Who does the best wheel alignments?

On Wed, 15 Oct 2014 10:36:20 -0700, "Bob F" > wrote:

>micky wrote:
>> 1) After all the damage to my wheels, etc. I figure I should have the
>> wheels aligned. A toyota.
>>
>> Who do you think does the best job? A Toyotal dealer, Firestone,
>> PepBoys, or a gas station with busy service bays who was recommended?
>
>I've had excellent results by buying Firestone's "lifetime" alignment. For about
>twice the cost of one alignment (less on sale) I never have ot pay to align that
>car again.

I saw that (170 instead of 80, here) and I thought about it, especially
in a case like this. in the post I just posted, I talk about how the
fame jumped around in a previous car that was hit, so I can see needing
more than one alignment.

On 15 Oct 2014 15:17:15 -0400, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

>micky > wrote:
>>1) After all the damage to my wheels, etc. I figure I should have the
>>wheels aligned. A toyota.
>>
>>Who do you think does the best job? A Toyotal dealer, Firestone,
>>PepBoys, or a gas station with busy service bays who was recommended?
>
>An alignment shop.

I googled for that and couldn't find anything.
>
>Ask your local kid racer where the local alignment shop is.

I don't know anyone like that. Maybe there are still hot-rod clubs.
What would they be called now?

>--scott

On Wed, 15 Oct 2014 16:51:37 -0600, Tony Hwang > wrote:

wrote:
>> On Wed, 15 Oct 2014 00:02:21 -0400, micky >
>> wrote:
..............
>>> After this part is installed, I can return the car I've borrowed
>>> (Fortunately for me, my friend's wife just never drives anymore, so she
>>> has it seems no interest in getting the car back. She says, "whatever my
>>> husband says" )
>>>
>>> All it will need is alignment.
>> You want an alignment specialist. Some dealers have them, most do
>> not Some tire shops like firestone or PepBoys have someone who knows
>> alignments inside out and backwards - most do not. In my long
>> experience in the automotive industry, a small busy shop who does LOTS
>> of alignments is generally your best bet. The guy does alignments all
>> day - he does them for local body shops and dealers as well as his own
>> clients, so he gets really good at it, and the prices are usually VERY
>> competetive.

I'll keep looking.

>Hi,
>Out here in Calgary, there is such a place called Global steering clinic.

Becaise of my current bad alignment, it would probaboy wear out my tires
to go there.

On Wed, 15 Oct 2014 23:26:23 +0000 (UTC), Red Green
> wrote:

>micky > wrote in
:
>
>> 1) After all the damage to my wheels, etc. I figure I should have the
>> wheels aligned. A toyota.
>>
>> Who do you think does the best job? A Toyotal dealer, Firestone,
>> PepBoys, or a gas station with busy service bays who was recommended?
>
>PepBoys left my lugs on a tire loose once.

They took 4 tries fixing my mothers tire before they figured out that it
leaked around the valve once, so I stopped going there.

But the guy at Autozone named a guy there who he described in glowing
terms.

Oren just said "Kentucky Fried Chicken is not the place to go in
Baltimore!". Now that's strange because the other place the same guy
recommended was on Rte 40 right next to KFC and close to McDonalds. It
has changed its name so he couldn't remember the name, but I can find
it. Oren, be assured, I won't go to KFC but to the shop next door.

