Why do alignment shops suck

[07TrailyLS]

@Capote i know your lowered more than I am so this is why I'm asking you this. Has a shop ever given you the run around with your front end alignment and not being able to do it or not being able to get it in spec or yada yada? I lowered this truck 2 and a half years ago with belltechs 2/4 drop along with Tony's upper A arms. Since then I've replaced the rest of the front suspension. Literally everything. All acdelco and moog. It's brand new. I have yet to get this thing aligned because I cannot find a shop that knows what they're talking about. I talked to the most reputable shop around my area (Toledo Ohio) this afternoon and this guy is telling me over the phone that the trailblazers camber can't get messed up while lowering. I stopped him right there and thanked him and hung up. Now with me being the savvy mechanically inclined (insert heavy sarcasm) guy that I am. Just by driving and how my tires are wearing I can tell my drivers side is cambered decently. And my passenger tire is wearing normally but has lots of feathering. That tells me my toes off and the drivers side tire is trying to drag the passenger tire which is why I have a light shake at highway speeds. I've never taken my truck to a shop before EVER. I fix and learn all by myself since knowledge is power (sarcasm again). So for
The sake of someone messing my whole front end up , do any of you guys know a good shop within Ohio or lower Michigan where I can take this truck to and get it aligned without sweating bullets and having to look over their shoulders? Thanks for the read guys. I just had to rant that out

 

[littleblazer]

The place I had luck with was a legit truck shop that does springs and commercial vehicles. I'm talking 4500 and larger stuff on a regular basis. We sent the utility body there a few years ago and they said they did alignments. So after I did my front end I called them up and they had no problem aligning the truck. Now I'm not in your location at all and I'm not lowered but I'd suggest finding an independent fleet shop like that and see if they'll do it. They deal with machines far more complex and will probably appreciate the break.

 

[07TrailyLS]

Good idea thanks man.

 

[littleblazer]

No problem. They treated it as a 1500 pickup so whatever they charge for that is what you'll pay.

 

[Tiggerr]

@Capote i know your lowered more than I am so this is why I'm asking you this. Has a shop ever given you the run around with your front end alignment and not being able to do it or not being able to get it in spec or yada yada? I lowered this truck 2 and a half years ago with belltechs 2/4 drop along with Tony's upper A arms. Since then I've replaced the rest of the front suspension. Literally everything. All acdelco and moog. It's brand new. I have yet to get this thing aligned because I cannot find a shop that knows what they're talking about. I talked to the most reputable shop around my area (Toledo Ohio) this afternoon and this guy is telling me over the phone that the trailblazers camber can't get messed up while lowering. I stopped him right there and thanked him and hung up. Now with me being the savvy mechanically inclined (insert heavy sarcasm) guy that I am. Just by driving and how my tires are wearing I can tell my drivers side is cambered decently. And my passenger tire is wearing normally but has lots of feathering. That tells me my toes off and the drivers side tire is trying to drag the passenger tire which is why I have a light shake at highway speeds. I've never taken my truck to a shop before EVER. I fix and learn all by myself since knowledge is power (sarcasm again). So for
The sake of someone messing my whole front end up , do any of you guys know a good shop within Ohio or lower Michigan where I can take this truck to and get it aligned without sweating bullets and having to look over their shoulders? Thanks for the read guys. I just had to rant that out

I've had pretty good luck with belle tire on 20 in Perrysburg...
I've heard there's a good 4wd shop in Holland too can't remember the name tho...

 

[07TrailyLS]

Looking up on YouTube tonight I came across a cool at home front end alignment how to from a track racer. Jack stands and some string. He and many people in the comments section swore it worked to the T. (Nearly 800 comments) Although this is only good for adjusting the toe, I'm going to try my luck tomorrow and see how tried and true it seems to be. If I'm not
Content I'll take it to the belle in perrysburg. I know there's at least a handful of guys here that still do the at home technique and swear by it. So it's worth a go to me at least.

 

[Capote]

@07TrailyLS I have never went to a shop to get an alignment, me and a friend do the whole tape measure deal. And he's very good at adjusting everything. I don't have stock Upper Control Arms either, they're custom made to adjust the Upper Ball Joint angle back to the normal position. I know a lot of shops act retarded when it comes to our TB's and alignments.

 

[07TrailyLS]

Thanks for the reply man. That makes me feel better when I hear someone else praise the driveway measuring technique

 

[Capote]

Thanks for the reply man. That makes me feel better when I hear someone else praise the driveway measuring technique

Only time I ever bring my rig to a shop is for a rotation lol. They still **** that up....

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

There is some good info on the offraodtb.com site about doing your own alignments. It is the same lifted or lowered just in opposite directions, but the methodology will transfer.

 

[Sparky]

What seems to throw a lot of places is they look at the upper arms, see no adjustment, then shrug and go "can't do it" without even considering to use their noggins and look at the lower arms.

 

[Capote]

What seems to throw a lot of places is they look at the upper arms, see no adjustment, then shrug and go "can't do it" without even considering to use their noggins and look at the lower arms.

And that's the ideology of most shops, they don't want to delve into things and do proper diagnoses.

 

[Tiggerr]

And that's the ideology of most shops, they don't want to delve into things and do proper diagnoses.

Too many don't have the proper knowledge to do so properly...