I do my own alignments cause I couldn't find anyone who would take the time to do it properly. Shops don't want to work on old Vettes cause it takes a lot of time to do them, especially if you want an Auto X alignment. They would have to change everything. The Guy didn't do what you were paying him for and if he didn't want to align it per your specs he should have said so up front.

It isn't difficult to do your own alignments. I have a level place for my car in my garage, a camber/caster gage, toe plates and a laser pointer. Really makes it easier if you have new stainless shims in the trailing arms.

 

Just setting one to " within specs" doesn't mean much, and can be dead wrong. I used a local alignment shop for 15 years. They were continuously saying they had to switch tires etc. to get it not to pull and were charging me for that nonsense. I finally got fed up and bought me and old machine to do them myself. After a couple of re-checks of their work, I realized what was happening. If the specs were caster 2 degrees +- 1/2 degree, and the initial check was 1 1/2 right and 2 1/2 left, they were, according to their reasoning, within specs, and they would call it good. Well I tell you 1 degree difference side to side will make the damn thing run in circles. I have re-checked many jobs done at production alignment shops, especially chain tire stores, and found them so called within specs but not correct.

I always have fun with customers that have taken their cars to the chain stores and come back to me because its pulling. I just put the car on my old antique machine and tell them which way its pulling. It amazes them every time. Its not the machine, its the operator. OH, I guess I am not a reputable shop though cause I cant give you a printout.

 

We have some "good" shops like this in France, too...
This is why I always stay with the guys...whenever possible.
They want to proove they know their job, or did better than what you asked for and the result is

 

Jim,

This is the same exact reason I also bought my own equipment, I have a small stable of muscle iron and the alignment really comes in handy, you can't put a pricetag on aggrevation from shoddy or lazy techs that only have the $ sign on their mind.

Last year I seperated both shoulders and couldn't do an alignment myself on my Lexus so I took it to a reputable shop to have it done for peace of mind.

Got it back and it was pulling hard to the right where it had not pulled previously. Took it back and yep, same old story, they claim it was within spec. Got pissed and took it home and even though I was under a doctors orders not to do anything that involved a lot of arm movement (*** wipe was difficult), I set my car up on the machine and did a print out, Caster on the right side was out by almost -2 degrees, toe was way out as well. Bottom line, I set it dead on per my equipment and it will now track straight for miles on a flat, straight road without hands on the wheel.

The so called reputable shop once presented with a before and after readout that I did still refused to offer a refund. I hurt for a week after that and probably slowed down my recovery time but I slept better knowing the alignment was right and not boogered up by some flunkie.

I'm by far not an expert but I keep my Hunter P-211 calibrated and it seems to be dead on, set up a alignment on a corvette Super Gas Corvette last night, after front had to be taken apart for welding (hard landing), aligned same car last year and the owner was amazed how straight the car tracked afterwards without fighting the car on the big end @ 160 mph!

Ask around about people who run slammed cars on the street, get some opinions on who is good in your area and who is not with alignments, ask many questions and feedback from satisfied customers is the best way to go to getting what you want/ask for.

For those who think the equipment is expensive, I paid $600 for my machine and put another $400 making it right, $200 for a set of alignment stands and $1,200 later, I can do the same things the $10,000 or more machines can do.

Good luck

Gibby

 

I do my own as well. Not because i've had problems with shops not setting to my specs, but because it gets expensive if you want to try different settings. Most shops don't tend to take the time to do it the way I want it done anyway. I put my weight in the driver's seat, and set it up on slip plates for setting toe.