>
>
>>
>> Someone I know and trust also gave a particular guy at Pep Boys a very
>> high recommendation yesterday.
>>
>> The dealer is having a sale this month, so it's the same price as
>> Firestone
>>
>> I was going to take it to the dealer, because I figured that values
>> that are always fine on cars that only hit chuck holes etc. might be
>> messed up on mine, given that I knocked a chunk out of my aluminum
>> wheel. I've considered the possibility I rotated the entire hub
>> assembly on the strut, though I can find no evidence that I did that**
>>
>> But a guy I was reading on the web felt that the mechanics at dealers
>> are all getting paid acc. to flat rate, and that they rush the job to
>> make more money.
>>
>>
>> 2) Follow=up on my car. Last Tuesday, I think it was, I finished the
>> front and just as I was about to take it around the block for a test
>> drive, a young neighbor says, "You know the rear tire is pointing the
>> wrong direction!" Actually I hadn't noticed. When I took the tire
>> off, closer to the center line than to the hub, I saw that on the
>> right rear tire, the forward locating arm was bent, about 25 degrees!
>>
>> The part is just a metal rod maybe 7/8" thick with a hole on each end.
>>
>>
>> How much does Toyota want for the part?
>>
>>
>> $159, can you believe it? Is that because prices in general have gone
>> up, or is it because it's a foreign car? And Toyota wanted $210 to
>> put it on. Firestone said it was a 1.1 hour job and wanted $121 to
>> put it on. And then 80 for wheel alignment, but I'm not
>> complaining about that.
>>
>> There are at least two after-market makers of the part and Advance
>> Auto sells one for 90 dollars. (The only way you can buy it is Ship
>> to Home)
>>
>> Before I found that, I tried www.car-part.com and it's a great page.
>> Check it out. It has a long list of names of parts to search for, the
>> longest list I've seen, and it has a built in interchange book, so it
>> offers up others models and years that used the same part. (In my
>> case, the Avalon and Lexus used the same part, for more than one
>> year.) Many of them are graded A, B, or C, and it has the name, web
>> address, real address, email address, and phone number, and distance
>> from the zip code I entered, of the dealer, and added description of
>> the part, like what color it is for a body part.
>>
>> It just tells you what yards have your part, and then you call the
>> yard, verify that it's the right part, and do all your dealings with
>> the yard, not with car-part.com. I guess recyclers ;-) and junkyards
>> pay to list the part, whether it sells or not, since I don't think
>> car-part has any way to know if the part ever sells. Right?
>>
>> I found 4 used part outlets not too far from me that I didnt' know
>> about. Well one I knew about and had tried to find, but there was no
>> sign on the road and I gave up. Now I have the address and they're on
>> a side road. $50. He says he has 24 of them. If it rains, I'll
>> pick it up tomorrow. If it doesn't, I still have work to do at home.
>> So instead of $369, it will be $50 and 1 or 2 hours of my time to
>> install,. I know I'm slow, but it's only got two bolts. I don't know
>> how it can take more than an hour once the car is jacked up and on
>> stands. Of course it always does take longer than I expect.
>>
>> After this part is installed, I can return the car I've borrowed
>> (Fortunately for me, my friend's wife just never drives anymore, so
>> she has it seems no interest in getting the car back. She says,
>> "whatever my husband says" )
>>
>> All it will need is alignment.

On Wed, 15 Oct 2014 07:21:12 -0400, "Steve W." >
wrote:

>micky wrote:
>> 1) After all the damage to my wheels, etc. I figure I should have the
>> wheels aligned. A toyota.
>>
>> Who do you think does the best job? A Toyotal dealer, Firestone,
>> PepBoys, or a gas station with busy service bays who was recommended?
>>
>> Someone I know and trust also gave a particular guy at Pep Boys a very
>> high recommendation yesterday.
>>
>> The dealer is having a sale this month, so it's the same price as
>> Firestone
>>
>> I was going to take it to the dealer, because I figured that values that
>> are always fine on cars that only hit chuck holes etc. might be messed
>> up on mine, given that I knocked a chunk out of my aluminum wheel. I've
>> considered the possibility I rotated the entire hub assembly on the
>> strut, though I can find no evidence that I did that**
>>
>> But a guy I was reading on the web felt that the mechanics at dealers
>> are all getting paid acc. to flat rate, and that they rush the job to
>> make more money.
>
>In this case I would suggest a dealer. For a couple reasons. One is that
>they are familiar with your make of vehicle far more than a chain store,
>and as such the tech may notice other damage or issues that you didn't
>see. Two is that some vehicles need additional parts if they do need
>things moved for an alignment, the dealer will likely have those on hand.
>Pretty much ALL techs get paid flat rate these days. So, yes they try to
>get things done. BUT if they know how to run the machine and pay
>attention it will turn out OK.

You're probably right about the dealer being best in this situation.
I'm too susceptible to suggestions -- I've noticed this in other
situations too -- like this one guy I've never met on a web page I've
never heard of who thinks dealers are a bad idea.

>Make sure you specify a 4 wheel alignment, that damaged radius rod may
>have tweaked other parts in the rear as well. I would check to make sure
>that rim isn't bent and that nothing else was damaged.

Which is the radius rod?

