Wheel alignment - Specialist Suspension place expensive. Worth it?

[bainbridge]

Where ever I've been, I always have to go back 2-3 times because they don't get the steering wheel straight :/

I had that on one of the Mrs's cars, before I learned a little bit about alignment.

The car did feel slightly wayward, so when I took her car in to a tyre place to get two tyres replaced I took them up on their offer to check and adjust the alignment.

They did the tyres and alignment and the car did feel fine, but after the Mrs did a few trips she said she'd noticed the steering wheel was wonky.

I hadn't noticed but sure enough it was, just a bit.

I took it to a dedicated alignment specialist and he took me under the car to show what happened. One of the tie rod ends had seized, so they'd left it and forced an over adjustment on the other side to get both sides of the alignment machine out of the red and into the green for toe.

With a bit of heat he unseized stuck side and adjusted the toe properly.

I don't really blame the tyre fitters, they're probably pushed to offer these extras and though they have a machine they are not alignment experts and just move things back and forth until everything is in the green.

Needless to say, since then I only use an alignment specialist for our cars.

 

[tamzzy]

if your car is a beemer, why don't you go back to a BMW dealer and have them do it properly for you
It'll probably be more expensive, but at least they'll use all the correct weights etc

 

[Haze]

if your car is a beemer, why don't you go back to a BMW dealer and have them do it properly for you
It'll probably be more expensive, but at least they'll use all the correct weights etc

Don't give up your day job...

Comedy gold that you think stealerships know what they are doing

 

[[TW]Fox]

Comedy gold that you think stealerships know what they are doing

They'll have someone who has been trained by the manufacturer to use the manufacturers recommended alignment system to align the car to factory standards. You can probably argue a specialist alignment place would do a better job in that they'll allow a level of customisation, but the idea that the authorised workshop will have no idea what they are doing doesn't really work.

I'd be surprised if a main dealer didn't do at least as good if not better a job than a tyre place and neither will be as good as a dedicated wheel alignment specialist.

 

[tamzzy]

Don't give up your day job...

i haven't that's why i can afford to go to bmw to get it done by them

Comedy gold that you think stealerships know what they are doing

there'll be a minimum acceptable standard which will probably be far in excess of any back-of-alley random garage shops
yes a specialist garage will probably be better, but i guess it's peace of mind that you can go back to bmw if something goes wrong