A question about alignments...

[aman74]

Hi all, I had my struts changed last summer and had never gotten the alignment done after. Everything seemed fine, but I got new tires and wanted to make sure they wore properly as it was my understanding that even though it was driving properly that subtle differences may have an affect on the tires.

First question. Is that sound thinking or should I have just left it be to save money?

Secondly. I had to get an oil leak fixed and I brought my car in for service and had told the guy to check my alignment and to go ahead and fix it if it was needed. Well, when they called me about my repairs his story changed a bit. He said it's 35.00 dollars just to check and see if even needs an alignment as checking is half the labor. At that point I just said go ahead and check and do the alignment if needed at that point.

So, I have my printouts of the before and after and I'm wondering if it was worth it. The only numbers that changed were toe and setback.

Before:

Toe Left .22 Toe Right: .03
Total Toe .25
Set Back .32

After:

Toe Left .05 Toe Right .05
Total Toe .10
Set Back .26

It's an 01 Sentra

I didn't have a chance to talk to him when I picked it up as he was with another customer. I had talked to him in the past about tires and alignments and he definitely knows his stuff so that's why I came back to him when it was time to get some work done, but now I'm not so sure if the business practices are fair and I'd like to hear some opinions on that and more importantly if those slight changes were significant?

I had wanted some other stuff checked out, but they wanted 37 dollars just to take a look at my front passenger pads and rotors as they said the parts would have to come off to diagnose. Is that common to charge just to figure out the problem? I haven't experienced that before, but they wanted to charge just to check things out and wanted 50 bucks for a break bleed. I think they do good work it just seems pricey to me, but I'm willing to hear that I'm wrong.

I just really need a good mechanic at a fair price.

Thanks!

 

[wantin150]

What are the recommended tolerances? That should have been on your printout as well.

 

[aman74]

Originally Posted By: wantin150
What are the recommended tolerances? That should have been on your printout as well.


It doesn't say anything about that. Sorry, wish I knew.

 

[beast3300]

The alignment was off. You want toe to be within .04" of each other.

 

[JHZR2]

You dont work for free, why would you expect them to? Sure, to some extent you do have to spend money to make money, but have you seen the rig they use these days? Wrenching on non-seized parts probably is the easy part.

I find it smart to always do an alignment when changing suspension parts or tires. I easily get 75k miles life out of all my tires, and UV eats them up with 50% tread at that point.

You did right.

 

[Warstud]

Around here an alignment is about $35 to adjust the toe...not sure if anyone will check for free. But charging to check the brakes is ridiculous. I decided to learn how to do my own brakes after I saw what places were charging for the job.

 

[chad8]

Originally Posted By: aman74
Hi all, I had my struts changed last summer and had never gotten the alignment done after. Everything seemed fine, but I got new tires and wanted to make sure they wore properly as it was my understanding that even though it was driving properly that subtle differences may have an affect on the tires.

First question. Is that sound thinking or should I have just left it be to save money?

Secondly. I had to get an oil leak fixed and I brought my car in for service and had told the guy to check my alignment and to go ahead and fix it if it was needed. Well, when they called me about my repairs his story changed a bit. He said it's 35.00 dollars just to check and see if even needs an alignment as checking is half the labor. At that point I just said go ahead and check and do the alignment if needed at that point.

So, I have my printouts of the before and after and I'm wondering if it was worth it. The only numbers that changed were toe and setback.

Before:

Toe Left .22 Toe Right: .03
Total Toe .25
Set Back .32

After:

Toe Left .05 Toe Right .05
Total Toe .10
Set Back .26

It's an 01 Sentra

I didn't have a chance to talk to him when I picked it up as he was with another customer. I had talked to him in the past about tires and alignments and he definitely knows his stuff so that's why I came back to him when it was time to get some work done, but now I'm not so sure if the business practices are fair and I'd like to hear some opinions on that and more importantly if those slight changes were significant?

I had wanted some other stuff checked out, but they wanted 37 dollars just to take a look at my front passenger pads and rotors as they said the parts would have to come off to diagnose. Is that common to charge just to figure out the problem? I haven't experienced that before, but they wanted to charge just to check things out and wanted 50 bucks for a break bleed. I think they do good work it just seems pricey to me, but I'm willing to hear that I'm wrong.

I just really need a good mechanic at a fair price.

Thanks!


It sounds like the guy is fair. try the stealership who would say u needed a $100 alignment and $500 brake job without even putting the car on a hoist . I see it all the time. 1/2 hour to examine brakes is about right if it is done right. rotors have to be checked for runout, pads for uneven wear , calipers checked for smooth operation. Fluid for leaks and oxidation. you do need to remove the pads to check. . A $70 alingment is about right too. In Detroit it ranges from $30 to an average of $60 and up.He does have to put it on the rack to check it properly too. That rack can cost $10000.

