why do allignment shops always suck?

[Dakota1820]

I went back twice. I was very polite at first and then when they started telling me i was wrong and I didnt know what I was talking about and all of that . I got frustrated and told them if they can't do the job I want my money back and they said that isn't happening and to screw off. Now I will turn them into the bbb. But I have no plans of going back. Before I became a father I was a pretty short fused kinda guy. As a matter of fact In high school I loved to fight. Well the old me would have beat the [censored] out of him but I've grown up and have a son and regardless of how angry I am I have an obligation to be a good role model. And so you guys know I'm not just saying I would have beat him to a pulp I actually did it once to a mechanic who didn't put oil in my ac compressor and it burned up really quickly and wouldnt refund it or anything. It was hard to be professional with them since they were not very professional with me but thats part of growing up smiling and brushing it off even if you want to choke them and trust me I wanted to. I know you all think my tierod adjustment with a tape makes me look stupid but it has always worked. I find a spot on the car , saturns have a whole in the frame on both sides identical spot. I measure from there to the last line on the tread .( the spot in between the two tread patterns) and regardless of what anyone thinks it does work. Mind you one side has to be correct and you measure off of the correct side and do the same measurement on the side your fixing. I have it written down and scribbed in what is exactly right for the Saturn and I make sure its right like that . And everytime I get it as close to perfect as that machine does or Atleast so close if you drove it you would believe its is perfect and I've never had any sort of wear issue ever. So it may sound redneck and foolish but it works. I know a gm guy who taught me that he does it to all of his vehicles and doesn't ever needed to align any of his cars. It really works Atleast for me and my mechanic. The shop he works at now because the Chevy dealer closed doesn't do alignments if they did it would have gone to him.

 

[Nick R]

When we live in Hawaii and we had to get the Jeep inspected, we had a really bad experience with a Goodyear Tire shop. Hawaii has very strict Inspection standards, so we had to do some work on it to get it to pass. Dad was out to sea at the time, so it was mom and I. We had to add on to the fender flare, truck mud flaps, the whole thing. And they said it wasn't aligned. At all. It has 33" Baja Claws and a 4.5" lift on it, so not surprised. Took it to the shop to get aligned. Took it back. State of Hawaii paid for the alignment too. Problem. We brought it back, they said it was even worse than it had been last time. So not only did they not align it properly, they made it WORSE. Back we went, they refused to redo it. Finally someone from the Hawaii DMV went to the shop with us, and basically FORCED them to do it, gratis. Hawaii DMV can be pretty cool.

 

[Dakota1820]

That's good that they fixed it and cool that they made them. Are safety standards aren't all that strict in my opinion . They let [censored] slide that I won't let slide on my own car. But I like to know if something happened and i had to drive accross country all of the sudden I want to know I can hop in my car and not worry. Even with 192k I would trust it to go across country alot of people cannot say that.

 

[Dakota1820]

Heres the numbers Camber front left -.039 right 0.16 cross Camber -0.55 caster left 2.45 right 2.66 cross caster -0.21 toe left 0.06 right 0.06 total toe 0.12 . Says on the bottom thrust angle allignment reference rear wheels. What do you guys think?

 

[Smokefan1977]

FRONT

Camber:
-0.50
-1.20
+0.20

Cross Camber:
0.00
-1.00
+1.00

Caster:
+1.70
+1.10
+2.30

Cross Caster:
0.00
-1.00
+1.00

Toe (Per Wheel):
+0.10
0.00
+0.20

Total Toe:
+0.20
0.00
+0.40

REAR

Camber:
-0.70
-1.40
0.00

Cross Camber:
0.00
-1.00
+1.00

Toe (Per Wheel):
+0.10
0.00
+0.20

Total Toe:
+0.20
0.00
+0.50

--
Preferred Setting (Degrees)
Minimum (Degrees)
Maximum (Degrees)

FRONT

Camber:
-0.50
-1.20
+0.20

Cross Camber:
0.00
-0.40
+0.40

Caster:
+1.70
+1.10
+2.30

Cross Caster:
0.00
-0.40
+0.40

Toe (Per Wheel):
+0.10
+0.05
+0.15

Total Toe:
+0.20
+0.10
+030

REAR

Camber:
-0.70
-1.40
0.00

Cross Camber:
0.00
-1.00
+1.00

Toe (Per Wheel):
+0.10
+0.05
+0.15

Total Toe:
+0.20
+0.10
+0.30

 

[paulo57509]

It seems to me that the steering gear/rack needs to be centered (with equal travel left and right of this center point) before adjusting the toe. I would imagine you can still set the toe with the steering gear off center left or right.

If the rack/gear is centered and the steering wheel is off-center, then there must be some other issues going on.

Don't discount someone being lazy and removing and re-clocking the steering wheel to give the appearance of a centered steering rack/gear. A Goodyear shop did this to one of my vehicles years ago.