I just finished my front end, and for some reason, my left wheel is out of alignment (I still can't figure it out).

I don't like shops that " wanna take it for a test drive", any idea where I can go in Houston that won't treat my car like crap?

Me

 

Dealer, NTB maybe. They have to take the car for a drive to see what its doing, then pull on rack, adjust it, then take it again to make sure its gone away. Usually you can ride with them too if you insist.

 

I went to Firestone near my house. They had a laser alignment machine and the guy was real cool about talking to me about the alignment.

The rear alignment was of course in specs, and the front right was a little off camber.

Here's what I didn't know:
When I put the front end back together, the two bolts that hold the spindle (thats what I call it) on the strut, have some adjustment to them. It doesn't look like it, but its enough to make the camber off.

When I put the car back together, instead of pulling the lower ball joint to remove the spindle to get the drive-shaft out, I just unbolted those two bolts. When I put it back together, I just put it back not knowing there was any adjustment.

I couldn't have gotten it back to specs anyway, but at least now I know what I moved that caused it to be out of alignment.

Russ, you still gonna go Friday night?

I'll call you tomorrow.

Later

BTW.....NTB sucks....I took a friend of mines Explorer there to check on the tire recall, and they said it was OK and it wasn't the tires they were recalling. I took it home to double check and they were wrong. They were super slow, and completely un-professional.

I was suprised at Firestone. They were really professional. I have a complex about someone working on my car, but somethings you can't do yourself if you don't have the equipment.

 

I've got to second Don in Texas... Firestone did a good job every time I took my car there, so I bought their lifetime alignment package. It cost like $120, and every time you think your car is out of spec, you can just take it in and have them check it. This is good for any Firestone shop around the country. Even during the height of the Explorer/Wilderness AT recall they serviced my car quickly and well.

 

I have had bad and good experiences with NTB and Firestone. But anyways, yes my boss basically said he is letting me go at 2pm Friday, so I will go home, load the car, eat something real quick, and hit the road. My planned route is: 281 N to landpasas, cut across a little south of waco, to I-35 N then head up. Anyways, I will probably get there close to 8 hopefully.....U can give me a ring whenever....I always have my cell with me, and you can call me also to find out what hotel room # it is.

 

Hey Don I took mine to Firestone to and they aligned it nicely. Instead of sitting in the waiting area, I went and hung out with the tech doing the alignment and he was showing me how it all worked. They were nice and quick.
Price was alright to. Maybe the company should change from selling tires to selling and advertising that lifetime alignment and have all bays with the laser gauges.
This was in Spring off of 45

 

I used to live in Houston and one thing I've found is that no maater which one you take it to, never take it to Midas. They screwed my car up so bad it's not even funny.