Should I be annoyed? - Firestone Alignment

Status
Not open for further replies.
I can understand how you might feel ripped off that they didn't to more work for the price paid. But the way I see it, they adjusted several of your alignment settings (granted not by much ) and in the end they were all within spec. I'm not sure what more you expected? Most alignment specs give a range of numbers, so the tech does not have a pinpoint to aim for. Maybe you should have told them exactly what numbers you wanted within those specified ranges?

I have paid for the lifetime alignment service from Firestone, for both my vehicles. At my local shop's prices, two regular alignments would pay for the lifetime service so it is a no-brainer since I plan to keep them both (and live here) for years. Also, Firestone offers a complete vehicle inspection for $19.99, it includes brakes suspension and alignment checks, among other things. Of course this is their way to get you into the shop and recommend services. The $20 inspection is an absolute bargain, because you can take their report to another shop to get the work done, if you wish.
 
FWIW I go to an independent shop around here and they're about 10 bucks cheaper than Firestone. It looks like they (Firestone) have modern equipment, though.
 
Originally Posted by StevieC
It was a minor adjustment yes, but you have to pay for the tech's time to put the car on the machine and twist/turn the wheels to check for alignment and make any necessary adjustments.

The adjustments they did make were good for a number of reasons so it's money well spent.


And I'm sure the tech gets paid zero for an alignment check that takes him half an hour and pulled him away from a paying job.
 
Originally Posted by dishdude
Originally Posted by StevieC
It was a minor adjustment yes, but you have to pay for the tech's time to put the car on the machine and twist/turn the wheels to check for alignment and make any necessary adjustments.

The adjustments they did make were good for a number of reasons so it's money well spent.


And I'm sure the tech gets paid zero for an alignment check that takes him half an hour and pulled him away from a paying job.


When I worked at Sears that is exactly how it worked.
 
Originally Posted by dishdude
Originally Posted by StevieC
It was a minor adjustment yes, but you have to pay for the tech's time to put the car on the machine and twist/turn the wheels to check for alignment and make any necessary adjustments.

The adjustments they did make were good for a number of reasons so it's money well spent.


And I'm sure the tech gets paid zero for an alignment check that takes him half an hour and pulled him away from a paying job.

How is he/she not getting paid? He/she is at work and the clock is running. It might not pay as much as something else but he/she is still getting paid.
21.gif
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by Eddie
You should not be annoyed because you received before & after wheel measurements and they corrected the previous alignment error (steering wheel not centered). Sounds like your wife did a good job at doing yours. Ed



Eddie I agree with this 100%.
 
I've purchased lifetime 4-wheel alignment on all my cars from FireStone over the years and get it done for free every 5K miles or so.
A very good value. I also keep (most of the time) the printout for my records.

Doing so has helped my tire life (along with my free tire rotation/balance at the same time).

I always negotiated the price of the lifetime alignment down ~30% when I've done so. I highly recommend it.

Do be wary of their "up-sell" approach by being an educated customer but pretty much all shops do the same to one degree or another.
 
Originally Posted by StevieC
How is he/she not getting paid? He/she is at work and the clock is running. It might not pay as much as something else but he/she is still getting paid.
21.gif



At Sears we got a really low hourly rate, below minimum wage, and then were paid a commission on each job. Alignments paid either $15 or $20 depending if it was a "difficult" alignment or not.
 
Originally Posted by bdcardinal
Originally Posted by StevieC
How is he/she not getting paid? He/she is at work and the clock is running. It might not pay as much as something else but he/she is still getting paid.
21.gif



At Sears we got a really low hourly rate, below minimum wage, and then were paid a commission on each job. Alignments paid either $15 or $20 depending if it was a "difficult" alignment or not.


How is that not getting paid though? Sure the pay sucks, but you are still getting paid.
 
Originally Posted by StevieC
Originally Posted by bdcardinal
Originally Posted by StevieC
How is he/she not getting paid? He/she is at work and the clock is running. It might not pay as much as something else but he/she is still getting paid.
21.gif



At Sears we got a really low hourly rate, below minimum wage, and then were paid a commission on each job. Alignments paid either $15 or $20 depending if it was a "difficult" alignment or not.


How is that not getting paid though? Sure the pay sucks, but you are still getting paid.


Hence why I don't work there anymore. Plus the one I worked at closed a couple months ago. Also the people that still had a lifetime alignment, if you fixed anything you got paid a big goose egg. There were days when it all shook out you barely made minimum wage.
 
Originally Posted by StevieC
Originally Posted by bdcardinal
Originally Posted by StevieC
How is he/she not getting paid? He/she is at work and the clock is running. It might not pay as much as something else but he/she is still getting paid.
21.gif



At Sears we got a really low hourly rate, below minimum wage, and then were paid a commission on each job. Alignments paid either $15 or $20 depending if it was a "difficult" alignment or not.


How is that not getting paid though? Sure the pay sucks, but you are still getting paid.


Sears is a bit of an odd duck, most shops pay flat rate. Techs don't punch a clock but are paid on hours billed. An alignment that's billed is probably 1.1 hours, but the free alignment check is zero.
 
Originally Posted by dishdude
Sears is a bit of an odd duck, most shops pay flat rate. Techs don't punch a clock but are paid on hours billed. An alignment that's billed is probably 1.1 hours, but the free alignment check is zero.


They also kept track of all of your jobs and if you consistently didn't perform, you were out. Sucked for guys who worked mostly late shifts that were dead.
 
Originally Posted by bdcardinal
Originally Posted by dishdude
Sears is a bit of an odd duck, most shops pay flat rate. Techs don't punch a clock but are paid on hours billed. An alignment that's billed is probably 1.1 hours, but the free alignment check is zero.