Is that the same as the rear lower control arm, the locating arm, the
rear lower suspension arm #1 (I think that's what the shop manual calls
it)? I think it has other names too. Makes it hard to shop for it.

micky wrote:
> On Wed, 15 Oct 2014 07:21:12 -0400, "Steve W." >
> wrote:
> You're probably right about the dealer being best in this situation.
> I'm too susceptible to suggestions -- I've noticed this in other
> situations too -- like this one guy I've never met on a web page I've
> never heard of who thinks dealers are a bad idea.
>
>> Make sure you specify a 4 wheel alignment, that damaged radius rod may
>> have tweaked other parts in the rear as well. I would check to make sure
>> that rim isn't bent and that nothing else was damaged.
>
> Which is the radius rod?
>
> Is that the same as the rear lower control arm, the locating arm, the
> rear lower suspension arm #1 (I think that's what the shop manual calls
> it)? I think it has other names too. Makes it hard to shop for it.


More or less.


--
Steve W.

On Thu, 16 Oct 2014 21:34:55 -0400, Tekkie® >
wrote:

>RobertMacy posted for all of us...
>
>I may not have read all messages.
>
>>
>> On Tue, 14 Oct 2014 21:02:21 -0700, micky > wrote:
>>
>> > 1) After all the damage to my wheels, etc. I figure I should have the
>> > wheels aligned. A toyota.
>> >
>> > ...snip...
>>
>>
>> don't know about the toyota car, but I once hit a deer in Colorado going
>> about 65mph [me, not the deer] hit the brakes enough to get the car speed
>> down to ?? maybe 45 before impact, plus the screeching tires spooked the
>> deer so he tried to change direction and fell under the car. Else very
>> likely would have come up over the hood and ended up in wife's lap. Impact
>> was LOUD! Car even lurched up going over.
>>
>> The car drove a bit wonky after that, so went to several places for an
>> alignment, One place even commented about, boy this adjustment is waaay
>> over. No idea what he meant, but drove a bit better, but still drove
>> wonky. Finally at a 'generic' gas station service bin I was telling the
>> guy about the impact and how car drives wonky and won't 'hold alignment.
>> He went over to the hood, pushed down on the right fender [impact side]
>> went over to left fender pushed down. He then put it up on the rack and
>> pulled a broken shock out of the right side, suggested I change both, only
>> because HE found the true problem, I rewarded him with purchasing two
>> shocks. He undid the chain alignment's efforts and set up the front. After
>> that it drove just as well as before. So the WHOLE problem was that the
>> shock had lost ALL drag. It was like not having a shock in there. Learned
>> a lot from that experience. Just share, because *if* you hit something AND
>> you have shocks, you may have killed one shock and can no longer be able
>> to get the front end back to what it should be. No matter how much you
>> work on adjustments.
>
>Obviously they did a crappy job. Suspension inspection is one of the first
>things to perform. An honorable shop does not sell parts you do not need.
>The shop makes good money and gets a good reputation from honesty.
>
>A tipoff would have been the fur underneath.
>
>Claire would you agree with this?
Definitely. When a car or truck comes in with a stability problem
and the owner wants an alignment, the first thing you look for is
signs of damage - and deer parts would definitely raise a red flag!!!
Then you check the settings - f something is way off you check the
related parts for damage.
Before doing an alignment suspension hight, tire pressures, etc all
need to be checked as well.

Had a customer come in with their car pulling hard to the right - said
they had just had Firestone do an alignment and now it was worse.

Being a tire store you would THINK they would have at least checked
the tire pressure - if not the tire condition - and sold the guy a set
of tires. The one tire was at 18psi and the other must have been 1/4
inch bigger on the outside than the inside.

I got to sell the guy a set of 4 tires (and they were not Firestones)

posted for all of us...

> >A tipoff would have been the fur underneath.
> >
> >Claire would you agree with this?
> Definitely. When a car or truck comes in with a stability problem
> and the owner wants an alignment, the first thing you look for is
> signs of damage - and deer parts would definitely raise a red flag!!!
> Then you check the settings - f something is way off you check the
> related parts for damage.
> Before doing an alignment suspension hight, tire pressures, etc all
> need to be checked as well.
>
> Had a customer come in with their car pulling hard to the right - said
> they had just had Firestone do an alignment and now it was worse.
>
> Being a tire store you would THINK they would have at least checked
> the tire pressure - if not the tire condition - and sold the guy a set
> of tires. The one tire was at 18psi and the other must have been 1/4
> inch bigger on the outside than the inside.
>
> I got to sell the guy a set of 4 tires (and they were not Firestones)

It just shows that if a shop does crap work then good shops will thrive.

--
Tekkie