alignment in japan crazy overblown insanely expensive

so my wife and i stopped in one of the biggest car modding chain shops in okinawa (japan) to ask a few questions.  can't say i'm suprised since it cost about $170 to mount x2 20" wheels a few months back, so like $350 for all x4.

i had my wife ask them how much negative camber (or how much more) i could get out of my rear by maxing out the stock adjustments.  i had her tell them that when i mount my wheels back up in a couple weeks that i would be bringing my car in for an alignment and at that time i wanted them to correct the toe as much as possible and max out the rear negative camber right...  pretty simple so far.  so the the guy busts out the calculator and this is what transpires:

alignment is roughly $180 (with yen to $ conversion) then each spec like camber, toe, whatever is extra,,  :pat: so he types in the charge for the extra and hits x8 since he essentially would be checking the toe and camber on all x4 corners right...  so the total he comes up with is basically 35,000 yen ($425 presently).  :rules:

i was about to get up and walk out at this moment but was just curious what was included in the $180 alignment if each spec was extra you know?  so he explains that the $180 is just to get it on the machine and hooked up.  well i tried to tell him that this is not an alignment and that an alignment is actually setting these specs.  mutha focker just looked at me like, tough shiz kid...

grrrrrr.....

then my wife is pissed at me all night long for once again arguing with a shop (via her translations) about how something is wayyyy overpriced here in japan compared to what it used to be in the states.  i understand her point of view/argument but this is way way too expensive.  i am going to talk to toyota next and see if they can align the car, but problem is that it is really low so i hope this isn't a problem...

$425 LOL WTF. 

my $75 dollar alignment was a steal then! lolol.

btw, i feel bad for your wife, i hate when ppl ask me to translate arguments too haha.

thats craaaazy !!35 EURo allignement here on 3D stand ...beat that :D !!

$35 bucks for alignment here! hahaha

what car shop did you go to? if you do autobacs or any of the larger chains up along 58, that's what you will pay. I suggest you go to the hobby shop on kadena or camp foster and talk to some guys there.

i went to mutha f'ing starks ^ ^ ^...  i am now aware of their chain status and won't be going back there.  but i didn't know the hobby shops could do alignments.  i work like a block from the one on torii station and one of my co-workers basically lives there with his rx7 (actually he has 3, but only one that is complete ;)

another local basically told me that starks and autobachs are basically along the same lines of stupid chain shops and not to let all the better looking modded cars coming out of starks fool me.  the thing that really pisses me off is; in the back of vip mags they have a whole bunch of shops listed by city right, well okinawa only ever has one, and its starks...  well motha phuck starks, i don't know how much they paid for that advertising but they are not a vip shop.  just cuz they order some rims and will install a 'semi legal' exhaust setup on your car doesn't give them the right have their name in those mags.  but the time before last when i was in there the guys working there couldn't even give me the name of a shop to even ask about stretching the fenders.     okinawa's vip game is weak...

1 more question 33flavas:  where do you recommend/trust to get some stretched tires mounted on high $$ rims...  stark guarantees they won't F ur shiz up but they charge like $350 for x4.  i know a shop that will do all 4 for 4,000 yen but the dude told me straight up that he couldn't guarantee anything...  then we laughed, and then i left.

I used Kadena auto center as well, but find the drift crew and get connected. Those guys have the drop on everything. GL

yeah thanks for reminding me about this.  i should be putting my wheels back on tonight or tomorrow and then i will need alignment for sure.  kadena said their machine was broke, said to call typhoon motors, typhoon said their machine was broke...  i got a bead on a shop out in town (japanese market) by following 3 different leads, finally a cool kat at autobach personally called a friend who said i needed to visit this shop 098-939-6342, said they could do whatever i wanted, any camber toe combo's but obviously for a price.  said a 4 wheel alignment plus camber and toe would be around 200-250 which is like over $100 less than effing starks gay ass...  

