got an alignment today. take a look

[The motor guy]

Ok so I bought a lifetime alignment today and had them do an alignment. They fixed the crooked steering wheel but now the truck pulls to the left. Literally all you have to do is let go of the wheel and it switches lanes. Why do they always set the alignment so it's barely in spec? Once again it looks like they toed the tires in all the way. Also the guy said my truck is going to eventually need an eccentric kit at some point cause the caster is at maximum adjustment. [censored]? The caster is way off and he told me to drive it for a little while to let the tires wear in and then bring it back.

Before:
left front Right front
Camber:-0.4 -0.6 -0.5-0.5
Caster:3.9 3.3 2.9-4.4
Toe:0.67 0.65 0.15-0.05

After:
left front right front
camber:0.1 0.3 -0.5-0.5
caster:3.3 5.1 2.9-4.4
toe: 0.14 0.15 0.15-0.05

total toe:0.28 0.10-0.30 Once again it's barely in spec.

I apologize for it being bunched together. I don't know why it did that when I posted it. The first set of numbers are for the left front tires and the second set are for the right front and the third set of numbers is what the specs should be.

 

[eljefino]

He screwed it up. Bring it back tomorrow.

If it's like my dakota, the upper a-arms are slotted for castor and camber. He put too much in on the passenger side which is pulling your steering. They say you should have a little more to compensate for crowned roads, but this is too much.

 

[gathermewool]

Was he joking? Does he think the alignment will change with a bit of tire wear; put the darned thing as close to dead-nuts-on as you can!

 

[Hermann]

Go back and ask for your money back. That will get results. Who did the alignment?

 

[The motor guy]

If the toe spec is .05-.15 can't they just put it at around .10 so it's right in the middle and they are both pointed forward? I'm tired of my 1200 dollar tires getting ruined and worn out on the outside. This happened to the first set and it's happening again on this set.

What's an eccentric kit? Makes no sense especially since I had an alignment just 7000 miles ago and everything was right on the money. The steering wheel became crooked when I ran up the curb pulling out of my driveway.

 

[aualtima3.5]

I did my own alignment on my beater. vinyl tiles greased with oil, two jackstands and google the wheelbase... you can search this method. It's oldschool. I am going to do my G35 the next time it needs one.

I got sick of getting computerized alignments, they always were off for the reasons you cite above, and the tech always forgot to tell me that something was broken, so I'd be back in a few thousand miles for them to re-align my repair. I went to a shop that uses large rulers and then I realized I can do this **** myself. BTW, the large ruler alignment was laser straight driving. I could remove my hands from the wheel for like 1/10 of mile. Cray? I know.

I self algined my beater 10k+ ago for toe only, and the tires are wearing nicely. And the steering wheel is striaght. Handling is fine to me. I didn't check toe, but it look good to me. Most of the bushings are new, it better be. You can buy a little plum-bob thing if you are concerned and check it.

Unless you auto-x or really, really are super picky about all the alignment specs, usually toe will get you a pretty satisfactory alignment. And on my cars, it's the only things you can adjust up front.

 

[Kool1]

Are your ball joints loose? I heard that those trucks eat ball joints. People all over the boards are yelling, "Get Carli, Dynatrac or XRF", in that order.

 

[salv]

Alignment fail...

Lifetime alignment? No such thing. Vehicles can never be guaranteed to hold alignment in the face of road conditions.

Retail shops should not do alignments. Stick to the dealer.

 

[The motor guy]

I had a new set of tired put on 7000 miles ago and they did an alignment then and you could let go of the wheel for like 10 seconds. They had it dead nuts on that time but it got messed up when I ran against the curb pulling out of my driveway. That's why I got it aligned today but now it's pulling when it wasn't before.

 

[The motor guy]

what's an accentric kit?

 

[casamagana]

Ask the shop to put the right side caster to 3.3 to 3.5 degrees caster leaving the camber just the way it is. Then, bring the toe back into specification. That should get you going straight again.

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: salv
Alignment fail...

Lifetime alignment? No such thing. Vehicles can never be guaranteed to hold alignment in the face of road conditions.

Retail shops should not do alignments. Stick to the dealer.


I think, by lifetime alignment, he means that he can go back to have his truck aligned for life at no additional cost.

 

[The motor guy]

Originally Posted By: gathermewool
Originally Posted By: salv
Alignment fail...

Lifetime alignment? No such thing. Vehicles can never be guaranteed to hold alignment in the face of road conditions.

Retail shops should not do alignments. Stick to the dealer.


I think, by lifetime alignment, he means that he can go back to have his truck aligned for life at no additional cost.


Yup.

 

[The motor guy]

I guess I should have taken a hard look at the sheet before I left. I told the guy to set the toe in the middle and that I didn't want the tires toed in. I guess he didn't understand me and thought I wanted them toed in all the way.

 

[The motor guy]

I think these guys get tired of messing with it after 30 minutes or so and they just say oh well so they can move on to the next vehicle.

 

[salv]

Truck alignments suck, and techs hate to do them. I hammer mine to make sure they finish a full alignment. A toe adjust is not enough.

 

[bdcardinal]

We all hated lifetime alignments at Sears because the technician did not get paid to do them. They had stopped offering it long enough ago that the only vehicles left were older ones that were a pain in the rear to align.

We would charge people for them when they showed the coupon when they picked the car up instead of when they dropped it off. They would be literally taking money from the technician when they did that.

 

[yonyon]

To me it looks like they started with the left side, then tried to do the right side, failed get it right on the first try, and then gave up. This typically happens when the tech doing the alignment doesn't know when/how to operate a jack. Failure to use a jack or improper use of the jack makes this adjustment difficult. Bring it back and demand that it be fixed.

 

[mongo161]

Sometimes......it takes more than 1 visit back to the shop to have it perfect. Usually its a good Tech that gets it right in the end.

 

[NYSteve]

Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
what's an accentric kit?


Guessing an aftermarket camber kit that will let them put even less effort into this