Any suggestion for a cheap place for wheel alignment?
Cheap is really a bad term here. You get what you pay for. I can align front end of your car for $30, using nothing but a crescent wrench and a tape measure.
In the expensive range you’ve got Firestone and Brakes Plus that I know of. Personally I recommend Firestone.
There are several others listed that I have no knowledge of, refer back to my first statement.
FYI a 5 year warranty from a company that’s only been in business 6 moths isn’t worth much
1 Like
Thanks Mike. I found a groupon for $45. Will give that a try today :).
Well, sounds like I have more work than some nut adjustment.
I’ve now been to three different places for alignment and I got three different opinions. All confused now.I have a bad camber (-2.9 degree) and some toe.
place 1 : My control arm is bent, Although I can’t see it physically.
place 2: I need a camber kit to fix my camber although I am not sure why since I haven’t made any modifications to anything. Also apparently I don’t have any thread left to adjust toe and the guy wanted to “reset” my steering (or something like that)
place 3: I need a new strut.
I am leaning towards the bent control arm, but what do you guys think?
Sounds like you went to Midas 
Try NTB. They don’t make excuses.
I know that we can’t perform work on cars that we don’t own, but is it possible for one of our more experienced members to give @iftakher car a look and provide him an objective opinion which (if any) of the diagnoses he has received is accurate.
@Brandon_Green can you render an opinion on whether someone could do this?
Sad part is that I didn’t even hit anything. It has to be one of those nasty potholes on i-35.
I would think a bent control arm would be easy to see/check. It should match (mirror) the other side.
From: iftakher [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Sent: Friday, January 29, 2016 10:06 AM
Subject: [Automotive] Wheel Alignment
| | iftakher
January 29 |
| Well, sounds like I have more work than some nut adjustment.I’ve now been to three different places for alignment and I got three different opinions. All confused now.I have a bad camber (-2.9 degree) and some toe.place 1 : My control arm is bent, Although I can’t see it physically.place 2: I need a camber kit to fix my camber although I am not sure why since I haven’t made any modifications to anything. Also apparently I don’t have any thread left to adjust toe and the guy wanted to “reset” my steering (or something like that)place 3: I need a new strut.I am leaning towards the bent control arm, but what do you guys think? |
Visit Topic or reply to this email to respond. To stop receiving notifications for this particular topic, click here. To unsubscribe from these emails, change your user preferences
Sounds like you need to find a better shop. All though I have not dealt with Hamms tire in lewisville, I have had several friends say they do good work. I don’t use any shop as I do all my own work besides balancing my tires.
Certainly, its all about educating members, as long as the owner is there learning others can assist him.
1 Like
What type of vehicle?
its a Scion TC 2005.
I recently took my truck in for alignment to the Midas at Montfort and Alpha was pretty happy with the service I got. This was immediately after rebuilding the front suspension, though… so it is possible they saw a slew of parts not caked in road gunk and decided not to try selling me new ones.
I’ve had good work done by Jason down at JP Euro in Garland. He worked with me over multiple trips to resolve some obnoxious clutch issues with my Celca, and his prices were very fair.
It’s true that you don’t want to go to the cheapest place to get an alignment. If you recently were in an accident or did some serious curb hopping, its probably some bent components, control arms could be one of them. If not, it may not be bent control arms.
Place 1: This could actually be the case, but they are likely guessing. Sometimes bad ball joints and bushings can lead to a lot of slop that translates into excessive camber when the vehicle’s suspension is loaded (just the weight of the car can do this)
It may not be possible to identify a bent control arm visually unless its REALLY messed up.
Place 2: I bet this was Firestone, or possibly Meineke. Steer clear of this, they think “camber kits” are a solution to everything. These kits don’t hold the alignment over time, it is just an eccentric bolt being used in place of a standard one, and the clamping force isn’t enough to withstand normal use.
Place 3: You may need a new strut, but this is not the cause of your alignment issues.
Overall: Any place that claims to do alignments should have at least fixed your toe issue. I wouldn’t take my car to any of these places you mentioned. Find someone who has a mechanic they trust that works at a private shop with an alignment rack. Or go to any real racing shop for the alignment, they can align anything including wrecked racecars, and nobody does more frequent alignments than them. Texas Track Works is a good place with good people, but they don’t have a $100 alignment if that’s what you are looking for.
Hope this helps.
iftakher:
If you haven’t “hit” anything other than potholes chances are the control arm is not bent. It may need a bushing or bushings - at 10 plus years that is very common. The question is - are they replaceable without changing the arm itself.
Control arms even the “cheaply made” stamped steel ones found on many Asian cars don’t “bend” on their own without a considerable impact with a curb, or other heavy object. Bushings and ball joint style links are consumables (made to wear out)
Why not take take the simple $50 lift class and I or someone else will help YOU look under your car on the lift?
Hamm’s tire in Lewisville is a good reputable place to go - if you are not a “car person”
Never go to a franchise or muffler, brake or tire place
I’ve went to a mechanic and sort of lifted the car up. I really can’t see any sign of bending in the lower control arm. The car doesn’t have an upper control arm. I guess that leave the struts which I can’t check without taking them out.
I am considering now to go to the Hamm’s tire this weekend. I hope I will be able to at least figure out what the problem is rather than wandering around.
Thanks for the offer Tom. I will reach out to you if I can’t figure this damn thing out.
most strut type shocks will leak when they are shot - look for road dirt on the top of the strut (if visible) dirt that clings to the oil (and yes, even gas shocks/struts contain oil) leaking from a component tends to stand out.
Does the car rebound (bounce) excessively after a large bump ?
If you push down hard and release on a front corner (knee on the bumper works) does the car continue to move (bad) or raise smoothly and stop (not bad).
What - was your car doing before taking it into the alignment shop?
“Why not take take the simple $50 lift class”
When is the next one?