[BWeir49221]

Took my 1le in to my local dealership to have an alignment since I just put new tires on. I provided the advisor with the spec settings I wanted, which were basically the GM track specs, but with 0 front toe. With 9800 miles on it now, I wanted to be sure that the tires would wear as evenly as possible.

I had the appointment made over 1 week in advance for 0815. Service advisor told me to allow for about 1.5hrs. Actually, I was told that by two different guys there. I was waiting for it, but had no issue waiting a couple hours. Two hours went by, then 2.5 hours. I had another appointment at 1030 and ended up calling a moving it to noon. The service manager finally came out and said the tech is still working on it. I told him about my other appointment I had to move once already and asked if it would be done by then. He said he should be done in no more than 45min, hopefully sooner.

Right at 1145, manager comes back out and says it’s all done and begins to cash me out. He goes over the alignment printout and says they were unable to get the front out to -2. One side was -1.8 and the other -1.9. He said GM gives a tolerance from the target number, so they are within that. I asked if they knocked the splines bolts out and tried and he said they did, however, reading his face, I don’t think they did that at all. I was charged for all new TTY hardware (this was discussed a week prior and manager said he would order them). Total bill was right at $150+tax. Labor was only around $60.

I was fine with price (previously quoted), but was not good with the time it took and the fact that after 3.5hrs, they still didn’t achieve the measly GM specs. To beat all, the tech never printed the before specs, so I have no idea what it looked like before.

What do you guys think about this? Had any experiences similar? All the alignments I’ve had done over the years have been on 4x4 vehicles, trucks and suvs. None have taken this long. I’m strongly thinking about reaching out to the general manager at the dealership, as it’s worthless to talk to the service manager anymore.

This dealership location is owned by same guy who owns them in several counties within KY. This particular location has several Corvettes and ZL1’s sitting around, so I figured they have at least done some work on them.

[WhiteMale]

I forget what 1LE track spec was but it indeed does not sound like they pushed those out past the splines. I think you can only 2 degrees without doing that. I'd be happy that they got it L/R so close though.

[Christian1LE]

Dealerships suck, I found a local shop near me that always does a great job and it takes them about 45 minutes. I don't always buy new hardware and I've been tracking my car for the 3rd year now. I did end up changing the hardware this year (about 1 month ago) when I switched over to the ZLE suspension though but I think the old bolts were fine.

[BWeir49221]

I stopped back by the dealership this afternoon and spoke to the service manager. I wanted to get a copy of the specs it was set to. He said it took so long because they installed the new bolts. Then he said, he thought mine was the first they had done an alignment on. Not sure what that meant? He said on other cars like this, they usually just reuse the old hardware.

When I made the appointment, we discussed the fasteners and he said insurance wouldn’t allow him to,reuse TTY items. That’s why I ended up getting new. Then today, he said they always reuse. Who knows what they do.

I am happy that side to side specs are so close, even the toe. Service manager said he even helped tech push on top of wheel and still only managed -1.8/-1.9. I guess next time an alignment is due, I’ll find somewhere else. Hopefully I have pretty even tire wear now. No track use at the moment, just semi-aggressive street use.

[cdb95z28]

Don't go to a dealer. You'd think they were on the know, but they usually are not. But finding someone who is detailed oriented and willing to work with you on the specs YOU want is the toughest part. Short of doing alignments yourself (I do my own), you'll always be at the mercy of someone else. Sounds like you are very educated on the process for these cars and that's a great thing to keeping them honest. Lets hope they torqued everything to spec and got the toe correct.

[BWeir49221]

Since they apparently have never done an alignment on this car model, manager said they both had to look up the process and see which bolts needed replacing. Fingers crossed that they made note of the torque specs while reading up on it.

[Spaceme1117]

Find an independent shop or preferably a performance shop that can do alignments.

Trusting your car to the monkeys at a stealership, you are lucky they didn't destroy something.

And the vast majority of cars use 1-use TTY fasteners on the suspension parts. The fact the stealership does not know this (and other things) clearly demonstrates they are idiots.

[Dabjbr]

I took my car to the dealer. But my rep and his mechanic were abnormally good. I had previously ground down the knuckles to get more camber and installed rear toe links. Then took it to the dealer. Here’s the result…

[kropscamaro16]

i would never go to a dealer for alignment i barely trust them to do oil changes on my vehicles and thats about it

[arpad_m]

Originally Posted by kropscamaro16

i would never go to a dealer for alignment i barely trust them to do oil changes on my vehicles and thats about it

It depends on their staff. The dealer I go to has an absolute rock star service writer/tech (he's a racer, too, who knows how to win), and he does a fantastic job with everything. He did my last alignment and it's impeccable.

[BWeir49221]

Originally Posted by arpad_m

It depends on their staff. The dealer I go to has an absolute rock star service writer/tech (he's a racer, too, who knows how to win), and he does a fantastic job with everything. He did my last alignment and it's impeccable.

I agree- there are a few select dealerships that have great techs. Unfortunately, I found one with morons. I haven’t had the best luck with independent shops either. They seem to tear up their fair share as well.

[FactoryMatt]

these take a loong time to do. doesn't seem like they should, but they do. and they're hard to get right.

[dpevans]

I guess I am pretty lucky I have taken my cars and trucks to a local shop for years and when I got into tracking the guys that do the alignments were more than helpful in understanding what I was doing and when I asked about setting up camber plates they went above and beyond on explaining how they do it. You can tell who the car guys are and who just reads the machine. I feel blessed to have a these guys.

[cdb95z28]

Originally Posted by Dabjbr

I took my car to the dealer. But my rep and his mechanic were abnormally good. I had previously ground down the knuckles to get more camber and installed rear toe links. Then took it to the dealer. Here’s the result…

That right there is an excellent result