Updated January 13, 2017:
It’s been a couple years since our alignment rack first came online, but not everyone knows that we offer 4-wheel Alignment on our flush-with-the-floor Hunter Alignment rack for just $125! That’s as cheap as the local Firestone or whatever, except we won’t scratch your wheels, give you a hard time for being lowered or upcharge you for being slammed, and beyond that, our machinery is top-of-the-line and superior to virtually every other shop in SoCal (with few exceptions). This means that our alignment is more accurate, and paired with our Hunter Road Force Balancer, the work we do here results in a smoother, better ride than competing shops.
Click here to schedule your alignment today! Just $125!
In addition, we also have a Dynojet 424X AWD, IN-GROUND DYNAMOMETER, rated for 2000HP – we also offer dyno services and will do 3 pulls for just $95.
Over the years, we’ve lowered a lot of cars. When you lower a car, it looks badass and handles better, but after installing lowering springs or coilovers – which requires dismantling the suspension – most cars will need an alignment.
Properly aligned wheels and tires track straight and true, meaning the car gets better mileage, performs and handles better and your tires will last longer – and considering the cost of your average 19inch performance tire, skipping an alignment can cost you a lot more than the cost of the service. Beyond that, poor alignment can cause the car to do weird things like pull to one side or the other under braking (also a symptom of a problem with one side of the brakes), so it’s really in your best interests and your car’s to have it aligned at least every 10,000 miles – or as little as 5,000 if you live somewhere with especially terrible roads (like New York, Chicago, Urban Los Angeles, anywhere with FROST HEAVES etc…).
Because lowered cars don’t have a lot of ground clearance and most shops have their alignment rack mounted above ground – and that means most alignment shops can’t even get a lowered car up onto their above-ground alignment racks – even with ramps and planks and all the other tricks to help a lowered car get up a steep driveway or something. This is a big problem, unless you’re OK with buying new tires every oil change or so.
An average day in the shop, exhaust manifolds, springs, and coilovers;
quite a bit comes apart when you do springs or coilovers, so an alignment is a necessity.
What this meant is that for a while in SoCal, it was nearly impossible to get an alignment if you were slammed. (In SoCal and need an Alignment? Click here to make an appointment!)
We’re all auto enthusiasts here and most of us drive modified, lowered cars personally – so this was a problem we wanted to fix, for our customers, and ourselves. The Miata stuck on the speedbump below illustrates the problem pretty clearly – so we got to thinking, what if the alignment rack was set in the ground, flush with the floor? (Image source here)
When we were deciding what kind of Alignment equipment we wanted to purchase, ModBargains Co-Founders Mike Brown and Ron Hay were looking to spec out an alignment rig for our shop that could be mounted as flush with the floor as possible. As we said before, your average alignment shop has the machine mounted above ground, requiring you to drive your car UP A RAMP onto the lift, and that’s what we wanted to avoid at all costs, plus, we wanted an alignment machine that could be capable of motorsports-type alignment settings – and our search for the right tool led us to our friends in racing and who owned shops, whom swore by Hunter Engineering – the same manufacturer as the Road Force Balancer we love so much here. So of course, we had to get one.
In the past year, we’ve made a lot of big changes and our shop has grown from a single lift into the state of the art service facility you see today. We recently brought our Hunter 4-wheel Alignment Rig + Corner Balancing System online and are now up and running offering alignment services to anyone who needs it for just $125 (Click here to make an Alignment Appointment or call 714-582-3330)
ModBargains install shop, ModAuto, is proud to be a technology partner to Hunter Engineering and is one of the few exclusive facilities in North America to offer this technology.
One of the most advanced aligning systems on the market, our Hunter aligner is so precise and advanced, it is used as a measuring device for precision collision repair to pinpoint problem areas and even has the ability to compensate for lowered vehicles and vehicles with suspension geometry out of factory specifications – a feature which is extremely useful for a performance shop like us that almost exclusively deals with cars that have their suspension modified in one way or another.
Whether your car is stock and in need of alignment or your car has been stanced to the floor and you need to ensure it is aligned properly to minimize tire wear, ModAuto techs along with our Hunter Engineering aligner will get the suspension geometry into perfect specification, whether it’s factory spec or custom aligned, without any problems.
ModAuto is the shop to go to when others can’t get a car into specification or if they have a car that is modified beyond the scope of a standard aligner.
For those customers in need of a more “track-oriented” alignment, ModAuto offers specialized techniques and expertise including setting rake, adjusting ride height, corner balancing and more.
ModAuto offers specialized alignment services specific to BMW, Ford, Porsche, Audi, Ferrari, Mercedes, Bentley, Rolls Royce, Lamborghini, Lotus and McLaren.
While it is flush with the floor, the way the machine is set up, there’s a slight rise in the center, but a set of Race Ramps to add a gentle rise, even the lowest cars can get clear and onto the lift with little to no drama.
So how does it work?
After lifting the car, a set of specialized clamps are mounted onto each wheel – using the TIRE- not the wheel. This is referred to as a “touchless” system and is the preferred method, as if it doesn’t touch your wheels, it can’t scratch them, can it?
The clamps grab the outside of the tire and center using the inside of the barrel but DO NOT TOUCH YOUR WHEELS AT ANY TIME. This is important, especially since we offer some high end wheels and wheels can scratch easily. Note the plates the front wheels sit on to allow the wheels to turn freely.
After installing the clamps, a specialized sensor is attached to the clamp at each wheel, measures where it is pointed exactly and sends that information back to a computer terminal, which then tells the tech what wheel is off by how much and what has to be done to correct the issue and bring the car back to the desired spec.
Check out these shots of our system in action.
Beyond the alignment services we now offer, we’re also able to offer CORNER BALANCING.
CORNER BALANCING is considered to be the premier methodology of chassis setup for coilovers of racing cars, and now road car customers can also benefit from this experience. ModAuto offers competition corner balancing and chassis setup for race cars and road cars which are equipped with coil over type adjustable suspensions. Corner balancing is a key component in improving your vehicles handling a proper corner balance will optimize the vehicles handling characteristics while also improving the vehicles balance. A corner balance is simple effective way to get the most out of your vehicles handling performance- which is why we’re thrilled to now be able to offer this service for our customers who are really serious about proper chassis setup.
Need to make an appointment to have your car aligned? Give us a call 714-582-3330
Story & Photos Nick Gregson