Did I Get Screwed?

[Brian757]

I went and got an alignment 2 days ago from my local Sears shop.
They charged me $110.00 for unlimited alignments for 1 year.
I got it done and now when I am driving straight, my steering wheel is cocked to the right.

When I get out of my truck and straighten my tires, my steering wheel is cocked to the left.
Did they screw this up? Or am I crazy?

 

[JWaldz]

If it wasn't like that before then it's their fault. Go back, and tell them to try again. BTW, I never choose sears for anything other than buying my DieHard Platinum from them.

 

[shadow247]

I went and got an alignment 2 days ago from my local Sears shop.
They charged me $110.00 for unlimited alignments for 1 year.
I got it done and now when I am driving straight, my steering wheel is cocked to the right.

When I get out of my truck and straighten my tires, my steering wheel is cocked to the left.
Did they screw this up? Or am I crazy?

Yeah man, your steering wheel should be straight. It may be off left or right depending on how badly the road is crowned, but it should be straight if the wheels are straight. Did they give you an alignment printout?

And not to be a bad guy, but you really should have gone to Firestone. 170 for LIFETIME alignments as long as you own the truck is a way better deal. Plus their techs do a lot more alignments than the knuckleheads at Sears.

 

[rleary360]

Pull your truck straight and undo your steering shaft and put steering wheel in position you want and reconnect....why shops don't position steering wheel after alignment never made sense to me

 

[Brian757]

[MENTION=58830]ARKRWLR[/MENTION]: It was fine before I changed my ball joints and had them do it. And I am going to walk in and first thing I say to the person at the counter is, hand my keys and say, "Try Again."
[MENTION=80102]shadow247[/MENTION]: I know, I know. I figured I would be fine and didnt want to drive it very far. I know I am going to kick myself for that. But I am going to keep having them do it until its right.

 

[Brian757]

Pull your truck straight and undo your steering shaft and put steering wheel in position you want and reconnect....why shops don't position steering wheel after alignment never made sense to me

Can you show me how to do this? And i got an alignment printout. They seemed to have corrected all of my issues.

 

[jkoni426]

fyi firestone has lifetime alignments for like $175

 

[steezemcqueen]

Pull your truck straight and undo your steering shaft and put steering wheel in position you want and reconnect....why shops don't position steering wheel after alignment never made sense to me

Can you show me how to do this? And i got an alignment printout. They seemed to have corrected all of my issues.

NO don't do that! That is going to make the steering way off. It needs to be adjusted at the tie rods which the alignment shop will do.

Brian, It is hit or miss sometimes with alignment shops and lifted trucks. Aligning a lifted truck isn't really that much harder. It just takes a little extra time. Since they get paid by the job and not buy the hour for alignments, they generally just rush through them and don't do a very good job. Since you have a unlimited, just bring it back until they get it right. They will realize that spending some time on it will be better than you bringing it back multiple times.

 

[LittleCaesar]

Taking it to Sears was the first mistake. They will be out of business by 2020 or before. Cheers to the BOD and upper management for running another company into the dirt.

Get the Firestone alignment. I picked mine up for $119 on a special deal two years ago.

 

[Brian757]

Taking it to Sears was the first mistake. They will be out of business by 2020 or before. Cheers to the BOD and upper management for running another company into the dirt.

Get the Firestone alignment. I picked mine up for $119 on a special deal two years ago.

Haha, yeah. I was rushing to get the alignment done. I needed it for Monday and no one but Sears could do it. I guess I know why now. I don't want to lose $110 and let them get away with doing a shitty job on an alignment. I am going to have them correct their mistake and never use them again.

How do you manage to F#cK up an alignment?! They have a machine that basically does 80% of the work! Ugh... And my alignment isn't lifetime, just 1 year so they can go out of business in 2014 and I could give a shit

 

[theizzardking]

yeah they probably had your wheel cocked when doing the alignment, set everythign off center...no biggie make them do it again... i still can;t figure out why you just didn't spend the extra $60 for lifetime though..you plan on dumping the rig in a year?...even when everythign is good i still drop it buy for an alignment check twice a year just before i go to get my tires balanced and rotated....meh, again no biggie, just make sure you get them to do it again and again till it's right.

