I'm a little miffed. I left my car at a shop that has been very honest in the past which is why I continued to be a customer. I dropped my car off today at 2pm. My wife dropped me off to pick it up at 8:11pm. At that time, I saw the tech take my car into the bay, put it up on the alignment rack and hook up all the gear. At that time I thought to myself, it'll take about 45 minutes or so for them to do this so why not get a bite to eat. I sat down to eat and received a call at 8:22pm stating that my car was ready for pickup. I said, "you were able to align the car in 10 minutes?" I then stated that I saw the tech drive the car in at 8:11 and the guy on the phone said it took longer to do the alignment. It's a large high volume shop. My camber was out according to the before and after shots paper they give you. Is it possible to do this in 10 minutes or should I raise hell tomorrow with the manager?

 

Sounds fishy. What camber specs before and after did they give you? You might be able to eyeball it and confirm. Either way camber shouldn't be adjustable much via stock parts - maybe ask how they fixed it?

 

I know 2k2 stock camber is anywhere between negative 1 degree to positive 0.5 degrees...you should fall under that category...If not, then take it back and ask them why they couldn't bring it back to spec...if they gave you a print out after the alignment was done....you coulda quickly glanced at it to see if anything was fishy....since he did only take 10 minutes to work it out...

 

The toe was out slightly. I talked to the manager this morning and he said it was entirely possible that changing the toe within spec could take less than 10 minutes and he confiremed that mine wasn't out by very much. I have the papers in the car and can post them later. They gave me 2 free oil changes with Mobil 1 w/M1 filters which of course made me somewhat happy. I use Amsoil.

 

nice! m1 is good stuff...and so are their filters...anyway post up the #s later...

I wouldn't worry too much about the alignment...as long as they can guarantee that your tires will be okay, its all good

 

Acceptable Right front Toe range: .10 - .00
Toe before: -.37
Toe after: .05

Acceptable ranges Total Toe: .00 - .20
Total Toe before: -.31
Total Toe After: .13

Acceptable Steer Ahead: -.05 - .05
Steer Ahead before: .22
Steer Ahead after: .01

 

...you are within range?? what about camber

 

I'm within range now, I wasn't. Camber numbers are all within range.

 

I just had my wife's minivan aligned after spending too much money on Nokian WRs. It took the guy 5 minutes on a Hunter machine. The tech was juggling three cars and the setup, takedown and test drive took longer than the job itself. The way I figured, it will take about 500 alignments for the shop to break even on the three week old machine...

 

Hey guys I just recently put new tires and rims on my 2k2 maxima. I used these American racing rims 16s with BF Goodrich Traction T/As. Loved the stock 17s, but read that low profile tires get crappy traction in the winter on snow. Being as I live in north dakota, I thought it would be smart to get good traction on snow since there is always snow after about october...not to mention the fact that after this winter is over, my little ICY light on the trip computer will probably be etched into the display since it hasn't been off in about 2 months. :-) Anyways, the real problem is that when I am going faster than about 55-60 I get this really bad steering wheel vibration and the steering is really REALLY loose, Ill just barely touch the wheel and I can change lanes. I know before I got the smaller rims put on, the steering was pretty stiff, which is how I like it, especially when doing speeds above 60. Since I got the smaller rims, the steering has been really loose and crappy, does anyone think that the smaller rims and tires would have anything to do with it? Or should I not have tried to save money and gone with the Michelin Pilot Sport A/Ss? Thanks guys!
Nick