 

[bdcardinal]

about alignment rack costs, one of the tire shops here in town just paid $26,000 for a new Hunter alignment rack. the guy has been in business for years, and he is one of the few people that i let work on my car.

 

[nfs480]

Definitely sounds like a top notch repair facility, i'd continue giving him my business.

 

[Cardenio327]

Anytime struts are changed on a front drive car you should do an alignment. Are the mechanic's toe measurements in inches or degrees?
The toe spec for an '01 Sentra is .1 inch +/- .05 inch OR .2 degree +/- .1 degree.

Full specs are;
Caster +1.6° +/- .75°
Cross Caster Tolerance +/- .75°
Front Camber -.42° +/- .75°
Front Cross Camber Tolerance +/- .75°
Front Toe .2° +/- .1°
Rear Camber -1.0° +/- .75°
Rear Toe .1° +/- .4°

 

[aman74]

Originally Posted By: Cardenio327
Anytime struts are changed on a front drive car you should do an alignment. Are the mechanic's toe measurements in inches or degrees?
The toe spec for an '01 Sentra is .1 inch +/- .05 inch OR .2 degree +/- .1 degree.

Full specs are;
Caster +1.6° +/- .75°
Cross Caster Tolerance +/- .75°
Front Camber -.42° +/- .75°
Front Cross Camber Tolerance +/- .75°
Front Toe .2° +/- .1°
Rear Camber -1.0° +/- .75°
Rear Toe .1° +/- .4°


First off, thanks to everyone for your thoughts so far.

I hope I didn't give the impression that I want things for free. I respect people running their own business. I was mostly just making sure it sounded typical. I do think he could have been more up front about the process. I wasn't told at first that part of the cost would be to check the alignment. When I first talked to him after they actually had the car it changed from we'll check it, to you said you wanted an alignment so we planned on just going ahead with it regardless of need. It would take too much time to type out the whole situation. I think it was mostly just a communication thing as I think overall they are a quality shop and the work is good. My grandfather went there when the guy who owns it now's father was running it. It's the only place my grandpa would go and they've been there for decades. I just think communication could be better and while prices may be fair they are at the high end of the spectrum. I was told a minimum of 82 bucks for the alignment. Maybe since the adjustments were minor they only charged me 75. That shows honesty there.

Those measurements are in inches.

Here's a quote from a reply to a thread I made on the Nissan board I go to:

"If the '01 Sentra is anything like my '04, all you can adjust is front toe and caster, which I'm assuming is what they're calling "set back." From the looks of it, you had way too much toe before, and that will scrub off a lot of tread. The new toe number looks far more respectable and will give you longer tire life.

You now have less "set back." If that's really caster, then it should be a little easier to turn the steering wheel now, but the tires will be less likely to return to center when exiting a corner.

For pricing, I don't know (I do my alignment in the garage with strings). I do know that to check the alignment they need to put it on the rack. It's certainly not "half the labor" of the full alignment, but it definitely isn't something I would expect a shop to do for free."

So set back is caster?

From what Cardenio said about Toe, it looks like I'm within spec for Toe right? I'd have to convert the others to inches to see about those.

When I searched the Nissan forum it looks as though most people think the standard Nissan specs are a little hard on the outside edge of tires. They prefer to set it a bit different, but I doubt the shop would go out of spec. Also, even though it may be harder on the tire as far as tire warranties go it's probably safest to go with Nissan specs. Tire care and warranty is the main reason I got this done.

I'll continue to go to that shop, it's just a shame they don't do all kinds of jobs. Mostly brakes, tires and alignments. I did get my oil pan replaced along with the alignment. The cost was 165.00

What do you folks recommend for tire pressure? Placard says 33 for front and 30 for rear. I usually put it at this or a couple pounds above for fuel economy, but not sure what's best overall to balance proper tire wear, handling and fuel economy.

Thanks for the help. I learn something everytime I post here.

 

[rszappa1]

The truth is you can get an alignment and go across the street and they will find something to adjust....the key to a shop is how often they get there alignment machine calabrated....just like the wheel balancing machine...

 

[38sho]

just run 35psi on the tires..... you'll be fine



I think its kinda [censored] they charge for an alignment check-up...

you would think you would get more jobs if you offered free alignment check.... once you get the car in the shop and check the alignment, the battle is won at that point for the shop owner.


165 for changing the oil pan and doing an alignment is a fair deal, did that include the pan gasket or did you bring all the parts?