Any Mechanics on here?

[fishing n autograph]

Hey all,

 

I called around to a bunch of places in my area and very few have the right equipement to do an alignment...so my choices are the dealership and get hosed...or Midas....

 

I'm wondering if there are any mechanics on the board with the right equipment that can help me out?

 

Thanks

 

Dave

[BillM]

Woodbridge alignment on Hwy 7... I know it's not close, but if you work nearby it's the place to go..

 

Any Active Green & Ross can do an alignment also, I had mine done for $80 a few weeks ago. They have a nice alignment rack!

[drwxr]

i did mine at honda dealership on yonge and 16tn, it was $89

[Mike Pike]

Keyko's Automotive on Highland in Kitchener. John's a good, honest mechanic. Me and a bunch of us here at work go to him.

 

519-745-6603

 

Not sure if he does the alignments, though, but I sure recommend the place!

[Gerritt]

FnA... just take it to where you guys take the cop cars... do police stations have their own mechanics anymore? if not find out where they take em..

 

G

[Tybo]

Good wrench. It's where mechanics take their vehicles when they don't

want to work on them.

[fishing n autograph]

FnA... just take it to where you guys take the cop cars... do police stations have their own mechanics anymore? if not find out where they take em..

 

G

 

I would, but i've been trying to get my car in on a weekday that I work...i haven't worked a weekday in months....my schedule has been day shifts on the weekend and nights during the week....anyway, i can't wait any longer and i have to grab tires too...lol...what can i say, i'm a procrastinator!

[Canuck2fan]

When it comes to alignments it is fairly easy to avoid getting hosed if you can do the following first. If you have access to a floor jack and car stands, in about 5 minutes you can save yourself a lot of headaches. Jack the vehicle up and support it properly. Then take the front wheels at the top and bottom and try yanking them forward and back if you feel any movement you have a problem. Same thing from side to side if you have no movement then you know before a shop tells you something major is wrong that nothing is and all you need is the alignment. However if you have movement it could as cheap as a tie rod end or as expensive as ball joints. Hard to generalize here but side to side is likely a tie rod and the up and down could be an uppper or lower ball joint. Any grinding noise is possibly the brakes or bearing..... Brakes don't effect an alignment but the bearing will.

 

The last thing you do is MAKE them write on the work order if the steering wheel isn't perfectly straight you are aren't paying until it is!!!! NOTHING is worse than getting your car back and steering wheel is at an angle.

 

Last year it was going to be a horror for me when I HAD to go our local CTC for an alignment after my dad changed a tie rod end for me..... because our guy was busy till the following weekend. I went in and explained to the service manager that I knew for a fact everything was fine all I needed was the alignment. I told him if the steering wheels isn't straight the mechanic will just have to fix it before I pay so do it and only the alignment right the first time. So sure enough I come back after 45 minutes and the mechanic is telling the service manager I need ball joints and tie rods ends. I said really lets go and see because my dad who has been a mechanic since 1960 and who has forgotten more than you will ever KNOW about cars says I just need the alignment.... Well umm ur uh I was talking about the other silver car like yours out there. YEAH RIGHT. Anyhow I go out and check the steering wheel and it was within about 3 mm but not straight so I made him fix it just for trying his up sell on me LOL. They were just as happy to see me leave as I was to get out of there.

[mikemo]

Try Bob and Jeff at:

 

Busy Corner Garage

24 Devitt Avenue South, Waterloo, ON N2J 1Y5

Telephone : 519-745-1145

 

Very, very honest and reliable.

[OhioFisherman]

Just an alignment shouldn`t be very expensive, if they find problems the price can go up pretty quickly. I always used to do my own front end work, except for the alignment no equipment to do it. I could get it close enough for the few miles to the shop was no problem.

 

Tie rods can be a safety concern, I drove a truck around the Cleveland area and was surprised how many cars I saw with the front wheels pointing in different directions because the tie rods fell apart on rough roads or railroad tracks.

 

Front end parts aren`t overly expensive, but when you add on labor charges? Here around 70 bucks an hour.

[Bernie]

Well if you don't mind the drive FNA I have an opening at 3PM.

Seriously though, it's important to find a garage you can trust and stick with them. Around here the best techs are not necessarily working for the dealerships.

As a side note, when checking your front steering and suspension it depends a lot on how it is configured on how it is checked.

Always check tie rod ends BEFORE you jack it up. When lifting and then checking it puts the tie rods into a different position and you may not pick up on the wear. Then if your vehicle has mcstruts you will want to check the upper mounts for sticking and/or bad bushings. Lower control arm bushings are becoming very common for coming apart on many models as well.

Then it becomes a question of what other style of suspension you may have on how to check the ball joints for wear. Lots of models must be checked on the ground (wear indicator style). Some must be checked with the suspension hanging with others needing to be supported(depends where the spring pressure is applied).

Then the next decision you must make is the quality of the part you may need to replace. There are quality and junk. If you plan on driving your vehicle to be repaired for more than a year- go top line. Junk sometimes does not even last the year.

Make sure that the vehicle parts are not filled with frozen water. It can fool you into thinking the part is ok.

O ya- one more thing SERVICE REGULARLY ! Saves you money in the long run.

Edited November 21, 2008 by Bernie

[fishing n autograph]

CTC has got to be one of the top ten worse places to have any mechanical work done.

