This could get interesting.

rypt said:
Have you read any of the owner forums for the "decent cars"?
Garages and other places taking cars for a joy ride is nothing new - not in UK, not in USA and so on.
If you want to read some stories (from USA though), look at NASIOC (scooby forum) - some of the stories there will make you cringe - garages that are simply meant to be doing alignment (which does require a test drive) taking a scooby for a test drive and writing it off at speed; another place that was doing BODYWORK doing WOT runs and launches in their car part on a modified scooby from a cold start.
We also have this gem (a Legacy that happened to have the camera automatically activated)

I can go and find the same sort of stories from UK owner clubs if you want
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Have you seen the amount of decent cars I've owned....

Like all things in life a little perspective is best as the worst cases always come to the top of the pile. Plenty of good places out there, plenty of bad places too but don't tar them all with the same brush as that would be ignorant.
 
rypt said:
How so? A garage that gets a lot of custom from a certain car owners club would want to keep their name in good standing there - as opposed to a garage who just gets random people from local area coming in meaning that them having a bad name on say mr2oc has no effect on their business.
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My point........"THE ARE NO GUARANTEES!"

There are plenty of good independents out there that have sod all to do with owners clubs and there are plenty of owners club members who have had poor service from well know 'aproved' garages. You asked if I had any experience and I would say compared to yourself my experience is vast having been a member of many well known owners clubs and forums for years and having owned a few nice cars that I have had serviced without and with issues.
 
I believe the bloke is a lawyer as he is posting under another name and has made himself known to some of the mods on the site, who are letting it run. Having said this I have never been a fan of no name and shame as most forums will dig into any claims and usually a realistic conclusion will be formed.....well on ones populated with grown ups of course...;)
 
There is very little anyone can do if someone wants to thrash your car, it simply comes down to trust and understanding and that is a judgement call. I have always tried to identify a specific mechanic and then tip him and lay the law down of what I expect. I don't care if he takes my car and drives it quickly on a road test, its built to go quickly. I take issue if he does it when cold, over revvs it or drives it without care and attention.

Rules of engagement.
 
DrDee said:
You just have to go to P&P to realise that isn't the case with Piston Heads, they have some very high standing members, but in recent years it has become a victim of its own success.
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Indeed, Pistonheads has gone down hill in the last 2 years....quickly.
 
amigafan2003 said:
Do Porshes not have a valet mode then? I can plug the laptop into my car and set the rev limit to whatever I like (normally 3500rpm) - I thought most high performance cars had a similar system?
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Most high performance car owners don't carry laptops around with them and if they do the don't go anywhere near their engine with them. Home mechanic and supercar tend not to go hand in hand I'm afraid.
 
InvaderGIR said:
How does that help? I mean really. Anything they change is recorded on the machine, if they have loose nut etc. then that is down the the spanner monkey and not the alignment.

I really don't see how taking a car for a drive after a proper 4 wheel alignment is going to show up anything that's wrong, the whole point of the alignment is the car is being put right.

All 'loosened' components are not loosened, they are adjusted, so they are still tight, just running a different camber etc.

4 Wheel Alignment. OMG MUST be a backstreet place as they DON'T drive your car. :rolleyes: I didn't take it there, I'm in Reading, point stands, no need for them to test drive it.

Hunter's about alignment and Hunter Homepage.
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This really depends on what settings you are putting onto the car. If you are simply having a 4 wheel alignment to factory settings then I would agree that a road test should not really be needed. However it is often useful to uncover other issues and a good specialist should be able to uncover things in the handling characteristics of the car that may not be directly down to alignment. If your alignment is bang on it is useful to know if other issues exist that would not become apparent on a ramp but this comes down to a proper specialist I would suggest who has extensive experience of the characteristics of your sort of car.

If you are moving to bespoke settings then a road test is prudent as you may uncover things under load that are not apparent when the car in on the ramp. When my GT3 was done first time around it looked well on the ramp and all seemed great. When we road tested it, which I sat in the passenger seat for, it was obvious that under full lock in reverse the front wheels were catching the air vents for the brakes, which needed a few mill removing from them to make this problem go away. I was also getting arch rub at medium lock which again didn’t really show itself until under load. When you do it properly and start to get into corner weighting and ride heights you must road test it really to ensure that everything is true and well.
 
Matt82 said:
was a funny thread though. i dont post on piston heads, ive never signed up, but ive seen some great willy waving threads and epic flame wars on there

i couldnt beleive the rubbish about "well youve not posted on any forums about yours cars so you must be a nobody" (because the whole world starts and finishes car forums?)
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I wouldn't take that too serious, it was posted to get a rise from someone not to make a valid or credible point. ;)
 
InvaderGIR said:
So for the most part and normal applications I'm about right. I had mine done for factory settings/making sure it didn't have retarded camber and wonky wheels.

I get for proper performance cars they need testing properly. :)

In essence, both Lord-Jaffa and I are right I guess depending on the application. :)
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The important thing is I am ALWAYS right......even when I am often VERY wrong :p
 
If he is a lawyer then I suspect he has more knowledge on his rights and likely options for redress than anyone in this thread. However, the question is more a case of is he actually a lawyer as rushing to the internet in such a way strikes me as somewhat petulant.
 
Trying to form any conclusions without being in full posession of the facts is what makes internet forums I suppose...
 
Lord-Jaffa said:
Exactly! Ive just had mine done at center mavity in atherstone, the test drive after was also a great experiance, chris has driven many many s2000s and he showed me just what I had been missing out on by a very very poor (dangerous!) previous geometry alignment and repair (previous owner kerbed it and it was taken to a HONDA garage for repair/alignment, who promptly put the adjustment washers the wrong way round and set the car up to what chris said was an extremely dangerous unstable setting, cambers on both rear wheels were at the opposite end of tolerances and one was hugely outside spec, he said he could have done a lot better just by eye). The test drive let him check the car for me, and since I had no idea how much different the car would handle, let him guide me into the new settings and also make sure the car behaves properly.

I wouldn't ever consider taking it anywhere else now, you get free reign of the office/workshop and see up close everything thats being done, the level of service there is second to none, which is why people with s2000s/porches/ferraris rarely ever take their cars elsewhere after having been there!

Imo any alignment center that doesn't allow you to see what they are doing, test the car for safety after making huge adjustments to the way it handles are doing a very poor service indeed. Although If you are taking an ordinary car then I guess this wouldn't really be needed, but there is always the 1 time out of 100 where something is wrong that a machine cannot check for! Safety first etc!
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Yep they are very good as I said previously.

Both JZM and Fearnsports let me stand with the chap working on the car when they were doing the work. Both times it was close to 6 hours of work and it gave me a great opportunity to get a good understanding of my car and the impact of different settings and also to have a good nose around to check out everything was bang on. Fearnsport also did a full spanner check of all exposed bolts and then inked up all of them screw points so that movement could be observed next time around.

The difference between a computerised dealer alignment, no matter how clever or expensive it might be and a proper set up from a geo specialist is HUGE.
 
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