Went to the dealership

[camarozzzz]

Originally Posted by Baba

Read your OM and "educate" yourself about the maintenance your Camaro requires!

Haha, that is common advice I get, I do prefer to come to a forum such as this though and ask fellow members what they do or follow since I trust them and their expertise well enough!

[Caddyroger]

Originally Posted by camarozzzz

You are spot on sir. I have noticed that there is simply something about the dealership that I go to. I can't tell if its my age, or if they don't like that I got it private party - but I feel that whenever I get things done there or come in for warranty work they don't seem to be too particularly happy to see me.

Should a 40$ tire rotation include a balance??

No it will not include tire balance that extra. I pay $79.00 at my dealer. It includes oil change, oil filter, mobil1 oil, tire rotation and 27 points check.

[camarozzzz]

Originally Posted by Caddyroger

No it will not include tire balance that extra. I pay $79.00 at my dealer. It includes oil change, oil filter, mobil1 oil, tire rotation and 27 points check.

Wow.... that's a nice price. I think its just Canadian dealers...and being so much more expensive in everything they do....

I am paying 75$ for the oil change and a tire rotation. I am providing my own oil too...and I don't think this even include the oil filter price...

Noobie question: Is a tire balance required every time you rotate tires? What about a wheel alignment? I know a balance is require if you feel vibrations and shaking, but would a tire rotation cause these? I know a wheel alignment is only done if your car pulls to the sides etc. I am asking these questions because so far my dealer has filled my head with all this crap that he says I need, but I am finding out day after day most of it is not true.

[Obzen]

Originally Posted by camarozzzz

Wow.... that's a nice price. I think its just Canadian dealers...and being so much more expensive in everything they do....

I am paying 75$ for the oil change and a tire rotation. I am providing my own oil too...and I don't think this even include the oil filter price...

Noobie question: Is a tire balance required every time you rotate tires? What about a wheel alignment? I know a balance is require if you feel vibrations and shaking, but would a tire rotation cause these? I know a wheel alignment is only done if your car pulls to the sides etc. I am asking these questions because so far my dealer has filled my head with all this crap that he says I need, but I am finding out day after day most of it is not true.

Alignment isn't required after tire rotations, neither is wheel balancing.. Wheel alignments are done either when you change something on the suspension, or get new tires. Balancing is usually only done with new tires. However, if something feels off or you hit something hard and it doesn't seem right then either one can be done as a corrective measure.

Rotations are cheap at a tire shop maybe $20. You can inspect the fluids yourself in about 3 minutes. If you don't know how. Learn. Every driver should be able to check their fluids. Its all in the manual.

Remember if you have the RS package CAN'T rotate the tires as they are two different sizes.

[TJR1952]

My dealership $40 plus tax gets you oil change , tire rotation , and general inspection. They will tell you what the car needs and you decide if you want them to do it.

[camarozzzz]

Originally Posted by Obzen

Alignment isn't required after tire rotations, neither is wheel balancing.. Wheel alignments are done either when you change something on the suspension, or get new tires. Balancing is usually only done with new tires. However, if something feels off or you hit something hard and it doesn't seem right then either one can be done as a corrective measure.

Rotations are cheap at a tire shop maybe $20. You can inspect the fluids yourself in about 3 minutes. If you don't know how. Learn. Every driver should be able to check their fluids. Its all in the manual.

Remember if you have the RS package CAN'T rotate the tires as they are two different sizes.

Oooo no I know how to check my fluids and belts. I can do that myself for sure! I agree with you, simple things like that should not be paid for haha.

Thanks for that information it was very very useful and helpful! From the looks of it and what you have mentioned, I will only need a tire rotation and will go over to one of my local tire shops to see what they charge for a rotation alone - I am sure I can find a better price at a trusted place than what the dealership offered me (40$).

[Cam2011]

Originally Posted by Dizzy82

Is your car an RS? If so it can't have it's tires rotated. Well, you "can", but I wouldn't recommend it.

Correct, and every time I get an oil change the service writer always says that I should have my tires rotated, when I tell him to look again and see what kind of car it is (SS/RS) he still looks confused, so I explained it to him. Sure enough the dope asked again when I went for the next oil change.

[Ozzie RS]

Originally Posted by camarozzzz

Oooo no I know how to check my fluids and belts. I can do that myself for sure! I agree with you, simple things like that should not be paid for haha.

Thanks for that information it was very very useful and helpful! From the looks of it and what you have mentioned, I will only need a tire rotation and will go over to one of my local tire shops to see what they charge for a rotation alone - I am sure I can find a better price at a trusted place than what the dealership offered me (40$).

Check around for independent tire shops with a good reputation to find a deal on rotation and balancing your tires. I have a local tire company that is family owned in the area that will for free come out and fix a flat tire in the general neighborhood area and they also charge a lifetime fee as long as you own the car for balancing and rotating the tires plus front end alignment. They also give me a break on Mobile One oil changes since I have all three of my cars on the plans, except my RS Camaro for rotation. I also put nitrogen in all of my cars tires and they will fill them twice a year for free. Nitrogen has no moisture in the gas and the larger molecules don't allow for big fluctuations in tire pressure over big temperature changes. I actually went out and bought a tank of nitrogen with deposit for $150 and $20 to refill the bottle/exchange and did my own nitrogen change after my first car was converted since it cost $69 to have it converted plus the spare tire. I hardly ever add air(nitrogen to my tires) but maybe every once in two months at most depending on temperature change.

[tonyko1]

There are a heck of a lot of places, both car dealers and tire dealers that offer an oil changes with free tire rotation. What the heck, they have it on the lift anyways.

Tires do NOT need to be re-balanced at rotation time unless you nailed a curb and knocked off a counterweight or something like that.

Nitrogen has to be one of the most over-rated and expensive gimmicks going today. While our cars are nice, they aren't aircraft landing on Navy carriers. Pirelli specifically states to use air, that nitrogen is not advised.

Here is $25 well-spent, go and get your oil analyzed and find out what good oil you are throwing away. I knew I was changing mine too soon with a new car and using Mobil 1 on my Camaro, so I sent a sample of the oil in my Subaru Outback, which has 192k miles now. Not sure what the guy did the first 84k miles before I bought it 4yrs ago, but I put in whatever is on sale, NAPA, Peak, Wal-Mart, etc.I usually change it anytime after 3000 miles but up to 5000, whenever I find the time since I do it myself. I go from 5w-30 in winter to 20w-50 in the hot summers and now have 10w-30 in it. Anyways, just got back a sample analysis of oil that had about 4,000 miles of 5w30 in it from the oil change before the last one. Now given, I did add a quart of oil at about mile 2500 as it was the start of summer and I was driving hard through mountain passes. That is why I went to 20w50 for the rest of summer. Anyways, the results came back that I had 50% oil life left, which is darn good. Even with the added quart at the half-way mark, which had to be done anyways, 50% oil life left.

Just things to think about.

[pixxy]

At my dealer a week ago i got an oil change / filter, the 27 point inspection and an alignment check for 79.00