alignment

[ginkof]

how often do you guys get alignments on your cars? Ive aligned my car 4 times in the past 7 months.... this last time my wheels were off between .7 and 3.7 degrees.... Is this the norm?

[chaos2984]

thats a little much. but did you lower or do anything to the suspensioin just prior to all the alignment. If thats so probably the suspension was still settling. But usually the norm is 1 alignment a year.

[ginkof]

ive had my car aligned twice since i had my coils put in. The state of mass recommends that you align your car once every 2 months since the roads up here suck so much. Im beyond happy that i have the unlimited alignment package at firestone for a mere $189.

[road race s4]

I think that's pushing it a bit. I think once a year its ok, or maybe twice a year if you live somewhere where the roads are really bad. I'm in NYC and the roads here are a mess and I don't get my car aligned every 2 months.

[chaos2984]

dam once every 2 months that alot dam

[AudiOso]

Wow... Firestone does a lifetime alignment for $189??? Might have to check that out.

[AudiOso]

Wow Ginkof... P1800... way cool. I just sold my 70' 2002. Now the only vintage I have left is my 80' VW Pickup. Been meaning to get that restored for a few years, but these damn Audi's keep sucking down all my car money.

[ginkof]

I think that's pushing it a bit. I think once a year its ok, or maybe twice a year if you live somewhere where the roads are really bad. I'm in NYC and the roads here are a mess and I don't get my car aligned every 2 months.

thats what i am thinking to... but if my alignment goes out by that much and i have the ability to adjust it for no added cost im definitely going to do so!

[ginkof]

Wow Ginkof... P1800... way cool. I just sold my 70' 2002. Now the only vintage I have left is my 80' VW Pickup. Been meaning to get that restored for a few years, but these damn Audi's keep sucking down all my car money.

yeah definitely an awesome car! I love it! My father has an identical 72 in light blue. He broke the 500,000 mile mark a few years back... while i have my mother's old car... just below 60k on mine! When i have the money im going to fix mine up.... put a nice custom touch on it like Volvo did for the sema show several years back

http://www.robidaconcepts.com/page/page/1918175.htm

[Monchichi8]

about once a year, unless you hit a curb,huge pot hole or something.....

[serumk]

ive had my car aligned twice since i had my coils put in. The state of mass recommends that you align your car once every 2 months since the roads up here suck so much. Im beyond happy that i have the unlimited alignment package at firestone for a mere $189.

$189???

The only place in town I could find to do mine was the dealer, and they charged $183 out the door. $189 for lifetime alignments is a pretty darn good deal...

[ginkof]

$189???

The only place in town I could find to do mine was the dealer, and they charged $183 out the door. $189 for lifetime alignments is a pretty darn good deal...

wow what a rip off! There are places out here that will do an alignment for $70

[serumk]

wow what a rip off! There are places out here that will do an alignment for $70

Well, I'm not really one to call a dealership a "stealership," or say it was a "rip-off." Obviously, I wouldn't have paid for it if I thought it was a rip-off. I had just paid a lot of money for tires, and I didn't want them getting wrecked.

The fact is that if you're the only place in town that has the tools necessary to do the alignment, you have to charge a higher price to cover the cost of investment in tools, and it makes sense to charge a higher price, since there is a limited market, and you're the only place in town.

I know that some places will do alignments for under $100. I used to work for one of them. But I know that they couldn't do the whole thing. They would set the toe and ignore camber and caster, or just do the front, and tell the customer the rest was "not adjustable."

I called a Goodyear, Meineke, CarMax, another franchised German dealership, and an indy shop here in KC that specializes in VW/Audi. None of them could do it. Goodyear told me they could do it, and when I said, "Are you sure? It's an 04 Audi S4," he went and checked, and came back and said he couldn't do it.

I'd love to hear more about this Firestone deal, though. That is, whether they're actually doing the whole alignment, or if they're just pretending.

[{PMS}fishy]

I'd love to hear more about this Firestone deal, though. That is, whether they're actually doing the whole alignment, or if they're just pretending.

Its real. I use to take my truck there.

[serumk]

Its real. I use to take my truck there.

So you're confident they're actually doing the full alignment on the B6 S4s?

Thanks in advance!

[serumk]

I got curious so I called my local Firestone. Here is how the call went:

Firestone: blah, blah, blah, how can I help you?
Me: I'm calling to see if you have the ability to do a 4 wheel alignment on my car.
Firestone: What kind of car do you have?
Me: A 2004 Audi S4.
Firestone: Ahh, you need to take that one to the dealer.
Me: Okay, thanks.

[ginkof]

yeah they aligned my car... took them almost 2 hours.... i watched them do it.. He spent more time under the front of my car then the back.. but he did spend a decent amount of time under the back of my car.

[serumk]

Yeah, I'd say the dealership took about 2 hours on mine, too.

[pinkslip]

Hmm... I just got my car outa the body shop where they had to take it to another shop for the alignment. I wonder if they took it to a competent shop. Now I'm gonna ask (since I have to go back and have them hook up my subs they disconnected when woring on my trunk).

How long should it have taken for an alignment? Are there any special tools necessary to do it right? What could/ should I ask the shop to verify if they did it right? I just put new rims/tires on my ride and don't want to burn through the tires in a few thousand miles!

[mourvedre]

sorry to double up on the questions but are alignments included in regular 10k service intervals? i'm assuming they aren't...which means i haven't had one for about 14 months.

[serumk]

Hmm... I just got my car outa the body shop where they had to take it to another shop for the alignment. I wonder if they took it to a competent shop. Now I'm gonna ask (since I have to go back and have them hook up my subs they disconnected when woring on my trunk).

How long should it have taken for an alignment? Are there any special tools necessary to do it right? What could/ should I ask the shop to verify if they did it right? I just put new rims/tires on my ride and don't want to burn through the tires in a few thousand miles!

Most alignments have a 6 month/6,000 mile warranty, so if you go to another shop and it's out of alignment, or if it seems to be pulling, you'd certainly be justified to ask them to realign it.

It could take 30 minutes (if it's already in alignment) or it could take several hours. As far as I know, there are special tools needed to align it.

You could ask them for a printout from the alignment machine that would show a before and after reading -- most shops will keep this on file either as a hard copy or in their alignment rack's computer (if they use the most common brand of alignment rack, "Hunter," I know for a fact the computer stores the history of alignment information).

Hope that helps!

[serumk]

sorry to double up on the questions but are alignments included in regular 10k service intervals? i'm assuming they aren't...which means i haven't had one for about 14 months.

They are not included in regular maintenance -- at least, I've never seen them included in regular maintenance. Some cars can go for years without needing an alignment, and others may need them more frequently, but it doesn't hurt to check whether it's in alignment, as it could save you money on tires.