Purchased a Firestone Lifetime Alignment Plan

[The Critic]

For the Prius...

With the store special and the national special this weekend, I paid $122. Considering the roads around here and the kind of driver I am, it will be worth the money since my local Firestone shop is great. Although their alignment rack is the older Hunter DSP600, they have the code link adapter that will perform the required steering angle sensor reset (aka zero-point calibration) after the alignment.

Does anyone else have one of these policies?

 

[XJay]

I got one in 1997. Yesterday I got an alignment for my jeep. It's great.
George

 

[The_Jeff]

Did you even need an alignment? Wouldn't it have been more prudent to wait until you needed one? What if Firestone goes tango uniform in the next two years? What if they're running a black friday sale? What if they have a special on the lifetime alignment when you buy four tires?

 

[eagle23]

I bought one almost 4 yr ago at Tires Plus (Bridgestone/Firestone) for my 07 Accord and seven years ago for my daughter's 01 Civic. They have paid for themselves in spades, once you have a second alignment.

BTW, check the paperwork but if it's the same as mine, *any* Bridgestone/Firestone store can do it. My point being, if you find another store that has better alignment eqpt, you can go there. Keep the original document for each time you go in, rather than relying on their computer to have a history---it cuts short any "confusion" by a future desk tech about whether you bought one or not.

I am not worried about B'stone/Firestone going away.

 

[pbm]

The problem with 'chain store' alignments is that the alignment is only as good as the person doing it. This is true of all alignment shops but I'd be more leery of the large chain shops who often employ teenagers and yahoos.
Having said that....I'm considering buying a lifetime alignment myself.

 

[mikered30]

Make sure to ask for the print out when they are done.

 

[UNC036]

I am sorry... A real waste of money.

Just my opinion, Jim

Edit: PS The printouts that they provide are not worth the paper that they are printed on.

 

[chad8]

I have had over 30 cars plus 40 years of driving and have had one alignment because of an accident done by the body shop. My tires usually last from 40000 on up.
My kids cars both needed one at $29 locally. They hit pot holes and blew rims.
I can not justify it.
$122 for something that might be needed twice in a cars life .
Keep that firestone in business. Not me.

 

[Indydriver]

You should get an alignment at least with every new set of tires. If you buy new cars with the intention of keeping them until they are worthless, the lifetime alignment is a good deal. Bridgestone isn't going anywhere, they are a $30b global company (although they seem to be de-emphasizing the Firestone brand). I use my local store for tires and basic maintenance. In my experience, Bridgestone tires are very good. I own Potenza Re050s, G019s, Turanza 400s, Blizzak LM-22s and WS-60s. Each set has performed exactly as expected with no issues. In fact, I just got a free road hazard replacement G019 after picking up a screw that made such a large hole, the tire was unrepairable. I had a squealing belt tensioner replaced on the minivan and they put on new belts at no charge. Each store is supposed to have at least one certified ASE mechanic. I give them a lot of business keeping my older cars on the road and they give me special favors like free summer/winter tire swaps on my two cars that I bought Blizzaks for. Granted, they're not all equal but I am convinced that there are some very good ones. And, if you don't DIY your OCs, they use Kendall GT-1 Semi as their bulk fill-pretty cool in my book.

Case in point: I had a mystery moisture intrusion problem with my '99 300M that three Mopar dealers couldn't find. It took a couple months and several trips, but my Firestone mechanic took it as a personal challenge to get to the bottom of the problem. After a great deal of detective work, he finally found a tiny spot of worn through insulation on a single wire in the wiring harness. They have earned my loyalty.

 

[Spector]

My opinion, after the initial alignment, when you bring it back ,they never do the work, just give it back to you after driving in the bay. That has been my experience with lifetime alignments

 

[Patman]

I don't think alignments are all that critical of a thing nowadays, 15 of the 17 cars I have owned in my life have done just fine without having an alignment done (I have only had two alignments done in my lifetime). My Vette has 127,000 miles on it and has never had an alignment and the tires always wear out evenly. Same thing with my ex wife's 2000 Civic, which is now at about 124k with no alignment ever having been done.

