TedH

I noted in my recent trip to the local tire store that the alignment services quoted on the 'services/rates board' cover front-end 'thrust' alignment. Further investigation determined that in order to get a full front-end alignment, I would pay 3 times the cost of a thrust alignment. Is this reasonable?

Example, thrust alignment $49. After taking in my vette, I was advised that an alignment would take 1.5 hours or $150 ($50 per hour). It would appear that thrust alignments are very popular these days. Is that due to a change in the geometry of the front suspensions on newer strut, front-drive cars?

I'm now wondering if $150 for the front end caster/camber/toe alignment is actually reasonable...

Need a little education here.

TedH

Just got more info from Sears Auto Center. 1980 Vette alignment is 'more difficult' than normal cars. So, instead of the $60 Sears charges, I'll have to pay $90. That's cheaper than the $150 from the place down the street (both are about the same distance from home).

I'll be there 7:55am this Saturday with the coffee and donuts...

Larry B.

Ted... If you are getting front and rear aligned the price sounds about right. Just for the front should be around $40-$50 at most shops. Some shops don't know how to do anything except "toe" Sad but true...The local F*** stone shop can't or won't align Corvettes. Several shops just didn't know how to do the "castor/camber" set up so I ended up doing my own.(that was several years ago. Keep in mind that our Corvettes are just like 40 million older GM products out there. It defies logic....Now I do them quick and easy.. It is just frustrating to deal with these new generation of service centers that haven't a clue what they are doing.


[Modified by bluevetteman, 10:40 AM 5/4/2004]

PureSilver

Thrust alignment has to do with the car 'crabbing' down the road. you can get the front aligned, but if the back is out some (especially true on front-drive vehicles) it will go kind of sideways. that happens with aligning the front only.

I think the 'Vette is relatively immune to thrust problems, but does require more work in aligning as you are setting toe & camber on the back as well as the front.

PureSilver

Check with your local 'Vette club or someone like VanSteel (he's across the
Bay in Clearwater) for a reference on a good independent shop. A knowledgeable mechanic is worth the price.

Then, avoid the potholes!

zwede

All the newer alignment machines do thrust alignments. What it means is they set the front end relative to the rear wheels instead of the body. Older machines set the front wheels relative to the body and if everything wasn't square on the chassis you ended up with a car that went down the road sideways (I think they call it "crabbing").

$90 for a 4-wheel Corvette alignment sounds about right. Be sure this includes setting the rear toe. Some shops consider rear toe to not be adjustable on a C3 which is BS.

73 Vet

bluevetteman: I'd love to do my own alignment, but it seems to require a bunch of "special" equipment. True? Have you any instuctions/how to that you can share?

Thank you. :cheers:


[Modified by 73 Vet, 7:42 AM 5/4/2004]

TedH

Believe it or not, the rear camber/toe alignment set me back $202 (that included mounting/balancing of my left rear tire on a new wheel after I bent it slamming against a curb doing a 180; unplanned). The GoodYear shop that performed the rear alignment wanted another $150 to do the front. My impression is that the majority of service centers lack the experience with the older vettes so it costs more than it once did. I definitely want the full alignment on the front end since both wheels rode up on the curb (I'm probably lucky I didn't dent the oil pan or worse).

Frank75

Doing your own alignments isn't that hard but certainly not as convenient as dropping the car off at a shop. Of course, you have to trust the shop a lot. A lot of members seemed to have problems with shops not understanding vette rear suspensions. If you're interested, do a search as this has been discussed a lot in previous posts. I did mine with a laser line level, camber/caster gauge and a few other tools easily obtainable. If your suspension parts are old/rusted it'll probably be a lot harder to get things apart though so you might have to plan for other work. Norval has done several posts on this subject and other members probably have as well (but his are the ones I remember!)

good luck!

Marv

Ted-

To avoid getting burned find someone that knows what the heck they are doing-usually NOT a chain store.
I'd recommend using the yellow pages to find a frame repair and/or alignment shop in your area that you can trust. We have 2 or 3 independent shops here in Omaha where I would take my car so I'd bet you have some too. The one I use just charged me $49 to check my front alignment and center the steering wheel after my power steering valve rebuild(done by me). This was done while I waited. This shop works on exotics to trucks and really know their business. It's apparent by just looking at the jobs they have in progress. Good luck.

Marv-

bmar

I took my 77 into a Les Scwabe tire for an alignment and they were not to excited about working on a car that was 25 years old. i told them i had just rebuilt the front end and had the trailing arms rebuilt also. that changed their attitude completely. I even had a box of shims for the trailing arms. seems they don't like busting rust anymore than we do.
i asked the tech how much experience he had on 25 year old Corvettes and if he knew what he was doing? his reply was "whats to know, i plug in the make, model and year and the alignment equipment tells me what to do and when it's right". that is all he did and the machine told him everything he needed to do.

