I finally have a free day this weekend to install a set of full coilovers on my car. The car will be lowered about an 1" from where its at stock. Not planning on slamming it...

How detrimental is it to drive it without getting an alignment for a few days? I'm not worried about abnormal wear on the current tires. I have to find a shop that I trust to mess with the front and rear camber adjustment that are exclusive to the coilovers.

It’s not going to hurt the new suspension, but may shred the tires and handle squirrely. You can set them relatively close on toe and camber without a machine so that it’s not too far off during those days of waiting. Plenty of videos in case you have not done that before.

What kind of car?

FPNI.

Yau can get it aligned with caveman tools like a level and some string.  That'll be good enough it doesn't yeet the tires on the first few miles.  It shouldnt hurt the car driving around with bad alignment.  Look at how many cars there are driving like that, same of them even on purpose.

It's going to vary by car but 1" would be within normal suspension travel so it should be a small enough difference to live with for a couple days.

If camber is the main concern, you could use a level to check and adjust " by eye" until you get it aligned. Toe would be a bigger concern handling- wise.

Thanks for the advice guys. I'll make an attempt to at least "check" alignment with the DIY method.

And it's going on a Honda Element SC. The oem shocks are gone. Unfortunately, the top hats on the front are making some racket so I'm in for buying more parts than just the struts. It was the same price to get some good coilovers vs. getting all of the OEM stuff. Honda discontinued the complete strut assembly for the SC model so any of the remaining ones are like $500 a piece.

KYBs would be ~$500 total for all for corners. If it were mine, I'd go that route. Good coilovers will be 3-4x that, but sounds like you already have them.

If you go coilvers, a 1" drop isn't much. Set the camber close.  Toe shouldn't change that much, can check with string.  I wouldn't sweat it much, just get it aligned when you can.

Make sure the alignment place will adjust camber and deal with your aftermarket stuff.  Shop I took my lifted E46 to didn't touch the camber plates from my eyeball settings, just set the toe and sent it out.  It definitely didn't have enough negative camber.

For most cars yes. Even the Element EX and LX. The SC model has its own part number and are much more expensive to find. No matter what combination of assembled or separate parts I looked at, it was nearing 1k.

I need at least one new top hat assembly too so getting something like TEIN basic coils which don’t come with top hats, quickly added up to the cost of a real coil over setup.

Didn't know such a trim existed. I was curious what the difference was, seems it's not much. Springs/shocks should interchange, in case you want to save some money. Just a minor ride height difference.

https://www.elementownersclub.com/threads/af-non-sc-shocks-struts-onto-2007-sc-completed-today.164410/