageous price you've been paying, they charge $71.95. They'll do your custom specs, or they'll recommend something to you based on what other S2000 owners are using. They use Hunter equipment.

AND they'll let you sit in the car to your heart's content.

It may be a drive from North Dallas, but to me it would be worth it to save $100 per alignment, since I go through three or four a year.

As for City Garage, some of them can be good... some of them can be horrible. The one I used to go to (which was managed by a local SCCA autocrosser) stopped allowing custom alignment specs, so I tried one down the street. Their machine was so badly out of calibration that after my third time back there in four days, I made the owner put my car on the machine, take measurements, not adjust anything, take the equipment off of the wheels, reinstall it, and then measure again. Three measurements yielded three different results - I demanded (and received) my money back and promptly took my business elsewhere. Use a bulk business "chain garage" at your own risk.

 

And, like Iain's opinion of City Garage, I found Peterson's to be dicks. They were rude on the phone and don't take appointments, nor do they guarantee over the phone that they can get you in. If you are nearby and can afford to go in and not get service, that's just great.

 

Thanks for all the input, but if I have to get anymore alignments anytime soon, I may just have to hang up my helmet for a while, until I can just buy my own Hunter.

 

The lack of appointments is not an issue if you can show up early (ie around 7:15am). I'd rather get this sort of thing done before I go to work anyway. I've had 3 alignments from them and never had a problem with getting timely service.

 

Oh, I never found any of the people at City Garage to be dicks - they were very nice people. Nice, incompetent people with miscalibrated equipment, but nice nonetheless.

I've been to Peterson's three times over the last nine months, after they were recommended to me. All three times I've been in and out within 1.5 hours, and I've shown up in the morning, near noon, and in the afternoon. Although I certainly didn't find them to be unpleasant, I find competence to be more important than cheerfulness when I'm looking for technical services.

I didn't, however, try to show up near closing time on a Friday... nor do I possess marcucci's trademarked people skills. Perhaps that's why I've never had a problem.