Mechanic Advice

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Why can't any shop/dealership I've been to do an alignment right? (self.mechanicadvice)

submitted 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) by venusaur to c/mechanicadvice

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I’ve been to smaller shops, I’ve been to dealerships, and the only time I’ve ever gotten an alignment done right was after I complained to a general manager. I know alignments are hard with the laser machines. It shouldn’t be a problem, right? Are they just being lazy? I hate having to go back to the shop and wait another 2 to 4 hours to get something done that should’ve been done right the first time.

EDIT: I’ve had this happen with my 2001 QX4 4WD, 2019 Q50 2WD and now with 2019 Atlas AWD

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[–] venusaur 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (5 children)

The steering wheel is never centered. Alignment could be off too but I have little way of knowing that in the short term.

[–] duffer 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Probably because it is quicker to align one wheel to the other, rather than align two wheels to a centred steering wheel.

I never really thought about it before, but I used to have a car where the steering wheel was about 10 degrees off after having the wheels aligned. I assume they used the nearside wheel as the datum and aligned the offside wheel. Unfortunately the nearside wheel was getting a beating when I was curbing it.

[–] venusaur 1 points 3 weeks ago

They’re supposed to be using their fancy laser machine (Hunter)? I wouldn’t be surprised if they cut corners though.

[–] partial_accumen 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

How far off is the steering wheel? Is it possible it is very slight to account for highway crowning?

[–] venusaur 3 points 3 weeks ago

It’s definitely off. On flat roads it’s about 10 degrees off.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Are you by chance a large individual? Even a smaller person sitting in the car will affect the alignment, but a big MFer will affect it a lot.

[–] venusaur 1 points 3 weeks ago

I’m not a big guy. I know it’s wrong because one time they didn’t wrong twice on my truck and after complaining they finally got it perfectly set.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Gotcha! I can't say I've had the same experience. I've had good luck with Les Schwab and the one PointS that I've used.

I wonder if they're passing it off to junior techs?

[–] venusaur 2 points 3 weeks ago

Maybe. After complaining to a GM once after getting it wrong twice they got it spot on so not sure if that means the wrong person was doing the job or the right person doing it poorly.

[–] ikidd -1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

The hell of it is that isn't anything to do with alignment, that's just laziness about finishing the job properly. After everything moves around during an alignment, then you set the steering wheel position at the end because it sometimes will change depending on what gets adjusted.

[–] venusaur 1 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah after doing some research I see there is a steering wheel angle sensor that should be reset. I’m going to ask them about it and if they can’t fix it I’ll try when my OBDEleven comes in and if that doesn’t work I’ll try another shop to see if it’s the shop or the car.