i just about got into it again with starks yesterday afternoon.  so i had 2 wheels mounted last month and just last night got the other 2 wheels back in from vip modular...  they said they won't mount used wheels & tires anymore.  well my wheels and tires were only used by me for about 2 months and were mounted/unmounted by starks in the first place, plus they just last month mounted my right side two wheels so they just thought they could leave me out in the cold and not do these two...  yesterday was the first time i have publically bullied a japanese dude (he was the manager) in front of his underlings and had it work out in my favor,, well so far at least, i haven't gone back to pick up the two wheels they did yesterday so i should not be so mean, but the dude was being a straight dick and deserved it in my opinion, plus his underlings didn't seem to show respect for him anyways...

Haha, sometimes you gotta stand your ground. The Japanese are very understanding people. I love Okinawa til this day. Anyways Im glad you got a solid lead, just keep building ur network.

standard alignment in new zealand is about $70-$80 but if youre car is low or whatever plus you want it done to a certain spec, you will be charged an hourly rate, but for that you have to go to a proper shop, not just normal tyre shop

Wow prices from japan for an alignment is expensive, i didnt expect its that expensive :pat: even the cheapest price u guys are talking about is still a grip compared to what we are paying here in socal. Well good luck hope everything works out for you and your car dude.

Diy it.  300+ is pretty terrible

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autobacs and the other chains are rediculously overpriced on everything lol..
even on used parts.
cant remember the name of the chain store we used to hit up in Oki..that had all the new parts and a lot of used wheels and aero at the same time.

can you please try hard to remember  ;)

where was it near¿

american or japanese run?

I dont post much but I just hate reading stories like this about people getting screwed over.... 

Network at car shows n stuff to find small shops or people with their own equipment.


Good luck

if u lived here i'd do it for ya...
I add an alignment machine to the new garage im building at home... :)
[URL="http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg274/DriftGirl2/IMAG1010.jpg"][IMG]http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg274/DriftGirl2/IMAG1010.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

thanks, must be nice to make that yamaguchi money  ;)

unfortunately i don't live anywhere near the emerald city

Who has an alignment machine at home, NOW THAT FUCK!n BAWSE!!

[QUOTE=sojah;471358]i went to mutha f'ing starks ^ ^ ^...  i am now aware of their chain status and won't be going back there.  but i didn't know the hobby shops could do alignments.  i work like a block from the one on torii station and one of my co-workers basically lives there with his rx7 (actually he has 3, but only one that is complete ;)

another local basically told me that starks and autobachs are basically along the same lines of stupid chain shops and not to let all the better looking modded cars coming out of starks fool me.  the thing that really pisses me off is; in the back of vip mags they have a whole bunch of shops listed by city right, well okinawa only ever has one, and its starks...  well motha phuck starks, i don't know how much they paid for that advertising but they are not a vip shop.  just cuz they order some rims and will install a 'semi legal' exhaust setup on your car doesn't give them the right have their name in those mags.  but the time before last when i was in there the guys working there couldn't even give me the name of a shop to even ask about stretching the fenders.     okinawa's vip game is weak...

1 more question 33flavas:  where do you recommend/trust to get some stretched tires mounted on high $$ rims...  stark guarantees they won't F ur shiz up but they charge like $350 for x4.  i know a shop that will do all 4 for 4,000 yen but the dude told me straight up that he couldn't guarantee anything...  then we laughed, and then i left.[/QUOTE]

Old thread I know. Seems that RX7 guy parked his car in my parking spot and filled up the extra rooms in the house with RX7 parts. Thank god I will have that thing sold soon. I don't miss driving it even though it was fun. Not sure if we had this discussion or not because it has been a while but next time go to Neo Tire Garden for your alignment its way cheap and he will set it up anyway you want. And for tires you can use that tire shop I told you about. Noone has ever had a issue with him. And he repairs rims so if he jacked them up he can fix them. Probably don't need the information anymore but meh whatever.

Oh only 1 ran because the other 2 were for parts. :D