My guess is that they will always find something that they can adjust...A couple of Discount Tire stores in my town do alignments. They will give you a pretty color printout of current status and let you chose if you want to pay the $89.99. No charge if you decline, not a bad model IMO.
I didn't do wheel alignments ever, until I did one on my 2002 Suburban with 70k miles, because it pulled to the right and wore the front tires too quickly. The toe was off almost 1" from the factory. I kept telling myself that the alignment couldn't be off, because it was set at the factory and I bought the vehicle new. I was wrong.
I have done about a dozen alignments on several vehicles I've owned, one as recently as 6 days ago when I put new tires on the Durango. All alignments have turned out well for me.
You sound like my father in law. He thinks tire rotations are a scam. I wonder if it's hard to hear over the tire noise in your vehicles, just like it is in his? Lol.I always lament when folks continue to get wheel alignments when its not indicated to be necessary. I have noticed over that one a wheel alignment is done it doesn't "hold" alignment like when it came out of the factory.
I have had one alignment done in my60+ years and a million miles+ and that didn't turn out well.
This is my recommendation as well. A dedicated alignment shop with dedicated alignment technicians.In my experience a dedicated front end and alignment shop is the place to go for a decent alignment.
I'll never use a chain type shop (Midas, Mavis etc...) for one because often the workers don't know how to do a proper alignment. There is a place in the Bronx (West Farms area) that has been family owned and in business since the 50s or 60s doing front end work....another one in Newburgh NY that's the same (neither try to upsell)....those are where I go when my tires start to wear funny. If my tires were wearing well I don't mess with the alignment.
96 In my area ( Novi ) is still being worked on, but they have actually been making some progress. Thankfully I commute 96 to 23 in the opposite direction for rush hour traffic. It really hasn't been too bad. The closing of on/off ramps is more annoying.I'm in Michigan.. going to the metro detroit area.. results in a visit to the wheel alignment rack! Didn't they just get I-96 done over there? but checking the MDOT cameras they're repairing it again! wow..
oh ya I forgot about that, they're finally ripping all that up and replacing it. I'd actually take grand river back towards the west side.. when going home to my place. just to avoid 96 in wixom/milford! And you're lucky, 23 was redone too! That's what we get when MDOT finally has $$$ to fix the roads! thanks for the update!96 In my area ( Novi ) is still being worked on, but they have actually been making some progress. Thankfully I commute 96 to 23 in the opposite direction for rush hour traffic. It really hasn't been too bad. The closing of on/off ramps is more annoying.
When they closed the entire freeway for the entire length of the project? Yeah... that was a great time lolEDIT: the 96 section I was talking about was the one in Livonia.. they ripped it up like 10 years ago down to the sand and they're still having to repair it all the time! oh my rant about detroit roads.. I'll stop.. maybe.. lol
A high-school friend's family owned a 1960 Beetle. Three (Imperial) quarts of oil, and no oil filter, changed every 1000 miles. This was c. 1975. Oil changes were cheap (< $3) but frequent.Bring back the 67 Beetle, life was simple once, its was a 1900 dollar car tax and all,,,,kept it 5 years, I dont remember front end alinements..but I do remember the tires were 16 dollars each and an oil change was less then 10 bucks in the drive way...maybe 5 bucks...
I have heard that thru the years, our old Beetle got to near 90,000 miles and we sold it,,,now its worth maybe 20k ,,,,idkA high-school friend's family owned a 1960 Beetle. Three (Imperial) quarts of oil, and no oil filter, changed every 1000 miles. This was c. 1975. Oil changes were cheap (< $3) but frequent.
I remember Mr Cooper saying that a Beetle would go 200,000 miles, but would go through three engines to get there.
They did better when run on a thick oil - one friend had good results with 20W-50, getting an air-cooled Westphalia past 100,000 miles with no engine problems.I have heard that thru the years, our old Beetle got to near 90,000 miles and we sold it,,,now its worth maybe 20k ,,,,idk