 

not as bad as Walmart though....they rotated my tires and knocked out my alignment in the process

[irishfield]

That I find hard to believe... unless they dropped it off the hoist !

[Bernie]

not as bad as Walmart though....they rotated my tires and knocked out my alignment in the process

 

This happens quite often. A tire or tires is the culprit here. It generally happens with less expensive tires but not always.

When a tire is rotated it sometimes will put a tire on the steering axle (which also supports the most weight) that isn't true to the road. What I mean by that one side of the tire is pushing to the other. This will make your car drift left or right. It would not have been so noticeable on the rear axle which carries less load. An alignment isn't the problem, the tires are. If you try to align to correct a tire pull the next time you swap your tires it will pull again. This is why we take a car for a road test before and after every alignment. We see this happen with tires approximately in 20% of vehicles that come in for an alignment.

[BUSTER]

bernie beat me to it

Edited November 22, 2008 by BUSTER

[fishing n autograph]

This happens quite often. A tire or tires is the culprit here. It generally happens with less expensive tires but not always.

When a tire is rotated it sometimes will put a tire on the steering axle (which also supports the most weight) that isn't true to the road. What I mean by that one side of the tire is pushing to the other. This will make your car drift left or right. It would not have been so noticeable on the rear axle which carries less load. An alignment isn't the problem, the tires are. If you try to align to correct a tire pull the next time you swap your tires it will pull again. This is why we take a car for a road test before and after every alignment. We see this happen with tires approximately in 20% of vehicles that come in for an alignment.

 

so if i end up getting new tires i'll need an alignment done again??

[nofish4me]

I personally would prefer to go some where other than Canadian Tire for vehicle service.

Having said that, I have had them go above and beyond the call of duty, for me.

I was travelling on a friday night of a long weekend, heading north in an older dodge Road Trek.

Wife wanted to stop at Old Stanton's Store in Alliston, while she was in the store I noticed a strong smell of gas, and gas dripping (occasional drop) under the van. I decided to make a run for the CTC in Barrie on 26.

Well I got there 15 min's before closing. Manager stayed after closing and replaced leaking gas line.

I was on my way to Vancouver one time and had a similar response from CTC personel.

 

I think the difference in my positive experiences was the fact that I was a traveller in need of help and caught between a rock and a hard spot.

I would not go to my local CTC , but would certainly try them when on the road.

[Bernie]

so if i end up getting new tires i'll need an alignment done again??

 

Did they ask you any questions of why you wanted the alignment? What adjustments were done? Did they switch your tires around?

If they adjusted the alignment to suit your tires you may need to realign with new tires.

I always look at alignment specifications and align to specification plus my experience of road crown and vehicle type (manufacturer specs are too broad). Never to suit the tires.

[lovetofish]

Wow! such a big deal over an alignment! I'm a licensed tech and an alignment shouldn't be such a big deal!!! Ideally you should get your new tires put on at a place that knows what they are going... by the wear of your old tires, the tech should be able to tell how your alignment is and your front end for that matter. Putting new tires on after your alignment might only change your alignment very slightly, if any at all. tires DO NOT change your alignment. However tires can cause a pull (because of wear), but if you change your tires and your alignment is correct, there will be no pull. New tires + alignment= car going straight and no uneven tire wear. hope this helps.

 

 

lovetofish

[Bernie]

Wow! such a big deal over an alignment! I'm a licensed tech and an alignment shouldn't be such a big deal!!! Ideally you should get your new tires put on at a place that knows what they are going... by the wear of your old tires, the tech should be able to tell how your alignment is and your front end for that matter. Putting new tires on after your alignment might only change your alignment very slightly, if any at all. tires DO NOT change your alignment. However tires can cause a pull (because of wear), but if you change your tires and your alignment is correct, there will be no pull. New tires + alignment= car going straight and no uneven tire wear. hope this helps.

lovetofish

 

No big deal. Just want to make sure that it is understood. Tires with poor or faulty construction will cause a pull with no perceptible wear. It happens often with brand new tires. We find this happens often when switching summer to winter tires or vice-versa. Switch the front tires to see if the pull goes the other way. Yes you can tell a lot of how the alignment is on a vehicle by observing tire wear. In this case it can make the situation a little more difficult because the work was done in 2 shops. Where were the tires before? This is another good reason to stick with a good shop. They can keep track of your vehicle history and make recommended repair and maintainence much easier.

[fishing n autograph]

No big deal. Just want to make sure that it is understood. Tires with poor or faulty construction will cause a pull with no perceptible wear. It happens often with brand new tires. We find this happens often when switching summer to winter tires or vice-versa. Switch the front tires to see if the pull goes the other way. Yes you can tell a lot of how the alignment is on a vehicle by observing tire wear. In this case it can make the situation a little more difficult because the work was done in 2 shops. Where were the tires before? This is another good reason to stick with a good shop. They can keep track of your vehicle history and make recommended repair and maintainence much easier.

 

 

Well, i'm taking it to the dealership on Monday. I figured that since there are VERY few mechanics in my area that have the proper equipment (i called around) and i wasn't going to Midas or CTC. Anyway, I figured that the place that I bought the car would be good enough since they've fixed it before. The tires that I have on my car were a gift, but are well worn and i'm not going to be doing much driving until they are replaced lol...anyway thanks for the advice.

 

Dave