Dealer wants $600 for alignment

[kern417]

For a random commuter in a Camry this makes sense. For a sports car with obvious performance modifications, they should just be able to square up toe and send you home. They're making it more complicated than it needs to be.

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[Dill-Pickel]

I know this an old thread but I had the same thing happen to me this week. I took the car over to the dealership for an oil change and alignment, I was honest and told them I installed lowering springs and that is way I need the alignment. I get a call the next morning and was told its going to be 3-4 hours of work for the alignment.

Needless to say I told them not touch it and brought it down the road to a shop and 45mins later was back in spec.

 

[Tsuki]

I know this an old thread but I had the same thing happen to me this week. I took the car over to the dealership for an oil change and alignment, I was honest and told them I installed lowering springs and that is way I need the alignment. I get a call the next morning and was told its going to be 3-4 hours of work for the alignment.

Needless to say I told them not touch it and brought it down the road to a shop and 45mins later was back in spec.

The dealer is obligated to perform a radar calibration when they perform and alignment. Any time the thrust angle has a possibility of changing, the system is supposed to be recalibrated. The dealer holds a lot more responsibility in this area than a random shop down the road, as they represent the manufacturer.

 

[Dill-Pickel]

The dealer is obligated to perform a radar calibration when they perform and alignment. Any time the thrust angle has a possibility of changing, the system is supposed to be recalibrated. The dealer holds a lot more responsibility in this area than a random shop down the road, as they represent the manufacturer.

Thanks for the heads up.

That's on the dealership then. They didn't explaining that, nor do I think they were going to do that. I was just told the Mechanic said, "your car is very hard to align and that he wouldn't be able to do it in the set alignment price, and they would be switching it to an hourly rate. It was an average of 3-4 hours."

To me that is a little crazy.

It didn't help they want to rotate the tires and tops off the tires with air when they are nitrogen filled.

 

[Tsuki]

Thanks for the heads up.

That's on the dealership then. They didn't explaining that, nor do I think they were going to do that. I was just told the Mechanic said, "your car is very hard to align and that he wouldn't be able to do it in the set alignment price, and they would be switching it to an hourly rate. It was an average of 3-4 hours."

To me that is a little crazy.

It didn't help they want to rotate the tires and tops off the tires with air when they are nitrogen filled.

Hah, it could also be that he knew it booked for 3-4 hours, but had no idea why! That would have resulted in your car being there for several days, when he realized that he needed to order the fancy mirror tool for aligning the sensors, etc.

 

[razorlab]

A proper alignment should take less than 30 minutes. The Supra is no different here, aligns exactly the same as other cars.

Takes me 45 minutes and that is doing it in my garage and includes setting everything up and measuring and adjusting.

The radar calibration or whatever, I have no idea how much time. I would imagine it can't take more than 30 mins since it's just software.

 

[Tsuki]

A proper alignment should take less than 30 minutes. The Supra is no different here, aligns exactly the same as other cars.

Takes me 45 minutes and that is doing it in my garage and includes setting everything up and measuring and adjusting.

The radar calibration or whatever, I have no idea how much time. I would imagine it can't take more than 30 mins since it's just software.

What the book pays (3-4 hours or whatever) makes sense. We're talking about a dealership, who has relatively little experience with a Supra at all, etc. The book also calls for replacing a bunch of parts that most people wouldn't replace, etc. Lowest common denominator.

The radar calibration takes quite a while, actually. It probably takes more than 30 minutes just to setup the tool properly. If you do it by the book, it's a pretty long procedure. It isn't just software - though unless there was something really substantially changed (or broken), I can't imagine you would need to make radar position adjustments for things like dialing out .01 degrees of thrust angle. Just an example, though:

Anyway - for a simple alignment, there's zero chance I would use the dealer, assuming I had other options. If I went up over a curb or something, it might make more sense to calibrate afterwards.

 

[razorlab]

What the book pays (3-4 hours or whatever) makes sense. We're talking about a dealership, who has relatively little experience with a Supra at all, etc. The book also calls for replacing a bunch of parts that most people wouldn't replace, etc. Lowest common denominator.

Right but what I am saying is it doesn't matter. If you know how to do an alignment, all the adjustment spots are in the same places as other cars. The supra is not unique in the actual alignment adjustment part.

Front
Toe adjustment = tie rod ends
Camber adjustment = non adjustable

Rear
Toe adjustment = Adjuster at subframe
Camber adjustment = Adjuster at subframe

 

[Tsuki]

Right but what I am saying is it doesn't matter. If you know how to do an alignment, all the adjustment spots are in the same places as other cars. The supra is not unique in the actual alignment adjustment part.

Front
Toe adjustment = tie rod ends
Camber adjustment = non adjustable

Rear
Toe adjustment = Adjuster at subframe
Camber adjustment = Adjuster at subframe

I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm just saying there's a lot more that the dealer has to account for in their numbers, as they're obligated to do it by the book.

When I got my alignment done, I went to Soho Motorsports, who is a Z shop. They did an exemplary job, as I would expect of a high-end operation. It took just over an hour from the time I gave them my keys, to the time I walked out the door, which is what I would expect for a normal alignment.

Dealers don't care how quickly something CAN be done, they care about what the book tells them.

 

[Emspilot]

It didn't help they want to rotate the tires and tops off the tires with air when they are nitrogen filled.

Uhh… they wanted to rotate your staggered tires??

 

[Dill-Pickel]

Uhh… they wanted to rotate your staggered tires??

Yea, they were great when I bought the car, and the salesman knew his shit... the service side on the other hand knows nothing and if they are working on the car then I rather just take my Free oil changes and find a good INDY shop for everything else.

 

[underdonk]

Uhh… they wanted to rotate your staggered tires??

Thought the same thing.

 

[Emspilot]

Yea, they were great when I bought the car, and the salesman knew his shit... the service side on the other hand knows nothing and if they are working on the car then I rather just take my Free oil changes and find a good INDY shop for everything else.

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

 

[razorlab]

You can move them side to side, which is probably what they meant

 

[Emspilot]

True, as long as the tread isn’t directional.

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