So most just take it in for an aligment because money grows on trees. I'm cheap.

How far out of spec will my toe be with this drop, or will it still be in spec, or should pay some guy to scratch my wheels with the alignment things just for grins?

 

An aligment is a must if you value tire wear.

 

Agreed - an alignment is way cheaper than new tires.

 

Thanks. I guess my exact question is how far out of spec your toe was after installing springs? Anybody get a before/after sheet from the person doing your alignment, or did you just let them charge you for potentially doing nothing?

 

Use a quality garage.

 

If you were cheap then you would have just cut your stock springs. Go get an alignment

 

Any drop, no matter how minor will screw with your factory toe settings. Depending on the drop, you'll wear our your tires faster or slower. *shrug* Like everyone else said...definitely spring for the alignment.

 

If the lower arms are loosened to have any work done, get an alignment or at least have it put on the machine and checked.

 

like everyone said get the alignment, anytime you remove your suspension components it will mess up your toe, mine was off +0.35deg left and +0.45deg front, and it got adjusted to -0.05deg and 0.00 deg

 

Yeah, I lowered a little less than an inch and a half with my coilovers - skewed my front toe to +.12 and +.46 degrees in the front, and +.85 and -.40 degrees in the rear. Pretty far out of spec.

 

your rears got out of spec? weird, mine was fine, it was just the fronts, i didn't think the rear's can get messed up, cause its just a beam and never really gets removed

 

Yup, any time ride height changes, toe will be affected. Mine was measured at .16 & .17 degrees of rear toe before it got lowered. If I recall correctly, factory spec is +/- .20 degrees.

Some alignment places won't even check the rear on our cars, since it's non-adjustable from the factory. A shady place will do this even if you purchase a 4-wheel alignment. Requesting a print-out is a decent way of keeping them honest.

Oh, and for what it's worth, I did get my alignment readings done with me in the car (something they tried to talk me out of - since according to them "only BMW's need the driver's weight in the car to get a good alignment". ).