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      03-15-2018, 11:57 AM   #1
romnation
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Should I get the car aligned at a dealer? Or is a reputable shop good enough?

Is it worth going to the dealer for the expensive alignment? I just got new PSS's and want to get an alignment to prevent any premature wear.
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      03-15-2018, 12:13 PM   #2
GoodMoodley
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Any reputable shop should suffice if you are on stock suspension. If you are lowered, camber plates etc... then you may want to use a shop that is familiar with modified suspension.
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      03-15-2018, 03:33 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by romnation View Post
Is it worth going to the dealer for the expensive alignment? I just got new PSS's and want to get an alignment to prevent any premature wear.
I'd actually recommend getting it done at the dealership. I haven't had good luck with other shops when it comes to alignments
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      03-15-2018, 03:43 PM   #4
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You can have good/bad techs at both the dealer and independents. Really depends on the tech doing the job. At least at the dealer though, they likely have a very good machine, well, at least some of them do.

All of the MB/Honda/BMW alignments in our group are done by one guy at our MB dealer, they have an OK machine. Here at Acura, we are attached to our body shop, and we have a new OE BMW machine, it is flipping amazing. Most of the techs here I would not trust to do an alignment on my own car. A lot of them just set the front toe and throw it out.
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      03-15-2018, 03:53 PM   #5
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I go to indy alignment shop simply because I track/autox my other car and they will do custom alignments. Some shops won't go outside of factory specs due to liability issues.

If you just need a standard alignment, I'd say go with someplace that you trust and has a good reputation. You'll probably pay more at the dealer...
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      03-15-2018, 05:55 PM   #6
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      03-15-2018, 07:25 PM   #7
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      03-15-2018, 07:57 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech View Post
You can have good/bad techs at both the dealer and independents. Really depends on the tech doing the job. At least at the dealer though, they likely have a very good machine, well, at least some of them do.

All of the MB/Honda/BMW alignments in our group are done by one guy at our MB dealer, they have an OK machine. Here at Acura, we are attached to our body shop, and we have a new OE BMW machine, it is flipping amazing. Most of the techs here I would not trust to do an alignment on my own car. A lot of them just set the front toe and throw it out.
In the USofA... the grease monkeys tend to say... "Set the toe and let her go"!! lol


I used to work at a dealership... where one "tech" would do a good alignment on his own car... make like 30 printouts... then when a car came in for an four wheel alignment... he would only adjust the toe. Hand in one of his preprinted alignment forms and collect his gravy. He was a real POS... but he turned in the hours... so management was happy. He made big money for his side of the shop. I wanted nothing to do with him.

Like you said their are good techs and bad ones. And a lot depends on the machine said shop is using.

This last summer I had a BMW dealer do a four wheel alignment... afterwards I was amazed on how much better the car tracked at high speeds(>150 mph). My car was always a little quirely at those speeds... but what ever they did to the rear alignment it worked wonders on my car!

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      03-15-2018, 08:10 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by olds350 View Post
I go to indy alignment shop simply because I track/autox my other car and they will do custom alignments. Some shops won't go outside of factory specs due to liability issues.

If you just need a standard alignment, I'd say go with someplace that you trust and has a good reputation. You'll probably pay more at the dealer...
A four wheel alignment from a reputable Indy is usually only about 20-40 dollars cheaper than from the dealership. At least that has been my experience. I'd argue that the 20-30 extra for quality work from the dealership is well worth it. That's just from my experience though
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      03-15-2018, 09:36 PM   #10
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I had a 4 wheel alignment done at NTB. They did a good job. I could really feel the difference.
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      03-15-2018, 09:41 PM   #11
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I prefer a good suspension & alignment shop.
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      03-16-2018, 09:29 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GoodMoodley View Post
Any reputable shop should suffice if you are on stock suspension. If you are lowered, camber plates etc... then you may want to use a shop that is familiar with modified suspension.
This. All day.

I'm sure there is more than one speed shop in Chicago.
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      03-16-2018, 06:57 PM   #13
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I tend to prefer BMW alignments. My dealership still weights the car as spec'd (with bags of ballast). Also, my last time around, I saw that the tech made notes that my car has lots of M3 suspension pieces on the alignment sheet. I asked my SA if I could have that tech ALWAYS because he is observant!
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      03-17-2018, 10:13 AM   #14
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I found an alignment guy through my local autocross group. He works at a PepBoys but I just request him to work on my car with a custom alignment. Don't know where I'll go when he moves on, but I'm sure the autoX group will have another recommendation.
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      03-18-2018, 09:29 AM   #15
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Independent shop. Use yelp to find a good one.

But for tire wear the most important thing is tire pressure, especially making sure you don't underinflate. For PSS I suggest 42 PSI. Re-adjust once a month.
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      03-19-2018, 11:12 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by germ View Post
Independent shop. Use yelp to find a good one.

But for tire wear the most important thing is tire pressure, especially making sure you don't underinflate. For PSS I suggest 42 PSI. Re-adjust once a month.
Extreme tire wear is mostly caused by excessive toe. Blowouts are caused by significant under inflation or a severely overloaded tire/vehicle.

42 is quite high. I run 32-34 front and 38-40 rear.
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      03-19-2018, 07:15 PM   #17
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I think you'll be disappointing in most indy shops. It's hard to get our cars feeling "dialed in" unless done by a professional. Call around, maybe your local BMW dealer has the best alignment machine for your car. It really depends on how picky you are.
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      10-02-2023, 10:10 PM   #18
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Does anyone know how much dealership charge for wheel alignment for F10 RWD...and for RWD will they do all 4 wheels?
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