My 2000 Durango SLT was pulling to the right. I had stupidly let a tire with a slow leak keep going flat and I'd refill and a month later go through it again and the tire wore down on one edge. Dumb of me I know.

So I replaced all the tires last week because we are taking the car on vacation, and was so happy to have the car not fighting me all the time, it tracked straight etc. It felt great.

So I took the car to my dealership and dropped $1300 on basically fluid flushes and alignment. Transfer case, both diff's, coolant, brake fluid, charge the A/C, transmission flush, R&R the rear LT door lock, R&R front suspension bumper stops and wiper blades and asked for a general check over.

$1300!

The problem is, I found a few things that they did wrong. Never checked the air filter-filthy, overfilled the brake fluid all the way to the top of the threads, the A/C is not blowing any cooler, the battery cables were covered in corrosion I asked to have checked and cleaned. Main thing though.....the car is pulling to the Rt and the steering wheel is not straight across when driving in a straight line.


So my confidence in the rest of the work is blown.

I asked for the alignment check as I am going on the long trip and just dropped a small fortune on new tires and shocks.

He showed me the printout. It shows a before and after and it shows the spec as being out.

So they now say there is nothing they can do because the rack and pinion is worn. Then the mechanic said the tie rods have play in them.

I told them that they should have called me to let me know.


So, can anyone who is expert in alignment tell me if that makes sense? Could a car that is driving nice and straight and not pulling to one side when you let go the steering wheel, become a car that is pulling to one side after the alignment has been set supposedly correctly?

I don't know if they are trying to get me to pay for tie rods R&R to cover the time spent re-doing a crappy alignment job?

Thanks.

 

that sounds like a BS excuse to me, make them realign it properly, and also make sure that the wheel is straight when you drive straight, like its supposed to be (otherwise they did a hack job)

 

Well, they claim there is nothing they can do. Said I need a $1000 plus rack and pinion and that it is back ordered.

I would think a worn out R&P would have a randomness to it regarding where the steering settles. The way it is now the steering settles in exactly the same place each time. The centerline of the steering leans downwards to the right and, obviously, if I let go the steering the car veers right. So I am constantly pulling the wheel a tad to the left. It is annoying....like a motorcycle with twisted forks.

I was/am a master motorcycle mechanic....over 25 years experience before I got out the biz about 12 years ago and hung up my tools for good. I have been a Service Manager and a shop Foreman, I have run workshops for years and years. I know how things work at dealerships. I know the mechanics are commish only so they want to move on to the next job they can flag....and not eat a comeback.

I suppose an option is to go somewhere else and pay them to check the alignment and front end components.

 

if you do that, get it in writing that it was out, and go back to the original dealer and demand that they pay for it

 

I will, thanks.

I am looking at the Vehicle Alignment Report..... the Before and After readings...... that I picked up at the dealer today. It is a computer printout generated by the wheel alignment software program.

According the the After.......it is almost dead nuts.

There was a minor change to the Caster and Camber..a degree or less on Caster and about .1˚ on Camber.

The Toe readings were the most obvious as being out of whack. Even though my car tracked straight and true, no pulling.......the Lt wheel showed a positive toe in of .64˚ ( according to this chart ) and the Rt reading just says .05˚. I assume that is positive also? I can tell the Lt is + because the image shows the wheel pointing inwards.

So now it is set and the print out shows readings that are extremely even.

Toe is now .06˚ both sides ( again assuming it means +). Caster is 3.2˚ Lt and 3.3˚ Rt and Camber is -0.2˚ both sides.

This is very even, to my non-automobile mechanic sensibility. It feels like the vehicle should be driving straight and that the steering wheel should be straight...level...I mean camber in the road taken into consideration.

Oh well, off to Yosemite we go. We'll see how she handles the trip.

Thanks. Any more words of wisdom will be appreciated. I love to learn new stuff.