They quoted you that; to inform you that you didn't want to do business with them. Unless you added panels that obstruct access there should be no extra. Modifying suspension; means factory specs may still cause tire wear. The rear suspension is easy to adjust. The front uses shims,a practice which was discontinued in 1996, alignment tech may not be familiar with. Most alignments require adding positive camber, as car settles camber goes negative. On most cars a shims are removed to move camber positive. C4 shims are added to go positive. Shims are also transferred on front and rear mounting bolts to change caster. Inexperienced tech may several tries to get it right. Cams are the popular method to adjust caster and camber. The alignment machines have features to help tech make adjustments. Those features don't really help with the C4 front suspension. The tech and the writer are trying to misuse labor guide.
Labor guides have " one time" add-ons for modification to allow adjustment. Manufacturers modify parts to allow speed of assembly in a nominal location so alignment will be close. The one time add is to undo one of them permanently.

 

That's fascinating but what is the actual time without add ons?

 

well, all I can say - if you can live with paying $300 for an alignment on a C4 corvette, by all means, go for it.

side note - just got off the phone with Tires Plus here in Palm Coast - quoted me (on my 85 corvette) 4 wheel alignment $79.99 (plus shop supplies and tax) and a lifetime alignment for $189. my wife's cr-v was $79.99 + $5.60 shop supplies, and $6.00 florida tax - total $91.59, so it's the same price as my corvette. so, I guess I can compare it to the honda - apples to apples, oranges to oranges, and alignment to alignment -

 

I watched them do my alignment 2x now after changing a bunch of bushings. They set up the lasers to the wheels, then set the rear bottom setting.
They move to the front and straighten the steering as well as turning the wheel left and right . The graphic shows red then green when it is correct.
That is when they add /remove shims to finalize. In the front it takes one guy on each side at the same time and a lot of pounding noise.
Took about an hour each time. Looks kind of hard to do BTW.
Good Luck

 

I'm happy to pay within the book labor price. Something nobody seems to know what it is. I don't know what the Honda labor guide is so I don't know and am not able to make a comparison

 

Doesn't matter how long you take. If you are doing that way, he might drag his feet and it could be 5 hours. With flat rate, you can take 5 hours but I'm paying 2 hours since that is what the book says.

 

Just 1 1/2 months ago I was quoted $99 for a 4-wheel alignment and $189 for the lifetime 4-wheel alignment when I had tire installed at Firestone here in Alabama. Since I have the staggered rims/tires I went with the former.

 

When I started getting ready to get an alignment for my C3 I went to several tire stores and interviewed their alignment technicians. In the end I took my C3 and my C4 to a specific NTW store back years ago. The alignment Technician was very polite and extremely knowledgeable and NTW charged me $99 for a four wheel alignment. I think NTW lost money on both of my alignments but they have sold me enough tires to justify it.

I had two packs of SS shims for the tech, he let me watch and he spent 4 hours trying to get the differential back in the "center" again. The front was easy compared to the amount of time spent to do the rear end correctly. It is not an easy job to get all four wheels precisely where you want them. The tech was very nice about it and started with zero shims and added only what was actually needed. He said my rear end was "Way off" and he was happy as I had just finished adding new bushings to the whole car and some rear end modifications per Van Steel and the TECH commented that my C3 had more new parts than many of the newer cars he worked on. He also liked that the car drove so well afterwards on the test drive. The same guy did my C4 a week later ($99) for again several hours worth of work. I gave him a BIG tip and thanked him.

Whomever said it was "money well spent" could not be more true! My C3 was like a different car with the rear set up properly. The C4 did not need to much work to make it "right" but it still took hours to do each Corvette. Both track straight and true and are great to this day.

Find a place with a $99 all wheel alignment and then offer to "TIP" the tech if he does an outstanding job! When you find a good alignment technician keep in touch with him or her as they are valuable friends to have. My buddy has since retired so if my Corvette needs any work I will have to find a new tech. I do however have the knowledge that it WAS done correctly.

Hey there puterami! What size wheels and tires are you using on your C4? I have always wondered what that does to your handling. Enlighten me please....IF you have the time.

