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Getting a Wheel Alignment

Started by _73LJWhiteSL_ , Nov 24 2006 02:27 PM

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18 replies to this topic

#1 _73LJWhiteSL_

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Posted 24 November 2006 - 02:27 PM

gday all,

Just had a wheel alignment, partly trying to fix my brake shudder, but also to get my wheels balenced yet again, so i can rotate them as the wheel weights on the back wheels foul on the front brake calipers.

Where do you people take your car? And what do you pay?

I feel a little like i have been screwed over with my car. Total cost was $154 for four wheels balenced and the front end aligned and all they did was adjust the camber really.

To add to that when i arrived there i got a rather cranky guy, who when i said i didn't want them to use rattle guns on my car spat the dummy told me either he uses rattle guns or they won't do the job. He then whinged its a difficult job and they do more truck alignment etc than anything else

I so should have gotten into my car and driven away. :furious:

One last question is it really that hard to do the wheel alignment yourself?

Steve

Edited by 73LJWhiteSL, 24 November 2006 - 02:28 PM.

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#2 _Oldn64_

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Posted 24 November 2006 - 02:57 PM

gday all,

Just had a wheel alignment, partly trying to fix my brake shudder, but also to get my wheels balenced yet again, so i can rotate them as the wheel weights on the back wheels foul on the front brake calipers.

Where do you people take your car? And what do you pay?

I feel a little like i have been screwed over with my car. Total cost was $154 for four wheels balenced and the front end aligned and all they did was adjust the camber really.

To add to that when i arrived there i got a rather cranky guy, who when i said i didn't want them to use rattle guns on my car spat the dummy told me either he uses rattle guns or they won't do the job. He then whinged its a difficult job and they do more truck alignment etc than anything else

I so should have gotten into my car and driven away.

One last question is it really that hard to do the wheel alignment yourself?

Steve

Exactly, I would have left, obviously he was not really interested in looking at your car.

Doing you own wheel alignment I have stated before you will get close but 100% you need an alignment machine. You laugh at me looking at this option ages ago, maybe now you dont think I am so silly.

I pay $35 and have recommended my alignment place on more than one ocassion but hey I know nothing! :furious:

Cheers

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#3 _munro_

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Posted 24 November 2006 - 03:28 PM

i do wheel alignments at work.
at alot of the places i've worked i've had the boss in my ear telling me to toe and go.
maybe when you get it aligned again tell them not to toe and go it and that you want a printout afterward.
many people have different ideas on what specs to align them at but if want some ideas let me know.
:spoton:

tom

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#4 _CHOPPER_

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Posted 24 November 2006 - 03:53 PM

I also would've left there. Steve, around your area I would use Bob Jane FTG, provided Russell still does the aligning there. I reckon $100 is being ripped off for an alignment and 4 balances. What made you think $154 was good value?

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#5 _HB1200_

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Posted 24 November 2006 - 04:06 PM

I payed $35 for a toe in adjustment on my LX recently, it was $55 for the whole lot and $4 to ballance each tyre. It pays to check your rack after an allignment as the guy that did mine left my nice new rack boots all twisted up, they would have torn for sure if I hadn't noticed.

HB1200

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#6 _RpM_

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Posted 24 November 2006 - 04:18 PM

At my last job, from memory a wheel alignment + 4 wheel balance cost $66.

So yeah, I would have spat at his $154 bill... more likely, I would have taken my business elsewhere when given the rough treatment first off.

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#7 _LX8VD69_

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Posted 24 November 2006 - 04:37 PM

i got a wheel alignment recently and im talking the lot as per rorys specs, cheers rory :spoton:

and it only cost $30. considering most places ive dealt with will mount a tyre on a rim and balance it for $10 -$15 i cant see why it would cost you any more thne $60 for the lot, id say you should go to the doctors and get an aids test because youve been shafted big time :furious:

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#8 _73LJWhiteSL_

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Posted 24 November 2006 - 04:42 PM

I got this contact from my father and grandfather who both have had work done there in the past. Dad has his Ford Courier 4WD done not that long ago, and from memory it cost around $80 or something for the same work. and he was very happy with the results.

From memory i think they told me around $85 when i first rung them, so i nearly choked on the phone when he told me $154. But what can you do when the work has been done? If they told me that when i dropped the car off, i wouldn't have dropped the car off at all.

Looking at the printout I feel they did bugger all.

Front Axle Readings

Before
Camber Left +0.15'
Camber Right -0.20'
Caster Left +1
Caster Right +0.30'
Toe 1.0mm in

After
Camber Left -0.35'
Camber Right -0.20'
Caster Left +1
Caster Right +0.30'
Toe 1.5mm in

Now i know your all gonna tell me i got screwed, so what do i do about it? Ring up and complain?

The thing that makes me most bitter about this is i am trying to hold onto my money seeing as it could be a month or too before work picks up again next year.

Steve

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#9 _CHOPPER_

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Posted 24 November 2006 - 07:15 PM

Firstly, post the suburb the place is located here. Secondly, complain.

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#10 _RpM_

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Posted 24 November 2006 - 08:28 PM

You asked what you can do once the work is done? ...well... If they quoted you $85... and then try and charge you $154... dispute it... If I quoted someone $1000 to set them up with a suspension solution, and towards the end of the day, i'm at the $1000 mark, and still no where near finished, I would ring that person and ask them what now... change the quote to suit, or finish up at the $1000 mark, you don't just up the price by almost double and not let a customer know. Complain to the high hills, and without getting into any form of defamation dispute, let everyone know that they are crap!

