jessiec132

I lowered my AP1 not to long ago. I took it to the Commonwealth Honda a couple weeks ago for an alignment the service rep told me it was told was 89.99 for it. I sad ok no problem. An hour later the rep comes back in the waiting area and tells me $179.98 for the alignment because it's an s2000. I told them we signed off on it and she said she was sorry but she didn't know it was a special car. I was okay just do. Since there going fully go through the car and tell me if I needed any other thing done to my car. Also two hours later the rep comes back and tells me they adjusted everything they could except for the right front caster and the rear camber since the bolts were stripped. I told them fine go ahead and replace them they said they couldn't today because it was special order and they were closing soon but they will only charge me 89.99 for the work.So I went this morning to see if I could get the work done and they just quoted me $1797.09 to replace 3 bolts. I told him that's impossible and the service rep stated that they have remove the front and rear sub frame to just to do this work and that's why it was so much money. They wanted to charge me 200+ just for the bolts. 7.3 front left caster and -3.0 for both rear camber. What do you guys think I should do?

zeroptzero

The cost of the alignment was too high, I've never paid more than $100 for an alignment , including at my Honda dealer. It is not a special car.

Are you sure the bolts were stripped and not seized ? Mostly with the alignment bolts they find that they are seized in the bushings, not really stripped. They are too lazy to try and fix them so they charge you for all new suspension arms which is much more expensive. Parts are hard to get quickly as many of them are on back-order or not kept in stock.

My Honda dealer told me that I had one seized camber bolt on one corner, and they were not able or willing to fix it. I took the car to an independent suspension shop and they were able to get the bolt repaired/ freed up without replacing anything. I had them lube the bolts to keep them from seizing again in the future. I've had a couple alignments since then and everything has been fine. I think I paid $200 to have the repair and alignment done by the other shop, you will need a new alignment once the bolts are repaired.

Eat the $89.00, and take it to a suspension shop and see what they say. Get as much info from the Honda dealer on the failed parts and discuss it with a different shop.

afzan

it's not unreasonable that they want more money for the S2000 since it has 5 alignment adjusters (front camber/caster/toe, rear camber/toe) and most hondas only have 2-3 (toe adjustment, not sure about front caster?)

IMO the bushings can end up torn/damaged if you 'free up' the bolt, I had to replace my compliance bushing a year or two after a shop freed up my seized caster adjuster

steelers743

But if he already signed on the cheaper price its pretty unreasonable. Sounds like they are just playing games with you.

Slowcrash_101

The caster adjusters can tear if you force them too much, if you can remove the bolt, then you can try to pry the sleeve out of the bushing straight down. For the camber adjusters, you can loosen the lock nut until it's flush with the bolt and then try to tap it out. This usually works, at least it did for me. The subframes don't need to be touched to replace the control arms, these guys sound like crooks. Also $180 for an alignment is highway robbery to me. I pay $100 less, when I need to pay. If you replace every single suspension bolt it will come out to like $230, but not for a couple of them.

B serious

Lol you kept telling them to go ahead and charge you whatever they wanted...and do whatever they recommended.

A lifetime alignment at firestone cost me $150. With customized settings.

Caster adjusters can round off at the top if some asshole used an impact on the wrong bolt. I doubt the subframe is damaged or needs to come off, though. You probably need new adjusters. New RUBBER or SPHERICAL compliance bushings would be a good idea as well.

Slowcrash_101

You can use an impact to remove bolts, not put them on. Now if you use an impact and the wrong socket...

B serious

I'm talking about using an impact on the bolt with the eccentric by mistake. Not the jam bolt.

zeroptzero

I had a seized camber bolt successfully repaired, it's been working great ever since. Sometimes it works, sometimes it might not, worth a try IMO.

jessiec132

thanks guys for the input. I talked to the shop that swapped my motor and they are willing to replace the bolts for $100 I just need to get the parts and take it to an alignment shop after.