Wrencher

That's funny! Sure, all the new machines have the software and walk you through it (we have a Hunter 4 wheel setup), but you would like to have someone that know the in's and out's of the actual work! Try and find someone that does roadrace or tuner cars. They can generally think out of the "box" (meaning software) and give you what you want.

Besides, the stock spec's leave a bit to be desired. I run 1/4 degree negative front and 1/2 degree neg. rear camber with the rear toe stock and the front toe straight up 0 degrees. I like the quicker turn-in and I can keep the stock caster settings. I also run the VB&P struts on the rear level with the axle, with the ride height set so axle is level with me sitting in the car. Still need a spreader bar up front to secure the upper control arms....

Hans

Dk Met Grn 80 L82

I also have an 80. Mine ran $150 at GY for a 4 wheel alignment. The local chevy dealer quoted around the same price. I stayed with the GY dealer since I was putting on tires at the same time. Seemed to work out ok. I thought the cost was high at the time.

MEAN72

I took my 72 to a large local tire shop and they refused to align it saying the car was older then most of his workforce. I then went back to my "old" alignment shop, with all new computeer equipment, and he aligned both front and rear for $50. :smash:

BacaBill

I forgot who said it but for $49 to set your steering wheel straight,,, it would have taken more time to compensate the heads than to do the toe set (tie rod adjustment). I'll do them all day long in my shop. Rear toe is what the PIA is on our cars, you have to remove the wheel to gain access to the trailing arm shims, atleast I did when I did mine. Rear camber is a breeze with the cam bolts, front camber/caster can be "fun" if anything is tweaked/bent. FYI, most shops have to seperate the 4wheel & thrust-angle alignments on their price board now because SEARS got caught doing front adjustments ONLY & charging people for 4 wheel aligns. Almost every car out there is 4 wheel alignmet capable, MOST of the time, you need afteramrket shims or cam bolts or wedges to adjust. ALOT of time, only the front toe is adjustable from the factory, requiring cam bolts in the struts or welds to be removed (most Fords) or notches cut out of the frame (most GM trucks). It's not unheard of to spend $330 on an alignmet if all 4 wheels need aftermarket part &/or labor to get the adjustments where they belong. That reminds me, I'm glad I have the shop to do these things.
ps: my aligner cost about $35,000, & yes, it walks you thru every step with videos if needed.


[Modified by BacaBill, 11:40 PM 5/4/2004]


[Modified by BacaBill, 11:41 PM 5/4/2004]

bmar

the tech at les scwab tire had aligned a few corvettes before, which explains why he wasn't to thrilled to do another. you can be sure that in little Libby, Montana they are not seeing three or four Corvettes a day :smash:

TedH

ah, the $49 was the quote for front-end alignment for other cars (not my vette). The GoodYear tire shop (Long Tire, Tampa FL) was asking $150 for the vette front end alignment ONLY. I paid about $150 for the rear end alignment (before mount/balance of left rear tire on replacement wheel).

I'm wondering if I shouldn't just pay the $150 now that others don't recommend using a 'chain' store (Sears Auto Center). Sears quoted $90 for the front end alignment...

BlueL36

Go for a 4-wheel alignment. I recently got a 4-wheel alignment on my C3 for $99. Garage used a Hunter alignment machine to do the job. I thought the rear was fine and I would only need to check toe-in on the front (since I changed out my relay rod this past winter) but learned that all four wheels needed some tweaking, rear included. Glad I had it done- rides much better. I chose this garage because when I had my C5 tires changed, I got a 4-wheel alignment done at the same time. I asked if they did the older 'vettes, and the owner showed me a C2 he was doing a complete suspension rebuild on.

TedH

4-wheel at GoodYear, if I have them go ahead and do the front is going to set me back a total of $300... That's why I had them just do rear. It was $150... :crazy: That's why I figured I'd get a second estimate on front-end only... $90 at Sears. I'll re-check and see if that includes rear... probably not.

TedH

Just checked. The $90 at Sears Auto Center is 4-wheel alignment. Since the rear is essentially done (by GoodYear for $150...) I'll take it there early Saturday with the measurements and see if Sears can improve on it. That way, it should all check out once and for all. I'll be sure to get the measurements/settings after they finish for safekeeping.

BTW, whenever I've taken a car to Sears Auto Center, they have done good work. I tend to limit the service to Tires/Alignment work only.