RANT- Took my car in for an alignment...

[Sentientbydesign]

Those of you who live in SoCal know that we are in a constant state of road construction.

There are 3 projects going on on my 7 mile commute to work. I recently had a couple of encounters with pot-holes and my alignment was off so I got up early this morning and took my car in to the tire shop that I have an alignment policy with.

I give them the keys and wait. When they're done and I get my alignment measurement sheet back, I'm appalled. Not only is the paper barely legible (printer out of ink), but my rear Toe is still way out of spec; 3/16" when the max is 3/32. I take the paper back in and the desk guy tells me... "Oh, it's only about this much (making a small gap between his fingers)..."

I tell him it's still out of spec and he looks again and realizes that not only is the left rear toe out of spec, but so is the rear thrust angle (a result of the left rear). So I WAS going to be on time to work, but no longer. Got to work 45 mins late because of their mess up.

Final numbers weren't perfect, but were much better.

Front-

Right Toe- 0"Left Toe- 1/32"

Rear-

Right Toe- 1/16"Left Toe- 1/32"

Camber is still a little high at -1 to -1.5 degrees on all four wheels, but I suspect the sports suspension to have something to do with that.

[G_whizz]

Well as long as it was acceptable to HIM.

What a d i c k

[snwbrdr435]

[joe603]

good on you for noticing before you left!

[telcoman]

Those of you who live in SoCal know that we are in a constant state of road construction.

There are 3 projects going on on my 7 mile commute to work. I recently had a couple of encounters with pot-holes and my alignment was off so I got up early this morning and took my car in to the tire shop that I have an alignment policy with.

I give them the keys and wait. When they're done and I get my alignment measurement sheet back, I'm appalled. Not only is the paper barely legible (printer out of ink), but my rear Toe is still way out of spec; 3/16" when the max is 3/32. I take the paper back in and the desk guy tells me... "Oh, it's only about this much (making a small gap between his fingers)..."

I tell him it's still out of spec and he looks again and realizes that not only is the left rear toe out of spec, but so is the rear thrust angle (a result of the left rear). So I WAS going to be on time to work, but no longer. Got to work 45 mins late because of their mess up.

Final numbers weren't perfect, but were much better.

Front-

Right Toe- 0"Left Toe- 1/32"

Rear-

Right Toe- 1/16"Left Toe- 1/32"

Camber is still a little high at -1 to -1.5 degrees on all four wheels, but I suspect the sports suspension to have something to do with that.

How much did they charge you for this outstanding piece of work?

How much does the dealer charge?

Telcoman

[Sentientbydesign]

good on you for noticing before you left!

I'm picky about my suspension specs. If I had the time and they weren't so busy, I'd have made them adjust a few things, but meh. At least the car goes straight now and doesn't "dance" on uneven roads.

How much did they charge you for this outstanding piece of work?

How much does the dealer charge?

Telcoman

I have a policy with Discount Tire/Evans Tire. Just under $200 yields me a lifetime alignment policy. I can go in daily if I wanted. Only stipulation is that I can't do my own suspension work

On the I30, I used to go in every 4 weeks as the bushings had lots of play and would go out of spec easily.

[apro06g35]

Speaking of potholes, I commute into chicago from the suburbs and I-90 is terrible! I wonder where all my toll money goes.. Hmmmm

[RED_DET]

I would have made them adjust the front toe to max toe in to help with any tire feathering.

[Tampa G35 Sedan 6MT]

Im having a problem with the back tires rubbing when I go over speed bumps now after the dealer fixed the compression rods that were bad.

I am going to have it aligned after that? or should the dealership align it for free since the compression rods were bad?

DJ

[toddnos]

my buddy is a certified alignment tech for Big O tires. I only go to him. He doesent want me to go to his shop, because the alignment rack is off, and his boss wont fix it. he is going to align it at the tech school where the rack is true.

so no matter what the paper says, the rack can be off too.

stick that in your pipe and smoke it

[SteveTheTech]

Hey Nate,

Take a look under the rear of your car and if you can snap a pic of the eccentric lobe postitions. It's highly likely that your adjustements are maxed out and it cannot be brought back to spec, without out component replacement.

This is a prime example of what you get with your "lifetime" alignement which I have always felt is a scam. You get what you pay for.

[Sentientbydesign]

Hey Nate,

Take a look under the rear of your car and if you can snap a pic of the eccentric lobe postitions. It's highly likely that your adjustements are maxed out and it cannot be brought back to spec, without out component replacement.

This is a prime example of what you get with your "lifetime" alignement which I have always felt is a scam. You get what you pay for.

Please elaborate as I'm not following your train of thought.

[SteveTheTech]

The pic below illustrates where the rear toe adjustment is. The camber adjustment is the same type of off set bolt and is located directly in front of it.



Is that where I lost you?

[Sentientbydesign]

No, I'm familiar with the offset bolts, I was more so lost with the "out component replacement" and the "Lifetime alignment=scam" parts.

Are you suggesting that some suspension parts may be bent or damaged and therefore the alignment cannot be put back to specs without replacing those parts?

And the "scam" portion was just your rant against cheap mechanics performing shody jobs?

[SteveTheTech]

Are you suggesting that some suspension parts may be bent or damaged and therefore the alignment cannot be put back to specs without replacing those parts?

And the "scam" portion was just your rant against cheap mechanics performing shody jobs?

Ahh worktime multitasking fail.

I should have said omitted the second out. Replacing one of the lower links will usually correct an alignment that cannot be brought into spec.

There is no such thing as a lifetime alignment, within a mile the suspension may be out of whack. The main reason they have such a program is get you in the door. It can indeed save the educated customer money, I just disagree with the policy.

[ldstang50]

NateI had my car aligned 2mos ago, I know the guy that did it so I was able to get under the car with him and get the specs put in that I wanted.One thing I noticed as the right rear had a greater degree of camber in it. I was trying to get the camber in the rear to 0 out, but was unable to. I got the left rear to -.8 but the right rear only to -1.3. With that in mind it is possible the bolts are worn, I highly doubt the control arms are bent. For you to bend them you would have had to hit something pretty hard and knowing how anal you are about your car you would have definetly felt a difference and probably gotten it fixed right away.

[joe603]

I think the lifetime alignment thing is a good deal if you use it. I had one on my firebird a few years ago and did it every 6months at firestone. The G hasn't needed one yet...and she seems to keep the alignment longer than my cheap F-body. Sooo, maybe it's not worth it on the G, because it's a high quality car...but it would be worth it on something else.

[jbillion]

I dont think alignment will be covered under the warranty. I am taking the car in to have the worn tie rods replaced (under warranty) and they said that I would have to cover the cost of the alignment, I was able to talk the service writter down from $130 to $100 when I got new tires back in ~March.

[hawd_s14]

I can't stand when people are too lazy to do thier job correctly.