Dealer wants $600 for alignment

[White Shadow]

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[Tsuki]

You do know you can’t rotate them, right?

Watch me, I'll rotate the living SHIT out of them.

 

[AHP]

When I had a lapse of judgement and contacted a dealer about a LCA replacement they specifically quoted $600 for the alignment as part of the overall scope. That was one of several total baffling things I came away from the conversation with. At least I have bit more context, but still have no idea the 'why' behind the radar calibration. I've had the car aligned 3x at my usual spot with no consequence.

 

[Tsuki]

When I had a lapse of judgement and contacted a dealer about a LCA replacement they specifically quoted $600 for the alignment as part of the overall scope. That was one of several total baffling things I came away from the conversation with. At least I have bit more context, but still have no idea the 'why' behind the radar calibration. I've had the car aligned 3x at my usual spot with no consequence.

Going to assume that was our friendly, most-local Toyota dealer. Where do you normally go? If they've been handling your collection, I'm sure they're worth a look

The radar calibration is a CYA thing. It's WAY overkill - but like I said before, if you go by the book, the radar should be calibrated any time the thrust angle has a possibility of changing. I haven't found a single case of someone having an issue with their alignment having been done without the calibration, but the dealers just won't do it, unless they're particularly cool.

 

[AHP]

Going to assume that was our friendly, most-local Toyota dealer. Where do you normally go? If they've been handling your collection, I'm sure they're worth a look

The radar calibration is a CYA thing. It's WAY overkill - but like I said before, if you go by the book, the radar should be calibrated any time the thrust angle has a possibility of changing. I haven't found a single case of someone having an issue with their alignment having been done without the calibration, but the dealers just won't do it, unless they're particularly cool.

I was referred to Town & Country and they proceeded to quote me "at least 2-3k" to replace a bent control arm... In hindsight I may have had better luck at Scott Clark, but so far I've aptly avoided a dealer visit. Still need to do that recall..

My go-to is After Hours Racing in NE CLT; a bit of a hike from Waxhaw but Alex is one of the very few people I trust unconditionally for things I can't or don't want to do on my own.

 

[Tsuki]

I was referred to Town & Country and they proceeded to quote me "at least 2-3k" to replace a bent control arm... In hindsight I may have had better luck at Scott Clark, but so far I've aptly avoided a dealer visit. Still need to do that recall..

My go-to is After Hours Racing in NE CLT; a bit of a hike from Waxhaw but Alex is one of the very few people I trust unconditionally for things I can't or don't want to do on my own.

Nice, thanks for that! I may have them do some stuff for me in the next couple of months.

The dealers here are such a crapshoot. I've heard nothing but good about T&C sales, but nothing but bad (aside from my friend with an 86 who just uses them for oil changes) about service. I've heard nothing but bad about Scott Clark sales, and 50/50 with their service dept. That's fine - like you, I'll just handle it myself unless it's going to get too expensive or too much of a pain in the rear!

 

[zrk]

Is this everyone's first car? Dealerships are expensive as fuck. That's why other shops exist.

 

[Inheritor]

Hello everyone, I went to the dealership today to get a free oil change. While they were there I told them to do an alignment because it was off slightly due to some rough roads. When I went to pick it up, they said they couldn't do said alignment due to one-time use bolts? I have no clue what they meant by that as I have never seen any tie rods, control arms, eccentric bolts, etc. that were one time use? Also they said that I needed a full tank of gas and a bunch of weight in the car before they could do it. Can someone either confirm or deny that this is what they are supposed to do? Seems like total BS to me.

I can’t remember the car but it was definitely domestic, some new cars are like that. If alignment is off they need to replace the entire part because of lazy engineering. Although i think that was the rear suspension which makes sense and is common. I just simply do not remember. But I don’t believe the Supra is this way. Sounds like a money grab.

 

[Carl - Driveway Labs]

Rule number 1: never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever everrrrrrrrrrrrr eva eva take your car to a dealer for anything but warranty work.

 

[Dill-Pickel]

You do know you can’t rotate them, right?

I know that... that is what the dealer told me. and yest my tires are directional so there is no left and right movement either

 

[Rustyscrew]

If I take my car to dealer to recalibrate my radar sensors do I need to worry about tune at all? Im close with service manager so he knows it cant be messed with, but I'm still skeptical

 

[nanaisu]

If I take my car to dealer to recalibrate my radar sensors do I need to worry about tune at all? Im close with service manager so he knows it cant be messed with, but I'm still skeptical

Should only be an issue if they try to perform an istep update, or any sort of recall update (like the 3g tower shutdown). As long as you make it crystal clear that the car can't be updated, you should be fine.
Performing an istep update is a big deal (see the thread on it) and isn't something they'll do accidentally.

Other than that, I'm not aware of any ways to relock the DME. Anyone feel free to add, but plugging it into ISTA and recalibration should be fine.

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