SCREW THAT, they already lied to you once saying it was to spec...they screwed you once, they will try to do it again just to save their own asses... Take it from some one who plays the same game as they do... Im no crook when it comes to what a customer's vehicle needs and the services I do, but I know the shortcuts and how they will try to screw you.

 

Lol, I understand those same shortcuts, but let me give my $0.02...

They may try it the first time to save time and therefore money, but when you take it back and they have to do it for free, they should realize pretty quick that you (the customer) aren't going to accept half-a$$ed work and every time its not right and they have to do it again, thats money out of their pockets!!! That should be motivation enough to make sure it leaves right the second time!

 

Is free to cheep for a alignment? lol Thats how much mine cost. When I first got my truck I took it to a tire shop and they were cheepest around like 44.00 and guy told me what all they were going to do and before they took it off the lift they were nice enough to tell me if I wanted I can watch them do the work which if they ask you that it pretty much tells you they are not trying to rip you off.

 

no money is coming out of their pocket for alignments, they are 100% profit... It aint costing them a penny to re do it...and 99% of techs dont make money off of re-do's. so no lessons learned on their part. You think you're the first person they've done this do? I understand where you are coming from, its just you're not accomplishing anything with it. Ya they might fix your truck...but the next joe will have to go through the same crap.

 

I absolutely beg to differ (except for the part where they don't make money off redos). Have you ever priced out an alignment rack? It takes a whole lot of alignments before that equipment is paid for, and then theres upkeep on the equipment, paying the techs to do the work... so its far from 100% profit. And money absolutely does come out of their pockets for redos (in an indirect way)! They get paid to do the job, then the next day you go back and they have to take time out of their day where they could be getting paid to do other jobs to redo what they already got paid for. Maybe the average tech just lacks basic common sense, but it seems to me that somone would do what it takes to make sure a job they aren't getting paid for anymore doesn't continue to rob them of their time.

 

I went back this morning and the same people were there and I saw their faces when I walked into the service desk area,I told the manager that my steering wheel was cocked and it was pulling slightly to the right,he said no problem we will pull it back in and get it right this time. They were done in 45mins this time,my steering wheel is now straight but the truck is still slightly drifting right when I let go of the wheel,so now im driving with my left finger and thumb on the wheel to fight against the pull to the right,but it does not pull to either side when braking,so unfortunately it looks like im going back for a third time,any advise?

 

Most techs get paid per job...free jobs = no pay for tech... the Midas i work at has been open since the 60's...the alignment rack is 20 years old...its more then paid for itself... Most shops encourage quick jobs so the techs dont get time to do it right...eventually they will get it right...

 

This is what the guy at the tire shop told me.

"most roads have a slight incline due to drainage of the road so it will always pull right unless you have camber adjustments".

now this may be a load of horse **** bu twhat was weird when i got my alignment, the guy told me i didnt have camber adjustments, that i would have to buy after market shims to adjust that.

That might be the case with you if this is true, they might have aligned your truck and not compensated for the right drag of the road.

 

Thats true... its called "crown". If you have the vehicle aligned for the right lane of the road (the lane you spend most of your time in), you'll be able to tell if you switch to the left lane of a divided highway... the vehicle will pull.

But what that guy told you was a complete load of BS! The Dakotas have a TON of camber adjustment!! My truck had a bent frame when I got it (I didn't know it was bent). It was rolled in at the drivers side lower control arm mount. I didn't realize it until I started messing around with cranking up my torsion bars. Well I worked at a body shop at that point and pulled my truck up on the frame machine after work and pulled the frame back straight. When I pulled the frame out, that tire was left with what looked like 15-20 degrees of camber, and the alignment guy (it was a shop that our shop used, so I knew the guy) aligned it back straight. He even said he was suprised by how much adjustment there was!! So don't let them tell you there's no camber adjustment, cause there is more camber adjustment on our trucks than any other vehicle I've ever seen!

 

yea my truck pulls right if im on the right side of the road and left if im on the left, we have a lot of 2 lane backroads with 6ft ditches that i drive on so my pulling is definitly due the the crowning, my truck does pull randomly when i brake (left or right) its confusing me, plus ive got a squeeking coming from front drivers side when i drive slow and go straight or turn left, i figure there is something up with my brakes and i need to change my driverside hub