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#11 gtrboyy

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Posted 24 November 2006 - 09:26 PM

I found it difficult trying to get someone to do the wheel alignment on my lc after I put the v8 in,even after I did most of the work,mainly because the majority of the places don't want to work on them.

Last dude charged me about $45-$50 & I wasn't happy with it & then the guy reckoned I had the camber right so he didn't change it,I just think he didn't want to adjust it.

Edited by gtrboyy, 24 November 2006 - 09:29 PM.

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#12 _munro_

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Posted 24 November 2006 - 10:13 PM

I got this contact from my father and grandfather who both have had work done there in the past. Dad has his Ford Courier 4WD done not that long ago, and from memory it cost around $80 or something for the same work. and he was very happy with the results.

From memory i think they told me around $85 when i first rung them, so i nearly choked on the phone when he told me $154. But what can you do when the work has been done? If they told me that when i dropped the car off, i wouldn't have dropped the car off at all.

Looking at the printout I feel they did bugger all.

Front Axle Readings

Before
Camber Left +0.15'
Camber Right -0.20'
Caster Left +1
Caster Right +0.30'
Toe 1.0mm in

After
Camber Left -0.35'
Camber Right -0.20'
Caster Left +1
Caster Right +0.30'
Toe 1.5mm in

Now i know your all gonna tell me i got screwed, so what do i do about it? Ring up and complain?

The thing that makes me most bitter about this is i am trying to hold onto my money seeing as it could be a month or too before work picks up again next year.

Steve

from those specs the caster is a little low this will cause the car to wander at highway speeds.
and he should have adjusted the toe to a max of 1.0mm total
your front tyres are going to wear the outside edges (not badly but at a faster rate than the rest of the tyre).
the only thing i see benificial in that alignment is the left camber.
let your oldman know how you've been screwed ova :spoton:

bad publicity kills businesses :rolleyes:

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#13 _big chris_

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Posted 25 November 2006 - 02:05 AM

Hi all,
am always interested in Wheel alignment threads,
should print the listed specs^^^^
and take with,
got the SS and the UC hatches done at a local place,
the guy had a nice LX SL sedan,
neat as, near factory,
so I trusted him with the 2 Toranas,
I had replaced tie rod ends in the SS,
and the rack and tie rod ends in the UC,
0 from 2, handled better with my dodgy tape measure job,
on both cars, was not happy,
they both drive with no road feel when the tyres are at centre. (straight ahead)
(sorry for thread hijack)
Any ideas?
Cheers
Chris.
EDIT
Really dumb ass questions.
How hard are Spacer shims to change or adjust?
What are spacer shims?
The U shaped metal bit at the tower tops?

Edited by big chris, 25 November 2006 - 02:07 AM.

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#14 _73LJWhiteSL_

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Posted 26 November 2006 - 05:18 PM

I will be complaining, But what specs should the front of an LC LJ be set too? I was hopping he was gonna increase the negative camber up to around -0.7 to -1.2. The thing that annoyed me more was the caster seems to be a lot different from side to side.

I know with my car the wheel has never seemed to return very well when you are coming back to centre, and it tends to understeer a bit when pushed pretty hard. And as commented my tyres always wear the outer edges on the front.

And how much can i do by myself? If i can do most of it myself stuff payign some place to do it, i will just do it myself. They don't seem to get anything 100% spot on anyways.

Steve

P.S. i am not posting the name of the place or even what suburb they are in. If you really need to know PM me.

Edited by 73LJWhiteSL, 26 November 2006 - 05:20 PM.

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#15 _JBird_

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Posted 26 November 2006 - 05:51 PM

Chris your spot on with what the shims are.

If you were in Sydney I would recommend you going to Beaurepaires at Bankstown. I had 4 wheel balancing + wheel alignment for $65. Was a couple months back but I think (90% sure) thats what I paid. The guy that did mine had an LC and knew what he was doing, spent ages doing the alignment and it turned out very good. They too used rattle guns, but tighten up the bolts with a torque wrench to finish off.

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#16 Peterpilot

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Name:Peter
Location:Sydney
Car:SS Hatch
Joined: 09-January 06

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Posted 26 November 2006 - 07:33 PM

It seems to me that factory specs for wheel alignment aren't quite right?
I owned LJ Toranas from 1983 to 1988 and always wore the outside edges on tyres after wheel alignments.
Does anyone know what specs are best? I would be keen to know some LX aligment specs too.

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#17 _Yella SLuR_

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Posted 26 November 2006 - 08:52 PM

Peterpilot, you obviously do what I do and corner too fast. Standard camber is about 1 degree, but I think I need about 1.5 to get even tyre wear on the front (LH - pre RTS).

Steve mate, those dudes saw you coming! I pay $35 for a wheel alignment, and $4-5 a wheel for balancing, $12 if I want em done on the car. I think for a more extensive caster/camber/toe-in/out for the Torrie I paid $55 at Capital Steering & Suspension. They also have Fulcrum Steering and Suspension in Brisvegas, but nothing down your way.

Alternatively, maybe we should make you a tough guy suit with blue singled and tats for these situations.

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#18 _munro_

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Posted 27 November 2006 - 12:54 AM

these are the specs i run on the lc
caster left around 2deg right around 10minutes under that
camber 0.30min
toe 0.6 to 0.8mm total
at these specs i've had the torrie doing just ova 200km/h and i've put my hands behind my head. On a private road ofcourse :rolleyes: