Should I fire my alignment shop?

[Morphyne]

So I just got my GX back and I think I need to fire my allignment shop. When I first got my lift in 2" front and back. New OEM UCAs, LCAs, bushings , links, everything. Also 285/70/17 icon rebounds with 4.75" backspace and 0mm offset. The first time the aligned it they could only get to 1.9 camber and caster. I think negative on both but I cant remember bc they dont give you the readout sheet. So after that the tops of the front tires stuck out farther than the bottoms
So negative caster I guess. Well I installed SPC UCAs to lay and set them for +2 caster and slid them all th way in. Pic of how extreme the positive caster was. So take a look at the report I had to ask for. They are showing that the only improvement they made was on toe???? They said that was the best they could do after having it for 4 hours. I even told ththeththem that the SPCs were adjustable and left them the instructions.

Long story short, these guys dont appear to be who I want to be married to for "life" on alignments. Is it reasonable to ask for my money back?

Here is the report they gave me.



Does this vehicle look like it came in with negative caster to you? And their report said they didnt touch it.

 

[BleednBlue]

Ha, did they do that as a joke?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[J.F. Sebastian]

LOL, you really need to ask these forums? Those clowns should be shamed into bankruptcy... Have a "Like" for the laugh.

 

[gm350reratliff]

Short answer, yes you should fire them.

 

[Morphyne]

Sorry that was my before pic
I slid the SPCs all the way in so that they would have plenty to work with. The after looks way better. But now it runs again. This a great hobby. But really frustrating some times

 

[03sr5]

Your caster is fine. You have negative camber. Not sure what would cause that much negative camber though. I'm not familiar with spc uppers, but if you slid them all the way in towards the engine bay then that's causing your camber issues. Not sure why the shop couldn't adjust them where they need to be.

 

[Morphyne]

Exactly my point. I even gave them the frickin instructions on the SPCs.

 

[gm350reratliff]

Every vehicle is a little different but I like setting the SPC ball joint about in the middle to slightly towards the outside for the simple reason of providing a little more clearance between the tire and UCA. From there, I see where the angles end up by just adjusting the LCA cams then adjust the ball joint if needed.

The hardest part about the SPC's is finding an alignment tech that knows how to work with them and will actually take the time to work with them.

 

[Morphyne]

So I just lucked out. I had heard that the local Firestone was pretty good. So I set up an appointment for a roadforce balance. I told the guy the issues i had with the other shop. He's gonna fix it for me. He then pointed to his lifted tundra. That's when I knew I was in the right place!

 

[03sr5]

So I just lucked out. I had heard that the local Firestone was pretty good. So I set up an appointment for a roadforce balance. I told the guy the issues i had with the other shop. He's gonna fix it for me. He then pointed to his lifted tundra. That's when I knew I was in the right place!

It's hard to find good shops, even for what we think is basic stuff. The shop you went to probably thought it was just the usual toe correction and sent it out even though they didn't get everything in the green. Sounds like you're in good hands now though.

 

[NinjaOne]

So I just lucked out. I had heard that the local Firestone was pretty good. So I set up an appointment for a roadforce balance. I told the guy the issues i had with the other shop. He's gonna fix it for me. He then pointed to his lifted tundra. That's when I knew I was in the right place!

Good luck! If they said that's the best they could do I'd suspect a frozen alignment cam along with the tech not understanding manipulate the SPC adjuster. Competent tech should be able to help you out. I use Firestone for my "maintenance" alignments and take it to a specialty shop for real alignments

 

[blackoutt]

Incompetent tech, just take it back and teach them. Don't worry, I can't find one around here either. Local places wouldn't touch the SPC's but they do warranty their "alignment" for 30 days. So I have them tweak it, take it it home and adjust the SPC's more myself, then come back a half hour later and tell them to do it again. After they caught on that I wasn't going home til I had 0 camber, 4 caster, and 0 toe, they actually started moving the alignment cams and not just toe and go.