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Old 07-05-2013, 08:40 AM   #1
MARTYBMW
 
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Question Alignment Question

I have never had this issue on formers cars of the same age so I am a little befuddled after my dealer came back to me during my annual inspection to alert me that my front end was out of alignment. They told me they noticed cupping on the front tires and that I would need an alignment to correct the condition. Now my vehicle was delivered May 2011 and the mileage is 29K, it is a daily driver with 26 miles of Highway driving a day. No pot holes, rough driving, drifting or any of the other items they listed out as possibly causing this issue. Should I be concerned that the alignment has gone out so soon or is this a normal condition for this mileage and this vehicle?

Marty
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Old 07-05-2013, 08:44 AM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MARTYBMW View Post
I have never had this issue on formers cars of the same age so I am a little befuddled after my dealer came back to me during my annual inspection to alert me that my front end was out of alignment. They told me they noticed cupping on the front tires and that I would need an alignment to correct the condition. Now my vehicle was delivered May 2011 and the mileage is 29K, it is a daily driver with 26 miles of Highway driving a day. No pot holes, rough driving, drifting or any of the other items they listed out as possibly causing this issue. Should I be concerned that the alignment has gone out so soon or is this a normal condition for this mileage and this vehicle?

Marty
Alignments should typically be done every 12k miles as regular maintenance. Suspension settles, components shift...it creates enough change to warranty getting the alignment done.
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Old 07-05-2013, 09:59 AM   #3
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Ask them for a print out of what your current alignment specs are, then post it up so we can have a look.
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Old 07-05-2013, 11:33 AM   #4
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Ask them for a print out of what your current alignment specs are, then post it up so we can have a look.
My bet is they didn't actually put it on an alignment machine. They just saw the wear on the tires and said it's an alignment issue....which it probably is.

If there is any abnormal wear on the tires then get an alignment. An $100 alignment is a heck of a lot cheaper than a $1,000 set of tires. However, if you have 29k miles and those are the original tires then I bet it's time for tires as well. If that's the case then get the new tires first and then align the car.
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Old 07-06-2013, 10:35 AM   #5
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every 6 months if you drive it daily, find a good shop that offers lifetime align, we do it for 169.99 and you can align it as many times as you like.
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Old 07-06-2013, 06:18 PM   #6
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yeah to bad most firestones are not worth a crap...
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Old 07-06-2013, 09:21 PM   #7
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yeah to bad most firestones are not worth a crap...
too bad you feel that way, I cant speak to your experience but I know most stores are professional and strive to make customers happy, as to worth I bet you cant name 1 company nationwide that will sell you a lifetime alignment for a better price and good at over 1700 stores nationwide.
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Old 07-06-2013, 10:13 PM   #8
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My local Firestone Rocks!! I bought the lifetime alignment and am in there all the time making adjustments. The guys at my local Firestone are very familiar with high performance late model muscle cars and I trust them with mine. They even let me watch them and shoot the shit with them while they work on my car.

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Old 07-07-2013, 04:01 PM   #9
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I have the limetime alignment.. only bought because I was in a bind .. I have had my alignment done there once and it was crap... took it back and was no better...
anyone know a good firestone alignment shop around San Antonio ?
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Old 07-07-2013, 06:52 PM   #10
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Our Firestones here became Pep Boys. The tire prices went up and the customer service went down.
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Old 07-08-2013, 12:27 PM   #11
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Quote:
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I have the limetime alignment.. only bought because I was in a bind .. I have had my alignment done there once and it was crap... took it back and was no better...
anyone know a good firestone alignment shop around San Antonio ?
How was it crap? Could you expand on that a little?

San Antonio is a pretty big city, if I remember correctly when I visited family a long time ago, so you should have more than one down there. A quick search on Firestone's website shows 21 in SA. Maybe call a few and ask if they are familiar with the Camaro and doing alignments to the customers specs?

Also ask if you can watch while your car is being worked on. If they say no that is usually a red flag. Of course that does not mean you can not watch from the doors like a HAWK. I always stick around and watch and chat up the mechanic whenever someone is working on my car. I usually do all my own work but there are some things I just can not do myself.

You also may try calling a few speed shops in the area and ask where they take their cars for alignments or even ask the Firestones if any of the speed shops bring their cars there.

Finally, are you bringing in the specs you want your car aligned to? Are you also getting the print out of the specs that the car is being aligned to before and after because they should be giving you those. And of course if they are not aligning the car to your satisfaction why are you letting them get away with it?

Just a few thoughts of mine to hopefully help you out. I know of a few shops up here that bring their cars to Firestones for alignments.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sftshldr View Post
Our Firestones here became Pep Boys. The tire prices went up and the customer service went down.
OUCH!!!!!

T.
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The drag strip is like sniffing glue, it's cheap, it's a decent buzz, it doesn't last long and they are all the same.
Road racing is like China White Heroin, the buzz is stronger, the high lasts for hours, it's extremely addictive and they are all different.
I can't wait for my next
Track fix.
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Old 07-15-2013, 10:45 AM   #12
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Thank you all for the comments. I will look into the Firestone option as well as at my dealership. Whipped416, which san Antonio location did you go too? I too am in SATX and would not want to hit the same establishment as you did if there are issues. I will also look at my inspection records from that visit to see if they provided me the alignment measurements for posting
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