They also kept track of all of your jobs and if you consistently didn't perform, you were out. Sucked for guys who worked mostly late shifts that were dead.


I heard they had quotas, like you had to sell 10 brake jobs a week. Of course it's possible you didn't see 10 cars that needed brake jobs, but that didn't matter.
 
Originally Posted by rooflessVW
There is no difference between a "full alignment" on a modern car and the "toe and go" of yore.

Tie rods are all you can do on a lot of vehicles these days, and to fix your steering wheel they cracked both.

They did a full alignment.


While you may not find it at the $80 Firestone dealer, a properly trained alignment tech can adjust everything needed to arrive at the correct alignment specs. This includes shimming (adding parts if need), drilling /enlarging holes, straps to pull strut towers back where they should be, etc. Do not accept "we couldn't align because all we can do is toe". Ask before hand because you wasted money if they only do toe and it needs more. Heck, toe you can DIY in 5 minutes. On the other hand "we couldn't align because of worn suspension" may be true.

As far as feeling cheated for only need the steering wheel straightened, you open that can of worms when you ask for them to do what they make money doing. Centered steering wheel IS part of a correctly done alignment so if they find that off, you need one. Ask ahead of time (next time) for them to inform you what they find before they proceed to do billable work.

I've even gone to an alignment shop and was told ahead of time (they'd not looked at the vehicle yet) that they might have to double bill. I had only installed new struts on a vehicle in perfect alignment before that, so there was nothing unusual that would need done. I told them to call me if they decided it needed double billed, strongly implying I would not pay for that and they'd not get the work at all.
 
Last edited:
Looks like they did a good job. Your rear toe was way off.

You "straighten the steering wheel" by locking and bracing the steering column on center then adjust front and rear toe so it even L-R. and adjusting or correcting any excessive cross camber or cross caster. Cant do on most net built unibody strut cars without pulling drilling and cutting.

Unless there was a front end collision, you dont unclamp the wheel from the U joint or rack and move it.

Thats 1960s worm and roller steering box kind of repair action.

I know I've been around and done it.
 
Aren't you/ weren't you a mechanic?

Why didn't you just loosen your own tie rods and turn one in, and one out, 1/6 turn (one nut flat) to straighten your own wheel? That's free, all day long.

As mentioned above, a "good" alignment may include bending, grinding, or shims. A mediocre one, they'll tell you, that angle isn't adjustable from the factory.

You could have done better research before going in or by asking when you got there.

As for being annoyed, that's your right.
smile.gif


Finally, I got a free alignment check I didn't even ask for, because they saw my new tie-rod end. I took their printout and did trig so I knew how much to turn each side.
 
Originally Posted by Dave9
Originally Posted by rooflessVW
There is no difference between a "full alignment" on a modern car and the "toe and go" of yore.

Tie rods are all you can do on a lot of vehicles these days, and to fix your steering wheel they cracked both.

They did a full alignment.


While you may not find it at the $80 Firestone dealer, a properly trained alignment tech can adjust everything needed to arrive at the correct alignment specs. This includes shimming (adding parts if need), drilling /enlarging holes, straps to pull strut towers back where they should be, etc. Do not accept "we couldn't align because all we can do is toe". Ask before hand because you wasted money if they only do toe and it needs more. Heck, toe you can DIY in 5 minutes. On the other hand "we couldn't align because of worn suspension" may be true.

As far as feeling cheated for only need the steering wheel straightened, you open that can of worms when you ask for them to do what they make money doing. Centered steering wheel IS part of a correctly done alignment so if they find that off, you need one. Ask ahead of time (next time) for them to inform you what they find before they proceed to do billable work.

I've even gone to an alignment shop and was told ahead of time (they'd not looked at the vehicle yet) that they might have to double bill. I had only installed new struts on a vehicle in perfect alignment before that, so there was nothing unusual that would need done. I told them to call me if they decided it needed double billed, strongly implying I would not pay for that and they'd not get the work at all.


You realize that many modern cars (and even older ones-first I recall seeing was an 80s Escort) simple have nothing else to adjust, right? The only adjustable aspect is toe, camber & caster are not.
 
^ Camber and caster ARE adjustable, you just aren't thinking like a trained alignment tech.

You bend back what went out and if holes need enlarged or a plate and redrilled you do that. If there is a damaged suspension component it may need replaced too.

There is no vehicle that can't be aligned for caster and camber back to the factory specs, unless it is so damaged it simply isn't safe to drive. If you don't know how, that is why you're paying someone $150+ to do so, plus parts.

Alignment isn't just about "is there a cam bolt or slotted hole to do that". That's merely one way to adjust alignment for things that most frequently need it. If someone says it can't be aligned, most often it merely means they don't know what they're doing or it's outside of what they're willing/capable of doing. and should not bill for the job if it can't be completed.
 
Last edited:
I dont see the problem, you brought it in, they checked it, it was off, they fixed it, done. If they would have seen no issues and then charged you I would see a problem in accordance to their policy. I suppose they should have said that the steering wheel was off, do you want it "fixed".

You didn't get ripped off. I have worked in similar places and it gets hectic sometimes and communication is lost. Assuming the vehicle was 25k new the total cost of the alignment was .003 percent of the purchase price. Cheep! The shop is not getting rich doing 85 dollar alignments on a 100k alignment rack setup.

Was the wheel always off? If a vehicle has a steering wheel that goes off center, something is bent or worn enough to cause it.

I have a 09 xb with 120k on it and its hit alot of potholes and bumps, still on center.

An 05 Sienna, 80k miles still on center.

A friend with an 07 civic, over 400k miles, all original components, still on center.

Someone either curbed it or it was not right from the factory.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top