Good Luck finding a "great alignment technician" in your area that will take care of your Corvette nicely. Some Corvette shops might be the very best but they are pricey as well. Somebody has to be "trustworthy" out there in today's alignment field.

Best Regards,
Chris

I pulled into the bay at a station for the annual inspection and the guy doing the inspections said that "He hated OLD Cars, especially Corvettes". I had that car in reverse before the words finished coming out of his lips.

Some people just don't "deserve" to "work" on your Corvette!!

 

OK. I just got a quote for 1.5 to 2 hours assuming all goes well as book time. If tie rod ends have to be done, the price goes up. Add a bit of extra time if bolts break up to an hour.

Someone else wants to do it for less to get you as a customer or you have a coupon or whatever, another story.

 

I agree, some people it's just better to avoid them.

Also that "mechanic" looked irritated before he even pulled the car in.
Per the audio recording, he dispised my car, and did just want me to leave.

I might just upload the unedited video/audio to youtube....
Lots of boring spots..

 

You want the best, it might not be cheap.

Working on a car is a job not his passion or whatever. No one buy you might think it is a privilege to work on your car.

 

Are you sure he wasn't a mechanic? Understand this. To you, it might be the world. To him, it's a paycheck and one that might sap more of his time when he can be beating book time on a newer car with less rusted bolts.

PS. If you only know what the other people say about you when you aren't watching.

 

Well i just had a meeting with the service supervisor a moment ago.
I explained what happened, he said the tech has been known to have a big mouth.
He said there is a tech shortage right now, and he is very talented, but he just has issues

So i left him with the videos/audio and a quick explanation on where the spots are, and left it at that.

 

I’ll admit I didn’t read all of the above... I willingly dished out about $300 for a 4 wheel alignment after my suspension rebuild.

I went to several tire shops and none of them could hold a conversation about aligning a C4 or had the ability to line up a car of the vintage that uses shims on the front control arms.

I went to a Corvette specialist that does a lot of work on older cars, they pointed me to the only shop in their area that they use for alignments.

I visited that shop and they were very knowledgeable on what it takes to properly align these cars.

They did spend about 3 hours on it. The car has never driven better.

My point is, many shops will tell you they can do it no problem. In reality they would set the toe and charge you their $99 special price.

 

The issue is that he clearly bumped the price up on the recording "**** this, im not doing it. I'm goimg to tell them it will take 6 hours so they will get 'em to go elsewhere"

 

I found one alignment shop locally that does a great job but it comes down to worrying if a shop will "Toe and Go" or take the time to do it right. That's why we went towards making our own alignment tools to always know it's right. If you're able to find an alignment shop you like, that does a good job, and you don't worry about them hurting your car then I'd stick with them! If you want to give it a shot yourself we'd be happy to help! $300 is quite high but I bet the tech just didn't want to mess with it. In California, that seems to be the normal price.

Colton @ CSM Performance LLC

 

It depends on what the meaning if "it" is. If by "it" you mean properly do all 4 wheels, it might be more time even if he is talented. If by "it" you mean he spends 20 minutes, smiles at you, pats your back like his BFF, it might be another thing. Sorry, ex-president Clinton.

The problem is most people will drop off the car, pick it up and pay for it without knowing what EXACTLY was done. This is why I want to know what the book time is. If you are really very cheap, I want to know why you are so good to me. I probably have trust issues. I want to watch and see if you are following procedures or short cutting it.

 

I would be interested in a tool so i can do this at home.
Happen to have a link?

 

I agree that sucks but there is nothing to do. He is talented and will be able to get a job elsewhere easier than the shop can find another money maker. I do personally give talented people a little more leeway since I need their skills and have to swallow my pride sometimes like a $20 hooker swallows but such is life. Until I can get someone more talented, that is. Kinda like a hot girl gets away with more than Jabba the Hutt's sister could.

In this case, he does not want to do it so there is no choice. Word to the wise. Read the procedure and stay there to watch so they don't cut steps

 

Always so colorful