OK Tire

Pains me to do this, as the shop is owned by a family friend, but I am absolutely choked at what's been done (Or more appropriately, what hasn't been done) with my alignment.

When I showed up originally, I brought a slip of papers with the alignment angles I wanted, as well as a couple notes like "Don't correct for road crown". Having figured out all my angles on my simulator, I knew what would be best, and what angles would work together. So, I dropped off the car for the day. I was phoned back later that day saying I needed bushings, and having seen the one, I knew it to be true.

The next day Johnny Boy went out of his way to help me out. I took the bushings immediately to the shop, then went about my day. I was told it would be ready by the end of the day. No problem, I showed up at 4pm, but was then told it wasn't done yet. Hey, a call would've been nice, but no worries.

The next day it all hit the fan. I went to collect my car, and was cheerily informed my rear ball joints had been replaced. This really pissed me off, as my rear ball joints have under 8000KM on them, and they were Moogs, now replaced by some generic brand for no apparent reason. He then passed me back the box of polyurethane bushings, saying only the right upper ones were installed. You know, because it totally makes sense to replace one set of bushings with stiffer polyurethane while the other, cracked rubber ones remain left in. Whatever, I paid my bill, took my sheet and left. The first thing I noticed when I got in to my car was that my shift knob was now scratched all to hell. Now genuinely pissed off, I decided I'd head home and phone Andrew (The owner) tomorrow, as I was busy. When I got home, I quickly checked the alignment sheet before I ran out, and finally snapped. Out of the five angles I gave, only one was correct (Rear toe). Front toe, front caster, front camber and rear camber were all wrong/mismatched. Looking still I was horrified to discover one wheel had 4.7 degrees of caster, while the other had 0.1 degrees. 0.1 is dangerously unstable, and 4.6 degrees of cross-caster begins pulling the wheel at just 60KM/H. Unfortunately at this point in time, I was too late to phone back and start screaming at the owner, but tomorrow I intend to demand the angles be set to what I damn well asked for, and of course, that'll be the last time Gretchin goes there.

12th St, New West. My apologies.

They obviously didn't take you seriously Tristan.  "ok young fella, whatever you want" tap tap tap on your little head.

The only thing I've heard of regarding custom suspension geometry is some shops will make you sign a disclaimer saying you forced them to give you a non standard alignment and that they're not responsible for the results. Fair enough.

Replacing parts without consent in today's world of cel phones is a pet peeve of mine.  I will make them remove the part and put the old one back or refuse to pay.  But I always tell them before I leave to not do anything before phoning me.

I make Canadian Tire write this on the work order before I leave because they're crooks.

The Dawg

Tristan, sorry to hear of these problems. Seems that wheel alignment shops are places best to avoid.

No, I wasn't wearing any, but it seems like the spec sheet I gave them was taken, and then completely ignored. Case in point: I asked for -0.7 degrees of camber up front. I have +0.6 degrees.

Anyways, I phoned back, and was told that was as close as he could get it in their time frame. With that in mind, I subsequently informed him I wouldn't be taking it back - for anything - in the future.

Once we're done Hell's Gate I'll look at slunking back to BCIT for a Friday and doing the damn thing myself. Still, what a piss off.

Romeo wrote: I went to collect my car, and was cheerily informed my rear ball joints had been replaced. This really pissed me off, as my rear ball joints have under 8000KM on them, and they were Moogs, now replaced by some generic brand for no apparent reason. He then passed me back the box of polyurethane bushings, saying only the right upper ones were installed. You know, because it totally makes sense to replace one set of bushings with stiffer polyurethane while the other, cracked rubber ones remain left in.

Stuff like that really pisses me off.  There's no excuse for that type of BS.

Tristan, do what "pit bull" Brian advises. Hell, hire Brian as your advocate and take him with you back to that shop.

 

Let me at 'em...