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.

WOW...I be upset also!!!

I hate when things get done that you didn't ask for and the things you asked for didn't get done

Biggest reason why Crappy Tire gets nothing of mine anymore

You know, I don't even care about them marking down tie rod links on the bill, that's part of their thing, fine whatever. But come on, you're god damn mechanics. You can tell that they're brand new parts. I would've paid for them to leave the damn things in.

Like I said, family friend or no, he's in for one hell of an ear full tomorrow.

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.

Do they not warranty their work?...the alignment machines have the OEM spec and unless there is a major issue with your car, they should come close.

Everyone roasts Dales, when I had a problem , at least they said bring it back and we'll fix it.

The I also had a great experience with a local Goodyear shop on North Road accross from Lougheed Mall...

I would suggest to threaten a BBB repost (Better Business Bureau) or fix the poor work they did, and also send a letter to OK Tire head office asking for compensation for the replaced parts that you did not approve to have done, as you now need to invest and have the correct parts/components purchased and installed again.

they could have called as Goodyear did with me and say, "we cannot do the alignment because this and this has to be done first"...one cannot assume you have the money and would want that work done...what if you did not have the money to pay for the extra work that was not approved?.

Ya...can tell I would raise a little hell...need a pitt bull?...lol

Hope the ride is good enough and won't wear your car in other ways with a bad alignment...

Brian

PS: Enjoy tomorrow and be safe, personally I would suggest to re0book the drive, not fun with weather like this to walk around an open park like Hell's Gate:).

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.

LOL

Well, the warranty wont really work, as all but one measurement are within OEM spec, but I had asked for more specific angles, and had gotten nowhere close to what I asked for. On top of that, most of the angles arn't matched up left to right (Caster, front camber, rear camber, and all by quite a large margin). As to demanding the work be fixed, I've already had my talk with him and frankly, don't really want them touching my car again (I'm going to have to re-leather the damn shift knob eventually). I can't also really go nuts with threats either, as I said, the shop is owned by a family friend. That being said though, I don't feel all too bad about posting to everyone I know about what a terrible job was done.