For some, aesthetic decisions like exterior paint selection can be daunting. It wasn't for Darin. For some, the decision requires consultation with friends, nights spent sleeping alongside paint chip samples, even online polls where digital peers are asked for their two cents. It didn't happen that way for Darin. The truth is, the body shop next door happened to be selling a theft recovery Civic hatchback that just so happened to be, well, blue. Darin would like to tell you that it's a special blue, perhaps one borrowed from BMW's lineup or maybe even Porsche's, perhaps one that's been mixed and modified in such a way by expert body shop chemists that it would remain forever unique to Darin's hatchback, but that would be a lie. The truth is, Darin really has no idea where this particular blue stems from or even its name. Best part is, he doesn't really care.

About West End Alignment

I walked into Darin Nishimura's West End Alignment in Gardena, CA, at 9:15 in the morning. My appointment was for 9:30 a.m. Darin greets me and tells me he'll be ready in a few minutes. He was. His punctuality throws me off my game. West End is a one-man operation and it's all the better for it. "West End could have blown up and gotten huge a few years back but the quality wouldn't have remained," Darin says as he reminisces of a time when he sought growth. Despite the lacking staff, the shop phone seemingly tied to his cheek all day, and the never ending gabbing of customers (me), Darin does his thing, and he does it well. Vehicle alignments and corner balancing are his specialty, but West End has the wherewithal to install just about anything suspension related, including coilovers, tie rods, control arms, you name it. The sounds of classic rock music pour through the shop as Darin picks my brain, prods, and probes in hopes of finding out exactly what I expect out of my alignment. "How often will you track your car?" he asks. "What about canyons? Do you want it set up for canyons too?" he says. If you ask Darin, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Such is the mentality that often goes hand in hand with such specialists. Darin's 1 p.m. appointment walks in the door a few minutes early as he fine tunes my front toe after a quick test drive. "Hi, I'll be with you in a few minutes," he says to the TSX owner. Right on time, as scheduled.