Professional Alignment - cost & benifits?

[TheV6Bird]

Hey everyone,

My front tires are wearing on the inside shoulder pretty badly, so I'm going to get an alignment. How much does a professional alignment job cost, and what exactly do that do to "align" everything up? Thanks guys [img]smile.gif[/img]

[nda0602v6]

I just had an alignment done for $45.00 at a local shop. The alignment machine will compare what measurements (toe/camber/caster) you have now to the factory specs. If anything is out, they can make adjustments to bring it back to factory specs. Here's a printout of the before and after measurements for my 02 Firebird. The numbers in red show what was out.

[jdub]

I had to have an alignment after running over a curb instead of into the side of another car and it cost me $65

[BAD BIRD]

i just did mine $65 alignment balance and rotate the tires pretty good deal
my brother works at some dealler

[benoh with camaro]

Well, a 4 wheel alignment for 45 bucks is not that bad. From the looks of that alignment print out, seems as if you needed that alignment. Did you still have questions about what exactly they adjust during an alignment or did you see what they did when you went to the alignment shop?

[Dominic]

You cannot do a 4-wheel alignment on a RWD Camaro, there is nothing to adjust in the rear.

I've found the best and most trusted alignment shops are the ones that do it old-style with chalk and ruler. The guys with the blinky things go by the computer and when it says it's green it's good, and for our cars that isn't precise enough.

I run the following alignment, my tires wear evenly, and it drives like a dream:
0 toe
-0.3 camber
+4.5 caster left, +4.25 caster right

[BiH]

hmm when my car was at gm they did a 4 wheel alignment

[CamaroKRAZED]

After i bought a new set of four tires last summer, i had a guy i know who works at a garage do an alignment for me on my Camaro.

The cost... a case of beer!

I figured what the heck, even though there was only 40K on the odometer, i wanted to get the most out of the new tires. Some adjustments were needed, so i was glad i had this done.

[nda0602v6]

Originally posted by benoh with camaro:
Well, a 4 wheel alignment for 45 bucks is not that bad. From the looks of that alignment print out, seems as if you needed that alignment. Did you still have questions about what exactly they adjust during an alignment or did you see what they did when you went to the alignment shop?

Yeah I watched them do the alignment. It was done on a new Hunter alignment machine (the kind Dominic is talking about that uses the blinking lights/lasers). Before i had it done it was pulling slightly to the right but now it drives straight. The main reason why I had it done though was because the tires i had on the front were wearing really bad on the very outside edges. Not sure if the alignment being out a little was the cause but I wanted to make sure everything was good since I just put new wheels and tires on. No adjustments could be made in the rear since its a solid axle.