Alignment cost, did I get hosed?

[wayoflife]

I only had it done when I installed my lift/tires and balljoints to make sure all my camber/toe was on point. Im sure I could have done it myself, but it was just a time saver.

Unlike the TJ before, your toe will NEVER change on a JK unless you bend the tie-rod. Unless you install adjustable ball joints, your camber will not change unless you have a bent end forging or axle tube. There is NOTHING that an alignment shop can do about this. Neither of these thing are things you even need to do yourself UNLESS one of the before mentioned has occurred.

 

[WJCO]

WTF!! I would demand a refund just based on that!! Cam bolts will NOT change your toe at all and they basically charged you to jack up your axle mount holes. The numbers you have will PROVE that they did NOTHING. God, this just pisses me off to hear.

Agreed. Don't need no stinking bolts to adjust toe. And if caster didn't change at all, I would think if anything, that's what the bolts would change. And camber, can't change camber at all I don't think except with adjustable ball joints. Either way, sorry buddy, not looking good for what happened. Maybe you can sell those space-alloy-metal bolts to NASA and get some $ back.

By the way, what was your original complaint when you took it in?

 

[NFRs2000NYC]

Unlike the TJ before, your toe will NEVER change on a JK unless you bend the tie-rod. Unless you install adjustable ball joints, your camber will not change unless you have a bent end forging or axle tube. There is NOTHING that an alignment shop can do about this. Neither of these thing are things you even need to do yourself UNLESS one of the before mentioned has occurred.

Doh, I remembered why I did the alignment....when i was trying to recenter my wheel, I accidentally adjusted my toe instead by twisting the wrong thing....obviously, since I wasn't keeping track of what I was doing toe-wise, I screwed it up and wanted them to fix it. Now, stupid question....does your alignment not get knocked out of wack from general driving, hitting bumps, etc? I was under the impression (apparently an incorrect one) that even if your alignment is dead on, just putting miles on the jeep will throw it out of wack eventually. Am I misunderstanding something? Not gonna lie, kinda feel pretty fvcking dumb about the whole thing, especially on my previous 2012 Sahara that I had aligned twice as part of good maintenance habits.

 

[WJCO]

Doh, I remembered why I did the alignment....when i was trying to recenter my wheel, I accidentally adjusted my toe instead by twisting the wrong thing....obviously, since I wasn't keeping track of what I was doing toe-wise, I screwed it up and wanted them to fix it. Now, stupid question....does your alignment not get knocked out of wack from general driving, hitting bumps, etc? I was under the impression (apparently an incorrect one) that even if your alignment is dead on, just putting miles on the jeep will throw it out of wack eventually. Am I misunderstanding something? Not gonna lie, kinda feel pretty fvcking dumb about the whole thing, especially on my previous 2012 Sahara that I had aligned twice as part of good maintenance habits.

Parts do wear over time. I've kind of been a guy that does an alignment once a year just for maintenance, but theoretically on a solid axle vehicle, alignment shouldn't change unless something is bent or parts really wear out.

 

[jeeeep]

holy shit! you got hosed, if you did not pre-authorize them to install those cam bolts that do nothing, I'd take it back and ask for a refund and for them to put it back the way it was.
They will likely say know so file a complaint with your start consumer board or contact the TV consumer person and tell them about unauthorized repairs, shops hate negative publicity.

When I'm feeling lazy and want to get my alignment back on track or the steering wheel straight again after wheeling, the place I go to charges me $25 because even they know there is minimal adjustments they can do. they still put up the laser plates and go through the whole alignment process.

on a side note, I find that the 37's seem to require more alignment maintenance after wheeling than the 315's I had on it :beer:

 

[OverlanderJK]

Doh, I remembered why I did the alignment....when i was trying to recenter my wheel, I accidentally adjusted my toe instead by twisting the wrong thing....obviously, since I wasn't keeping track of what I was doing toe-wise, I screwed it up and wanted them to fix it. Now, stupid question....does your alignment not get knocked out of wack from general driving, hitting bumps, etc? I was under the impression (apparently an incorrect one) that even if your alignment is dead on, just putting miles on the jeep will throw it out of wack eventually. Am I misunderstanding something? Not gonna lie, kinda feel pretty fvcking dumb about the whole thing, especially on my previous 2012 Sahara that I had aligned twice as part of good maintenance habits.

