And now you know why.

 

I don't know if I'd trust a place with high turn over for an FEA. Alignment is as much art as mechanics. A good front end mechanic may or may not be able to do other repairs but the front end has so many angles and such to consider, it's an art in itself. I can repair front ends, even get them fairly close to get to the shop. I used to work with a guy who had a shop but got tired of running it and went into industry. He gave me some points for alignment clarifications to make the steering response better.

In short, it's all about angles and degrees of angle. The mechanic is either good, or not.

 

I agree Grouch. I go to Mr Tire for tires and front end alignments only. My wife needs an annual alignment for her Jeep (weak front end). Been going there 12 years or so. Never had a problem but the last 5 years there is always someone new running the the place and working in the garage. They had one old timer who used to do their alignments. He clearly knew what he was doing. He was so good that I tipped him $20 once for working on my Dakota front end. Then he was gone and they had a younger fella in there and he did a nice job too. But this last time they had some 20 year old punk. Shoes untied, dragged his feet when he walked, looked like he didn't want to be there.

I'm going there to see if I can get them to refund me. If they fight me I'll fight back and make a scene in their lobby if I have to, but I might be willing to let them rework the alignment if it's different personnel. If it's the same losers, no way. They aint touching my truck. I have another old timer just north of me who will do a great job no doubt about it. Yes, camber, caster, toe...and you adjust one it impacts the other. Gotta get it right!

 

I wouldn't make a scene in the lobby. That might get you arrested or dismissed as a crank. When the dealer messed up, I mentioned it to CarFax as they have been tracking the car since I ran a report when I bought it. Trust me, internet disgust will really get their attention. All we need to know here is where Mr. Tire is located.

 

Congratulations on finding the problem. That’s great!

 

Just a thought Motorcycle racers drill through the nuts and studs then wire everything together so as not to leave anything on the track by accident. Or some blue loktite.

 

The plot thickens.

I was headed out the door this morning to ream out the alignment shop. But I thought it best to bring their "Before and After" report with me. I studied it before leaving (I like to be prepared). What I noticed was there were NO adjustments to camber or caster. In other words, they never touched those pivot bar nuts. They are not to blame.

So who is? Answer: ME!

I had those control arms out putting in new bushings (that's why I got it aligned). I put that arm back on so I was the last to touch those pivot bar nuts. So here I am shooting my mouth off and it was me the entire time. How embarrassing! Glad I didn't ream on Mr. Tire.

So I'm gonna have the old timer up north do another alignment on Monday. He charges only $89. Mrs. Tire charges $138! Not only that, but Sammy the old timer is an awesome, old school mechanic who's seen it all. Doesn't get better than these old timers.

A couple three things I learned about myself:
1. Don't shoot your mouth off till you have all the facts (I'm usually good on this point, now I'll be better).
2. I'm not nearly as strong as I once was and should use cheater bars more often on the stuff that really needs tightening
3. I'm pretty damn good at approximating camber and caster when, after having the control arm off, reinstalling it such that it needed no camber adjustment. I used matchmarks.

 

Ooops.

I think going to the guy that knows what he is doing is a good plan. Getting to be fewer and fewer of those about. Most of the shops around here have a horrid reputation. The place I used to go to was good, had good people, and took care of me. I am really saddened to see their shop sitting empty.

 

Agree, HY. Having a good mechanic around is huge. I am/was fortunate to have three exceptional mechanics around. Frank was my go-to guy but the shop he worked for was useless. They never called, never answered phones, lied about how long work would take (a week for u-joints), etc. Great mechanics, horrible administration. I fired them! Then there was Jonathan. Another excellent mechanic. But he quit and went to work somewhere's else. He has 5 kids and needed to make more money. And now Sammy the old timer who I discovered a few months ago. This will be the 4th job I hired him for (wife's car too) and he impresses the hell out of me. God-fearing, honest man as it gets and knows of what he talks about. Most of his customers are women because they trust him.

 

Yeah, when I worked at the dealership, (service writer) after I had been there a couple months, the women always came to me, as I would not treat them like idiots. The other guys in the service department were just horrid about that...... I was truly amazed that ANY of those women actually came BACK to the dealer, after being treated like that......

But, there was always those customers (both male, and female) that were already pissed when they walked in the door, simply because they had to come and see us...... They were always fun......

After I had been there three months, I consistently wrote more work than the other two guys combined. That was a fun job, but, the hours sucked, and so did the drive.