I am located in Rockland County, NY
20 minutes out of NYC, and at the border of North Jersey. I recently upgraded my suspension to Bilstien adjustable sport shocks, and Neuspeed sport Springs. After the upgrade I wanted an alignment to straighten everything out. I have tried the many VW\Audi auto specialists, however they all tell me that 4 special tools are required to do the job, So they cannot do it. The Dealer will not even consider it, for that I have aftermarket parts on the car (The shocks/springs. CAN ANYONE PLEASE REFER ME TO A LOCAL (NY/NJ/CT)SPECIALIST THAT CAN HANDLE THIS SIMPLE REQUEST? I would be eternally greatful!!!

Victor

i don't know about the U.S., but in Canada your allowed to claim 2 alignments per year while the car is under warranty. Tell them the car is pulling slightly and you want an alignment done...they don't have to mention in the work order that your car has a different suspension. When I had my alignment done (Bilstein's w/B&G springs), all that was mentioned in the work order was that my car had been lowered and that alignment was not to factory specs...but I didn't have to pay for the alignment either.

EuroTech in Maspeth. That's in Queens...I know, somewhat a ways off, but worth it. I'm getting my alignment done with them soon, as soon as I mount my new tires.
E-mail me for addy and # as I don't have them in front of me right now.

Have you actually gone to Palisades Audi (in Nyack) and asked them to do an alignment? I have seen cars in the service lot with aftermarket suspensions although I don't know what they were in there for.

Also, perhaps you should give Rapid Autowerks in Monsey a call. Although I haven't been there in months, they did once tell me they could at least install aftermarket springs/shocks in my A4. That requires an alignment after so I just kind of assumed...

best,
Jeff J

I hve gone to Rapid performance, I was excited when I found them. However They kept my car the whole day and told me they cannot do it. That the A4 requires 4 special tools. then tried to charge me 1/2 worth of lift time@@!!

I have seen tuner cars at Pallasdes too!!
But when I call for an appointment, they told me they would not touch the car w/ aftermarket suspension.
Thanks,
Victor

I used to take my 91 GTi to RAPID. I was always very happy with them and they really gave me excellent service. Peter, one of the owners, was always very eager and willing to discuss any questions I had and Jim was probably the best VW mechanic I met since Jeff Moss at Velocity out in LA. He as always willing to go over the most minute technical detail. They were always very fair in billing and never did anything without discussing it with me.

It's sad to hear things like this since: (a) I would have expected better from them and (b) they should have known better in the first place.

Sorry for your experience.

Jeff

Region address is
http://www.pca.org/nnj

They are extremely active in track events, and probably have a list of folks that deal in hi-perf. imports.

The shps that they have approved to do their pre-track inpctions are at
http://www.pca.org/nnj/techinsp.html

I had a problem getting my car realigned after getting H&R coilovers. The service guy gave me a hard time and the shop foreman said he didn't want to work on it. I asked them very nicely at first, but as they were going to be hard about it, I basically demanded that they work on my car. I see modded Porsches going into service all the time and I really doubt that they are giving those Porsche owners a hard time, so I demanded equal treatment. They did do the car, although they claimed they couldn't get it within spec. I asked what they meant, and the only thing they couldn't get within spec was the camber- I'm running 1.5 deg. negative camber now. No big deal for me.

Basically, AoA supported my view on the matter and they contacted the dealership's service manager to make sure it was taken care of properly. I guess in these matters, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Regardless, they were being hypocrites, because there was a chipped, full caged, racing seat, 5pt. harness A4 in the back service lot.

So if being nice, courteous and gentle doesn't get you anywhere, give them a taste of their own medicine. I hate service reps. with attitude anyway.

Regards,
TM