Am I the only one who keeps having to get alignments?@#%@
07-25-2002, 01:39 PM
#1
Former Sponsor
Thread Starter
Am I the only one who keeps having to get alignments?@#%@
I have an '02 S with only 10K miles on it, and I just had to get my 4th alignment. I was thinking that it had something to do with my X-brace bolts coming loose, but now I'm not so sure. The alignment shop said today that everything was tight.
I have probably only had to get an alignment once every 50K miles in my previous cars, but I've only averaged 2500 miles per alignment with this piece!
What is really pissing me off is that the last time my alignment got screwed up, I was just going around a bumpy corner (the bumps were too small to even see), and I heard a couple metal "pops". After that corner, my steering wheel was cocked to the side.
Have any of you been experiencing any problems keeping an alignment?
I have probably only had to get an alignment once every 50K miles in my previous cars, but I've only averaged 2500 miles per alignment with this piece!
What is really pissing me off is that the last time my alignment got screwed up, I was just going around a bumpy corner (the bumps were too small to even see), and I heard a couple metal "pops". After that corner, my steering wheel was cocked to the side.
Have any of you been experiencing any problems keeping an alignment?
07-25-2002, 02:22 PM
#3
I have noticed that it is easy to knock out the alignment even with everything tightened to spec. I have had five or six alignments in 22K miles but some of them were due to me making suspension changes. The others were from minor off track excursions or Dallas pot holes.
07-25-2002, 03:41 PM
#4
Registered User
My car seems to hold alignment pretty well, but the roads are pretty smooth here in FL and I haven't gone off road too much 
. I've done 2 in 32k miles and I'll probably do another soon.
This is a bit off topic, but I've always wondered about the accuracy of the alignment machines. I watched a very dilligent technician try to set my car up exactly to a certain spec and saw the alignment settings change on the computer screen while the car was just sitting there. The shop has a brand new laser-type machine. It makes me wonder just how "perfect" does the setting have to be.
I keep trying to talk my journalist friend into doing some investigative reporting. Just drive a car from alignment shop to alignment shop and tabulate what each one says. I bet that the data will be quite variable. What do you think?
. I've done 2 in 32k miles and I'll probably do another soon.This is a bit off topic, but I've always wondered about the accuracy of the alignment machines. I watched a very dilligent technician try to set my car up exactly to a certain spec and saw the alignment settings change on the computer screen while the car was just sitting there. The shop has a brand new laser-type machine. It makes me wonder just how "perfect" does the setting have to be.
I keep trying to talk my journalist friend into doing some investigative reporting. Just drive a car from alignment shop to alignment shop and tabulate what each one says. I bet that the data will be quite variable. What do you think?
07-25-2002, 06:06 PM
#5
Originally posted by CoralDoc
This is a bit off topic, but I've always wondered about the accuracy of the alignment machines. I watched a very dilligent technician try to set my car up exactly to a certain spec and saw the alignment settings change on the computer screen while the car was just sitting there. The shop has a brand new laser-type machine. It makes me wonder just how "perfect" does the setting have to be.
This is a bit off topic, but I've always wondered about the accuracy of the alignment machines. I watched a very dilligent technician try to set my car up exactly to a certain spec and saw the alignment settings change on the computer screen while the car was just sitting there. The shop has a brand new laser-type machine. It makes me wonder just how "perfect" does the setting have to be.
07-26-2002, 07:17 PM
#6
Former Sponsor
Thread Starter
I think the machines are accurate, but the car doesn't always stay perfectly "settled". The only way you could really get a 100% dead on repeatable alignment is to disturb the car a little bit after every turn of a screw, so that everything will equalize. Since noone does this, you can back it off the rack, put it right back on, and everything will be "off" a little bit.
The inaccurate alignments don't bother me, particularly, since a 1/10 th of a degree here and there isn't going to be noticeable. However, I don't want to have to give up my car 1 day each month for alignments!
The inaccurate alignments don't bother me, particularly, since a 1/10 th of a degree here and there isn't going to be noticeable. However, I don't want to have to give up my car 1 day each month for alignments!
07-27-2002, 06:06 AM
#7
Registered User
I'm over 45k and never had an alignment...and I'm in Boston, pothole capitol of the world! If I let go of the wheel, she glides straight as an arrow...until I hit the next pothole 
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07-27-2002, 07:18 AM
#8
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I have had several of the beaten path several times now. Now at 20K miles. What should a real good factory spec laser alignment run me. I got some cash saved up for some referbishment of my car.