Originally Posted by Floyd540

Some people overthink this subject. Many years ago when the alignment equipment was purely mechanical and the data specs was maybe in an actual book, great skill and experience was needed for a good alignment. Today all good alignment shops and tire dealers (I said good ones) have new or nearly new computerized systems. Once the wheel sensors are mounted, the computer does all the measuring and displaying the values. All the factory specs for your fancy car are already in the computer. The adjustments for all four wheels are just wrench work while watching the computer screen. There is no shims used like in the old days and these systems are so good you can get a true trust angle of 0.00 with the right guy.. This work takes less than one hour and should cost about $65. If you want something slightly different than whats in the factory specs (within reason) that can be done. Every alignment machine provides a complete printout and good tire stores let you in the pit and the guy doing the work has 30 to 50 years experience and it costs me $65. If you are so special and doing a race car, things are different as you should be in a shop where you matching damper valving and spring rates. For the rest of the world this is a $65 job here in California.