The first alignment I had done was on my 1988 Dodge Shadow ES Turbo, as the front tires wore out unevenly in the first year I owned the car and the alignment showed it was way out of spec (error from the factory or something). And the second alignment was one I elected to have done when I had Eibach springs put into my 95 Trans Am. I later put Eibach springs onto my 98 Formula and didn't bother with an alignment that time and it worked out fine. So really, I only absolutely needed to get one alignment done on all of the cars I've ever owned.

 

[Johnny248]

Originally Posted By: chad8
I have had over 30 cars plus 40 years of driving and have had one alignment because of an accident done by the body shop. My tires usually last from 40000 on up.
My kids cars both needed one at $29 locally. They hit pot holes and blew rims.
I can not justify it.
$122 for something that might be needed twice in a cars life .
Keep that firestone in business. Not me.


where can you get an alignment for $29??

 

[Indydriver]

Originally Posted By: Spector
My opinion, after the initial alignment, when you bring it back ,they never do the work, just give it back to you after driving in the bay. That has been my experience with lifetime alignments

You are entitled to your opinion. No doubt, there are rip-off car repair joints. But it is entirely unfair and inaccurate for you to paint all repair shops and certainly all Firestone shops with this stereotype. You are simply wrong. I'm sorry if you really had this experience. Shop around. Find a store where you can establish a relationship with the manager. Believe me, he will be eager to earn and keep your business. Then, be a good customer. That means being fair and not being such a cheapskate that you begrudge fair compensation for a job well done.

 

[demarpaint]

While it might be a good deal in other parts of the country, in NY its a chance at selling front end parts, brakes, etc, most of the time that aren't even needed. I'd rather not argue with the service writer trying to make the upsell. I get an alignment when I buy tires, even then there are times when the service writer can get extremely annoying trying to upsell parts and services. Sometimes they don't even know the name of the part. Last time I went for an alignment the moron tech tried selling me ball joints for a vehicle equipt with king pins, for a front end as good as new, confirmed 1 week prior. When that failed he tried selling me rear brakes because, and I quote. "You see these rivets, you shouldn't be able to see them". Meanwhile they were almost new, I did rear brakes 6 months and about 3,000 miles prior. No thanks! Unfortunately this is the norm around here rather than the exception.

OP I'd wait till I needed an alignment, then decide if a LT alignment is worth it.

 

[JHZR2]

I have one on one of my cars, as I bought tires there. The firestone shops seem pretty good where I go. Haven't had a problem.

 

[hate2work]

Originally Posted By: demarpaint
OP I'd wait till I needed an alignment, then decide if a LT alignment is worth it.


Frank, I think he's already bought it.

Personally, I have never had an alignment done on a car I've owned. Unless you go around hitting potholes at 40 MPH or running into curbs, I don't see how the front end can even get out of alignment. Or unless you have an accident, of course.

 

[pbm]

With the current condition of the roads in New York it's pretty hard to avoid potholes (they are everywhere).
I believe an alignment check is warranted every time you buy new tires. The problem is they charge you for an alignment whether needed or not and it's usually $79.

 

[Cutehumor]

how often can you get an "alignment" done? every month? I'm sure they won't do it if you do that to them. I haven't had an alignment done in along time. I may have had it done once in almost 15 years of driving because my dad got upselled it once. but yeah, I don't think they are needed unless you are driving 25 mph over speed bumps. cornering hard and hitting the rims on the curb.

 

[sciphi]

Originally Posted By: Cutehumor
how often can you get an "alignment" done? every month? I'm sure they won't do it if you do that to them. I haven't had an alignment done in along time. I may have had it done once in almost 15 years of driving because my dad got upselled it once. but yeah, I don't think they are needed unless you are driving 25 mph over speed bumps. cornering hard and hitting the rims on the curb.


LMAO! That describes the roads around me perfectly! The potholes, frost heaves, worn out expansion joints, and other road imperfections are terrible this year after the winter we had, and only the worst offenders are getting a slap-dash fixing.

My Buick has gotten aligned after suspension or other work involving the suspension. Our Honda hasn't needed one yet, and likely won't thanks to its dirt-simple suspension.

 

[UNC036]

Their are only 2 causes for a vehicles mis-alignment...

Bent and/or Worn Parts.

Oh, Wait, We could add a 3rd...

National Tire Store Chains.

Good Luck, Jim