I feel like I was fed a line of bull**** just now.

I took my car into Firestone and picked up a lifetime alignment. I was told that ONLY toe can be adjusted and camber & caster cannot be aligned without some special camber/caster kit. What is that all about? I kind of accepted it but then I was on my drive home and thought, what the ****? That makes zero sense. Trucks will hit pot holes and need adjusting more than just toe in and toe out.

 

First F150?

F150's have needed a Camber kit for quite a while to allow for adjustment of the camber... just the way it is. You are not being fed a line... I could comment on the lifetime Firestone alignment, but I won't here...

 

It is my first. I assumed getting flamed a little for Firestone Lifetime. However, I had it for my last 3 WRX's and had been more than satisfied going there. Pulling was noticeably fixed each time.

I have a slight pull to the right and it seems to still be there after the alignment. Tech said I had some cupping so I assume that will fix itself after a few hundred miles?

 

Not sure what you are so fired up about. You had no caster adjustment on your WRX and you could only adjust camber on the front, not really that much different from the truck. (unless you added an ALK kit or adjustable rear arms to the WRX...) [my last car was an OBXT that was modded to hell and back ]

Most cheap alignments are just going to be "toe and go" anyway.

 

I'm going to say BS.

You don't need any special kit(s). It's been discussed in several threads that the kits are not needed. Guys putting levels on trucks need an alignment done and some of the shops are trying to sell this kit when they simply are not needed.

 

The adjustment requires a little more effort from the alignment technician because the cam nut is not present, but camber and caster can be adjusted. If you are really interested in the cam kit, you can buy it online for about $40. It consist of two cam nuts and backing plates that are installed on the front side of the lower control arm bolt. It requires a 250 lb torque wrench. Install the nuts in your driveway, torque down and take it back to Firestone the next time for adjustment.

Firestone will not spend any extra time to adjust camber and caster on a lifetime alignment without the camber kit. Time is money and they lose starting on the 3rd or 4th alignment.

 

I actually brought 2 sets from carid for $53 shipped just incase I need them. They are the moog brand but manufactured by spc.

 

Toe & Camber can be adjusted... Caster? Not sure. Toe alignment is adjustable through the tie rods and camber alignment is done where the lower control arm bolts to the frame...

A lot of alignment shops are just ignorant. It's hard to find a good one.

 

Already some correct info posted. The kits are not absolutely required, but if you ever tried to do an alignment without one you would get why they insist on the kit. I do my own alignments on my race car, but have a shop do my street vehicles. I agree with the shop on the kits being important enough that they be considered necessary.

Regardless if someone disagrees with the need for a kit, you are most definitely not being fed BS.

 

The lower control arm rear adjustment is mostly for caster and the front is for camber. When I had my truck aligned without the shims the tech had to pry with a pry bar then had to hold and tighten at the same time and although he was able to do it, it just made it harder to hit the specific numbers I was looking for. When I brought the truck back in I had the shim kits installed he was able to hit my alignment specs with just a wrench in about 10 min.