is needed? In my mind the answer is "zero". If I adjust the ride height I will need to break out the caster/camber gauge. Any thoughts?

thats what i was told in a post like this

I think if you're within an inch or less you can probably get away with it. I know I did. Years later I had the front end aligned again after I hit a curb doing a fishtail. Handled the same after all that, tire wear was not affected at all.

the absolute correct answer is zero.
in the real world with tolerances you can probably adjust about 1/2" before you really start changing the geometry enough to get it out of tolerances.
if you have the gauges just change the height and drive the car. if it drives remotely strange break out the gauges and check things out.

Thank you everyone. I dropped the car down quite a bit in the front after shaving off quite a bit of weight. I'll give it an alignment this weekend if I have time. Have a great weekend!

Jeremiah

If you have taken weight off of the front end,and you lower it back to its original ride height.
The alignment wont change at all.

Nobody will tell you it's ok because it will change the alignment but here's some thoughts for you. I would get an alignment after an extreme change but a bit is not worth worrying about.

If you already have a close to perfect alignment and adjust your height some. It will affect both sides and it will affect them the same.

So now you may have a bit of caster change and again maybe even a slight camber change.

Having both sides the same is more important to than actually having the numbers dead on because there are many pros and cons to more or less caster or more or less negative camber.

Then just check the toe before and after.

I've adjusted the ride height many times without killing the front tires or the way a car drives.