I've been calling around to have my 85 aligned. The first two places said that they could not do it, the third place said no problem.

Is there anything special about the alignment? I don't want to pay for something that is not done right.

Thanks,

 

Just be ready for them to tell you how bad your car is and what they (want) to replace

 

I am anticipating that!

 

 

Judging from your location maybe the first two just considered the age of the car and rather than struggle with a 30 year old car when it came to adjustment hardware they find it more economical and advantageous to NOT START SOMETHING that could be difficult to finish. If either of those shops were a preferred you might want to drive by and speak to them.

I would be very cautious about just accepting an invitation to "COME ON DOWN" - I don't believe you can make an appropriate decision with just a phone call to the shop. You need either a reference, first hand previous experience or visit them with the car and ask questions.

Foolish comment

 

Foolish comment

Not at all from past dealings

 

Your suspension uses shims. Almost all new suspensions use eccentrics. A lot of places have no idea how to do a Short arm/ Long arm suspension with shims so they won't even touch it. The places that think they can do it but actually can't or don't want to be bothered with the shims after they see it will most likely do a "toe and go". They only adjust the tie rods.

The dealership near me had a sign that said any alignment $99. They said they would do an '85 Corvette. Most new car alignments take about an hour to do. Our cars take a lot longer as there is a lot of trial and error. The dealership may also try to do a "toe and go". They're sneaky and shady as hell.

I would recommend going to an alignment shop with an old guy in there who seems knowledgeable about cars when you talk to him. The kind of guy that could explain why something is bad and needs to be replaced and not only that he thinks he needs to change it for the hell of it. You can tell the difference. This is the kind of shop you should take it to and make sure he knows you want a full 4 wheel alignment. Ask to see the before and after alignment spec pages on his computer screen.

It's hard to find a shop to align these cars. I had mine done at my old Auto Tech school for free. That's probably the most likely place that you'll be able to find who will do this. They use it to educate the students on this but you'll probably have to come around when they are doing the suspension part of their curriculum like I did.

Good luck.

 

There's some very good information there for those that aren't familiar. That's why I suggested a "VISIT" VS. a phone call and if they don't have the appropriate shims there's no need in starting. If a shop has the appropriate shims the alignment isn't so much hit/miss nor' is it that time consuming and I'd say that a knowledgeable "younger" technician with interest might be happy to spend the time to accomplish a good alignment. It might be good if there were "an old guy" to look over his shoulder but I don't believe it's required.

I've always asked the alignment guy first if they actually have the shims required and not relied on the "front guy" at the desk.

Ask how frequently the equipment is calibrated !!!!!! Calibrated last?

 

All great info, thanks!

 

I'm taking my '96 in after lunch today for alignment, to guys I know and trust. It took them about 2.5 hours to do my '94 last summer...they are particular about their work and good at it.

 

A good alignment shop should be able to give you a PRINTED report of the "before" and "after" conditions. If a problem comes up later, you'll need that PRINTED report!

I had a shop give me a printed report, with a smile, after aligning my car, and their report showed the alignment was out of tolerance!! They told me that was the best they could do!! Baloney!! They re-did it, and then got it right. I think they didn't expect a customer to be able to read the report!!

 

How "old" is "old, Daniel?????? Those old guys will take care of things, hugh??? LOL...

 

Here we go again with you trying to start trouble. Can you not be a troll for once?

 

Maybe ask other Corvette owners who does their alignments? Especially if they autocross or do track days. If you don't really know anyone go to a cruise night or cars and coffee. No Corvette people there ask the import guys. I'm sure some of them autocross or track their car. They should have someone they trust. If so also don't expect a $99 special. As stated above an alignment done "right" may take 2 hours or so. Yes a before and after print out should be included.

 

The guys I use are an old-school body shop that does restos to Mercedes, and everything in between. Took my '96 today after replacing all 4 ball joints and suspension bushings (replaced with poly bushings), front and back (tie rod ends done last year). Took 'em a little over an hour to get it aligned...$99.95. I can take my hands off the wheel @ over 120mph and it tracks straight. Good work ain't cheap, and cheap work ain't good. Choose your poison wisely.

 

Just make sure that whoever you choose, they have current technology (laser) equipment. I just had mine done a few weeks ago...took 1.5 hours, and got a before & after printout. Previous to that, a Corvette shop did it via the "old school" method, and they really screwed it up (as I found out later).

 

I took my car to Sears to have an alignment after I installed poly rear bushings and front lower ball joints. My car was steering to the right on the highway. Well Sears aligned it twice and it never got better they gave me before and after print outs (not very helpful looking at the before and after results as it always looked like they changed either toe or camber caster settings).
Then I took it to another shop and they spent hours on it aligning the car. At this point my car drove straight but handled like shxx.
I finally took it to a shop that some of my street rodder friends go to. Made an appointment, took a day off from work they told me the alignment front and rear was way off! They set the car up with a little negative camber in the front and rear at my request. Guess what the car still steered to the right. Had to take another day off brought it back to them and they were reluctant to look at it telling me the alignment is dead nuts on. I asked them what could cause the problem and even told them I would pay them again for their time. They finally found out my front right Goodyear GSD3 had a belt that shifted. They swapped the two front tires even though they were directional and my steering was now straight. They would not take any money and they did not want to sell me any tires (at this point they did not want to see my car again but at least they were polite).
I recently installed 4 new MT Street Comps and the car handles great.
My point is I had to go through three shops until the last one could find the real reason my car was steering to the right.
Sorry for the long story!

 

One thing I did on my 84 was aligned it to 87 specs. All the parts are the same, you just need to add more shims to get the caster up to 5.5-6.0 degrees of caster. I used 1/2 hardened washers, it was a pain as I'd have to disassemble the whole upper control arm to add/delete shims, but comforting to know that they are locked in.
The 87 spec makes the car more enjoyable to drive on the highway.

 

Chances are they will not even know what you are talking about.

I have a brother in law that was involved with technical service for the alignment equipment. Since I have some experience (Quality Manger at a calibration shop) I asked some questions about accuracy, calibration, repeatabiliy (R&R), etc. He had no idea on any of it except he could tell me how many digits were on the digital display. If a manufacturer's technical rep can't answer, then it would be a long shot if a local business would have any idea.

 

There's actually a Sears here fairly close and "ONE" of theirs is calibrated quite routinely, maybe eight/ten weeks I believe still. Their FE guy has been there for I believe 16+ years and is quite good. I haven't been there to talk with him for maybe 3+ years but he understood for sure what he was doing and they had the correct shims etc. for MOST. The only thing I do know is he won't touch a car for a collision alignment from a shop. He didn't do mine but we discussed their equipment and the condition of it when I was having some tires mounted.

A newer shop that "leases" their equipment quite likely holds a maintenance contract on the equipment for at least the first agreed term. After that if it was a "lease to own" that could of course change.