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Forgive me if I posted in the wrong place I don't think I've ever posted anything. So I just moved and I don't really know any good shops around me to get an alignment. So I tried out a monro near me to give it a shot plus it was close by. I installed a couple of rear camber arms and trailing arms I had laying around for a while figured why not throw them on. Other than this the suspension is completely stock. About a year ago i had a shop tell me i needed rear camber arms because they couldnt move the bolt it was too rusted. I ended up having my rack and pinion blow up and I slapped a new one and tried a different alignment shop and they did it no problem. Recently when I installed the suspension arms and went to monro my wheel was pulling badly afterwards. I don't have time to go there as they close fairly early and I work a lot of Saturdays so theyre always closed when I'm not working. I luckily got a Saturday off last weekend and I took it back. I got the messed up alignment about a month before taking it back. To be fair the kid who as working on it looked pretty new like he was lost and the manager at the place confirmed for me the kid was on his **** list already for other things. They did the alignment over for free and this time I asked them for the numbers showing the alignment being within spec. The manager told me their printer for the machine is broken and instead showed me before and it was pretty far off. He showed me after and it was perfect this time. The mechanic who worked on it even took it for a test drive and told me it was good to go. I go to drive away and the wheel is very slightly pointing to the left, its not pointing straight. It seemed like it wasn't pulling on the highway the first day but the day after i noticed it pulling to the left again. I couldve just not payed enough attention to notice the pull the first day but i thought i had checked for pull. Could this be something wrong with my car? What could make my alignment slip out of being aligned in the front? Them not tightening the bolts enough? Should I bring my car back to this shop or am I asking for trouble? Should I just go to another shop that will probably do it right the first time? I was thinking about living with it when I thought it wasn't pulling and just not pointed straight but something tells me that's not a good idea even if it wasnt pulling just not pointing straight. I've never had an alignment where my wheel wasn't pointing straight but this is twice now. Any advice would be great.. sorry for the long winded question I just don't want to leave out any information that could be helpful to helping me. I'll attach some pictures of how slightly off my wheel is after the alignment this time if it means anything to anyone.
If it were me (and it has been me in the past) i would just go to another shop. This time around find a shop that aligns modifed vehcles. A lot of the mainstream shops arent equipped with the experienced techs to deal with non-stock setups.
And when you drop it off, tell them about the history of issues and all the mods that are installed.
Other thoughts that come to mind:
An off center steering wheel could be caused from a lazy or inexperienced tech
The pull could be a thrust angle/toe issue or a tire pull. (it does concern me that it was good at first - then began to pull - maybe something is worn or loose? 166k on th clock, so there might be parts changing needed)
Another thought that could save you some $ and time is to swap your front tires and see if it pulls in the other direction (or if its a square set up, then move them front to rear - then if it fixes it, you're done)
The suspension shop that installed my springs said that they would include an alignment with the install. Unfortunately, they too used the "the printer is broke, but everything looks good" excuse as well. Fast forward a year later, I was replacing my back tires because of excessive toe.
Most RWD cars are sensitive to alignment specs, which at a high level are a series of angles and tradeoffs deemed ideal for the platform by competent engineers. For me personally, I found a seasoned local shop that also does alignments and they straightened everything out.
My son's Ford Ranger had the same steering wheel issue and it was resolved with a proper alignment. Call around and find a good local shop. Make sure their printer is working.
I have never gotten an alignment where the steering wheel was straight the first time. Even when I ask them to triple check the steering wheel. I have always had to take it back to get them to straighten it out. My guess is when they set the steering wheel holder thing before they do the alignment they are not sitting directly behind the wheel in the seat so its easy to get it a little off center looking from the side. When they check it on a test drive they don't spend enough time and go on enough straight roads to tell if its perfect or not. Sometimes it can be road pull but there are straight flat roads out there you can see if its straight or not. Then there's the part where they claim there is something damaged or wrong with your steering components or suspension that you should pay them to fix before it can be done right.
I have resorted to using this tool: https://www.ebay.com/itm/13355751876...Bk9SR-blkKeWYw
Fishing line, and 2 jackstands to solve this problem by myself as its nearly impossible for me to find someone who can do a decent alignment on the first go.
Basing the alignment off the rear wheels (which have to be in spec) this has been the only way I have been able to get my wheel perfectly straight. Even brought it in to "my alignment guy" and they checked it on their machine and it was really very close to perfect with this process. This is easy on FWD cars where the rear wheels are set straight by the axle but anything with adjustable rear wheels they must be set right to be able to use this process. You also need a flat and level place to do it. A lot of double checking the readings as you adjust it and also remembering which way to turn the tie rods.
If it were me I would take it back to them tell them your wheel isn't straight and give them one more chance to get it right. Then go somewhere where they know what they are doing and their printer works. Maybe a performance shop that has experience with track and race setups. A good shop will keep working with you until you are satisfied no matter how many times you come back. If its perfect according to them they need to be able to prove it with a printout. I've wasted more money on incompetent alignments than anything else with my cars I think.
This has been my experience until i found a tech who does custom alignments for race and modified street cars. I drop it off based on his schedule. He does the alignment from start to finish charging me actual shop time. It can be pricey, but there is no incentive for him to rush though it like the other chain shops where they get a flat rate for an alignment.
Just take it to the dealer. They do alignments right the first time 99.44 percent of the time. Most side shop "techs" are too lazy to straighten the wheel because it takes extra time messing with the tierods. I leave sticky notes in the car telling them to make sure my wheel is straight and sometimes I still have to go back. Or they don't tighten stuff down and your steering gets loose again after awhile. I once took a hard turn, didn't hit anything, and my wheel came off center bad. Had to go back for them to do my alignment again.
