Front end alignment?

[bpman1234]

so where would be a good place to get an alignment these days for our body cars . Might bring a dumb one but there you go .thanks as always in advance .

 

[achalmersman]

You need to go to a well known shop that has an experienced alignment tech. Not necessarily a national tire chain, and not necessarily a dealer. Make sure you request a before and after printout, and hopefully they didnt cheat it and press K4. Be on the lookout for the words "Modified Vehicle Spec" on a Hunter printout. This means they modified the specs so that it would "appear" in spec. Good luck

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[bpman1234]

Thanks for your reply really appreciate it let me see what I could find.

 

[SpeedRacerX]

I'm ashamed to admit that after I finished my suspension and steering upgrades, I did my own alignment with the string technique I found on you tube. Not a pro alignment by any means but she drives straight. It was kind of fun too.

 

[bpman1234]

Yea i installed globle west uppers and know have to get it straight getting inner tire wear

 

[achalmersman]

To each there own, but a good alignment machine measures down the 0.001° and rounds / displays 0.01° for toe. Although "good enough" for a 1/4 mile car, and low mileage accumulating vehicle its nowhere near as accurate using strings / tape measures. Yes you can do it, no its not as good. (although somebody that doesnt know what they're doing can screw one up on a good aligner too.)

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[bpman1234]

So more or less what's going rate is it the 60-70 dollars range?

 

[achalmersman]

79-99 or more if it requires a lot of control arm adjustments or something special because of aftermarket stuff.

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[achalmersman]

That number will vary by region.

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[bpman1234]

Southflorida we will see what they tell me thanks again.

 

[John Larkin]

I had mine done at a Chrysler dealer. I knew the GM and the alignment guy was very good. They have lots of classic cars in a showroom at the dealership and they work on trucks which are of course RWD. Those factors may have helped some. The guy did burn his hand on the downpipe though, ugh.

 

[bpman1234]

Ok thanks for your input gonna see what I can fined out here .

 

[Johnnie]

After I bought my tires at the local Tire Discounters, I had it aligned there. That particular shop has a good reputation and have always treated me right. I have had no issues at all with it. But my car is stone-stock, too.

 

[SpeedRacerX]

On my Pontiac G8, I tried for 6 years to get that aligned properly and never could. Dealer, independent shops, national chains, etc.

On my son's Nissan Pathfinder, the local discount tire place mounted, balanced and aligned the truck perfectly. So smooth and straight.

Go figure.

 

[SpeedRacerX]

Duplicate. Sorry.

 

[1986 Buick GX1]

I've used fleet farm, a Goodyear dealer and a Tires Plus with good luck. Colorado, North Dakota and Iowa, all were $70- 80 range.
I did a Tires Plus lifetime alinement for $180 and could have your car aligned every day if you wanted, very helpful when changing/ modifying things a lot.

 

[bpman1234]

that sounds good thanks.tires plus down the street .

 

[1986 Buick GX1]

It was particularly useful for my '89 Lesabre T-type. I wore out 3 sets of KYB struts a bent A arm, rear swaybar swap (bolted to the strut mount bolts) and several attempts at a negative caster set up just for fun. They were cool about it.
I hope your store is not full of slackers.

 

[bpman1234]

we will see thanks .

 

[69RSCLONE]

I work for a major nation wide tire retail /service center. With that being said, you get all kinds of workers. Myself being a ASE Master Tech I am an example of what you HOPE you get to do your alignment. I will adjust caster and camber with shims. I work with 8 other techs plus the counter help and management that don't even know what a shim is. If they are doing the alignment you get a "toe n go" and an explanation that the other angles aren't adjustable. I work there not because I enjoy the poor feedback from customers that get shitty service from under skilled HACKS, but because they pay way more than dealerships and most independent shops.

As long as you ask the alignment tech nicely if he is comfortable with doing a proper alignment they are usually ok doing it. Just don't waste their time because they don't get paid if they are not working. Time is money for flat rate techs. First way to piss off a tech is spend 20 minutes explaining your life story. If he gets paid an hour to do it, he now has 40 before he looses money.