 

[I_bRAD]

....why shops don't position steering wheel after alignment never made sense to me

Because straightening the steering wheel is done before any adjustments are made!

 

[I_bRAD]

[MENTION=58830]ARKRWLR[/MENTION]: It was fine before I changed my ball joints and had them do it. And I am going to walk in and first thing I say to the person at the counter is, hand my keys and say, "Try Again."

You catch more flies with honey. Just sayin.

 

[Brian757]

NO don't do that! That is going to make the steering way off. It needs to be adjusted at the tie rods which the alignment shop will do.

Brian, It is hit or miss sometimes with alignment shops and lifted trucks. Aligning a lifted truck isn't really that much harder. It just takes a little extra time. Since they get paid by the job and not buy the hour for alignments, they generally just rush through them and don't do a very good job. Since you have a unlimited, just bring it back until they get it right. They will realize that spending some time on it will be better than you bringing it back multiple times.

Yeah. Very good point made. I think I will just take my loss and have them fix it. But Firestone will be my point of contact from now on. Hopefully they get it right the second time or I am calling management/HR. I will get my money back and take it to Firestone

You catch more flies with honey. Just sayin.

Haha. I know, I know. But this irritates me that I shell out money and get a half-assed job.

And I know. I am still kicking myself for not listening to [MENTION=80102]shadow247[/MENTION]. I am definitely going to Firestone when this alignment plan is up. Forget Sears.

 

[chris360hawks]

They could have gotten the alignment correct but your rack or tie rods maybe worn out. That's what's wrong with mine right now.

 

[cj80cruiser]

Really wish we had a firestone where I live and I've been contemplating whether or not I want to drive 30 miles out of the way for lifetime alignments. It will pay off in the long run no doubt.

Slight thread hi-jack here...If you pay for lifetime alignment, can you take it to any firestone or just the one where you paid for the service?

Yeah. Very good point made. I think I will just take my loss and have them fix it. But Firestone will be my point of contact from now on. Hopefully they get it right the second time or I am calling management/HR. I will get my money back and take it to Firestone



Haha. I know, I know. But this irritates me that I shell out money and get a half-assed job.

And I know. I am still kicking myself for not listening to [MENTION=80102]shadow247[/MENTION]. I am definitely going to Firestone when this alignment plan is up. Forget Sears.

Sears will probably fix that for free since they didn't do it correctly.

 

[nevada]

I went and got an alignment 2 days ago from my local Sears shop.
They charged me $110.00 for unlimited alignments for 1 year.
I got it done and now when I am driving straight, my steering wheel is cocked to the right.

When I get out of my truck and straighten my tires, my steering wheel is cocked to the left.
Did they screw this up? Or am I crazy?

as has been said, take it back and have them set the wheel.

Pull your truck straight and undo your steering shaft and put steering wheel in position you want and reconnect....why shops don't position steering wheel after alignment never made sense to me

do not do this.

Because straightening the steering wheel is done before any adjustments are made!

straightening the wheel is the very LAST thing thats done. they apparently didnt do it at all this time.

They could have gotten the alignment correct but your rack or tie rods maybe worn out. That's what's wrong with mine right now.

they shouldnt have aligned it if there were any worn parts. you cant get it right. it with be OFF, as soon as you pull it off the rack.

 

[nissanh]

Pull your truck straight and undo your steering shaft and put steering wheel in position you want and reconnect....why shops don't position steering wheel after alignment never made sense to me

This should work.

Get the wheels straight and disconnect the battery, wait 5 minutes. Pull the air bag. Remove the steering wheel and insert it back into the shaft while holding the wheel straight.


Also go to the FIRESTONE... $180 and lifetime alignment..... You can get an alignment everyday.....

 

[KidVermicious]

This should work.

Get the wheels straight and disconnect the battery, wait 5 minutes. Pull the air bag. Remove the steering wheel and insert it back into the shaft while holding the wheel straight.

That'll work, but it's not the right way. The rack won't be centered and it'll have too little room for adjustment in one direction and too much in the other, and it'll screw with the next guy who tries to align the truck and assumes that the wheel and rack are lined up.

 

[Diagram14]

Did you agree to the "Unlimited" plan or did they just charge you for it figuring you would be back?

Pulling the steering wheel in your situation would be like replacing the front bumper because you backed into something. Its just not right...