Car Alignment Question
Posted in Steering Component | Asked on Jul 30, 2010
I just had my car aligned in March because the dealer told me it was advised by the manufacturer (BMW) at the mileage on the car. The dealer charges $180 to do an alignment. I took it in a few weeks ago for other work and noticed the steering wheel wasn’t straight (i.e., I had to turn it slightly to the right to get the car to go straight down the road) and asked them to check the alignment. The dealer told me there was no damage to the suspension components, but that it was out of alignment again.
I don’t recall hitting any potholes or speed bumps between March and July. A mechanic friend told me that alignments are generally a rip off and that unless there was noticeable damage, the car shouldn’t be out of alignment.
So the question is, is that true? I don’t want to pay another $180 for an alignment if it’s more likely that the dealer didn’t do it properly the first time and that I just noticed it a few months later.
Thoughts?
Thanks for your help!
There are 8 Answers
go to a non dealer..they charge 1/2 ……i just paid 40 dollars for alignment on my chevy truck…lol
The most common way to tell if alignment is out is by uneven tread wear on tires and if you didn’t have any of that then you probably didn’t even need it done. They messed it up and now they need to fix it
I don’t know about other places, but here in CA there are places that do alignments with lifetime warranties. I think I paid 150 for it (granted it was a honda and not a beemer). I would try to get my money back and take it somewhere else
If your car is not aligned proper you will wear tires faster and get poorer gas mileage
he will have aligned it but when setting up your track rods etc. what they should have done is made sure the steering wheel was held straight. and the tighten every thing up. take it back to them ask for it to be put right as steering wheel isn`t central
Your friend is right. Had it happen to me. Went from new tire to steel belts in 2 months. There are many independent alignment businesses that do honest work, and charge WAY less than your dealer. Check the phone book. Look for small, independent, services that rely on word of mouth and happy customers to stay in business. One indicator of this is a long, week or 2, waiting list The one I found only charges $60 – and they test drive my truck to make sure they got it right. BMW in warranty? What good is a warranty if they are going to treat you like a world class sucker. PS: shy away from “computer alignment”. What a computer says is right for your vehicle ain’t always so!
When a mechanic does an alignment, it is very easy to leave the steering wheel slightly off center. The alignment may be perfect, but the steering wheel isn’t adjusted to be perfectly straight. Kind of like a bicycle handle bar is off center but the bike steers OK. So, could it be that it was like that after the alignment and you never really noticed? It is best to test drive immediately after an alignment. Most good mechanics do that, but some may leave that to the owner.
Also, the tilt of the road left or right will cause a perfectly aligned car to pull slightly to the left or right.
In fact, the best way for you to test the alignment yourself is to drive on a left leaning road and verify that the car wants to “drift” to the left and viceversa the right leaning road.
Before paying for another alignment, do this test drive and decide for yourself if your car needs another alignment.
The mechanic that did your alignment screwed up. If he didnt have the steering wheel straight when he did the alignment it will always be off. Take it to another shop.
you should have noticed immediately after the car was aligned that the wheel was off and took it back then, you can’t wait months and then take it back and expect them to fix it for nothing as in those months time you could have hit a pot hole or curb and knocked it out of alignment again. More than likely they didn’t center the steering wheel and lock it down when they set the toe-in but it’s too late now for the garage to fix it for free.