Negative. Unless your tie rod is bent or ball joints are warn out nothing will change. It's a lot different from an IFS car.

 

[geberhard]

.........dealer .......

It depends did they use platinum

or gold

or bedazzled..cambolts?

 

[wayoflife]

Doh, I remembered why I did the alignment....when i was trying to recenter my wheel, I accidentally adjusted my toe instead by twisting the wrong thing....obviously, since I wasn't keeping track of what I was doing toe-wise, I screwed it up and wanted them to fix it. Now, stupid question....does your alignment not get knocked out of wack from general driving, hitting bumps, etc? I was under the impression (apparently an incorrect one) that even if your alignment is dead on, just putting miles on the jeep will throw it out of wack eventually. Am I misunderstanding something? Not gonna lie, kinda feel pretty fvcking dumb about the whole thing, especially on my previous 2012 Sahara that I had aligned twice as part of good maintenance habits.

Parts do wear over time. I've kind of been a guy that does an alignment once a year just for maintenance, but theoretically on a solid axle vehicle, alignment shouldn't change unless something is bent or parts really wear out.

Negative. Unless your tie rod is bent or ball joints are warn out nothing will change. It's a lot different from an IFS car.

What WJCO and OverlanderJK said. On a solid axle, unless you have bent or worn out components, nothing should change.

 

[WJCO]

if you did not pre-authorize them to install those cam bolts that do nothing, I'd take it back and ask for a refund and for them to put it back the way it was.

He's got a point. If they advertised or quoted you a price when you came in "alignment special 59.95" and then did these bolts with out authorization......then you can get your money back most likely with a little fight. I would get pictures of the new bolts. I'm guessing they are the bolts that hold the lower control arm to axle mount, I don't know what else they could be. This would be to supposedly adjust your caster which you said the alignment sheet didn't show changed much. If indeed that is where the bolts are and your spec sheet shows nothing changed, you've got a pretty solid case.

If things go south, try to get ahold of the service manager. It's their job to deal with things like this.

 

[NFRs2000NYC]

Negative. Unless your tie rod is bent or ball joints are warn out nothing will change. It's a lot different from an IFS car.

Well slap my ass and call me Susie...glad I posted in this thread. Today I learned.:thumb:

 

[WJCO]

Well slap my ass and call me Susie...

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[NFRs2000NYC]

What WJCO and OverlanderJK said. On a solid axle, unless you have bent or worn out components, nothing should change.

Thanks for the education, I feel like a dumbass, but at least now I know.

 

[NFRs2000NYC]

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Two chicks at the same time man, that's what I thought getting an alignment done would get me.

 

[WJCO]

Two chicks at the same time man, that's what I thought getting an alignment done would get me.

It's an assumption we all make.

 

[NFRs2000NYC]

This should be a sticky....people need to know not to pay for alignments.

 

[geberhard]

on a more serious note, and no butt kissing this is a darn good write-up:

http://wayalife.com/showthread.php?3861-Basic-Do-it-Yourself-Jeep-JK-Wrangler-Front-End-Alignment

EDIt: side off-topic note, this ruler probably was subliminally responsible for this site, Eddy!

Growing up I remember many rulers when I misbehaved, lol

 

[Sharkey]

On the upside (insert sarcastic look), the dealership will probably flag your Jeep when you complain.

I would be one unhappy hombre if someone installed cam bolts without my consent.

 

[bowtech50]

UPDATE: I went to the dealer and complained, and was able to recover $132.00 dollars for the cam bolt kit and get my stock bolts back from them. They did not drill out anything, so I can put them back in and they told me to keep the cam bolt kit. So I paid $89.95 for an alignment I did not need. I fairness to my original post and the cost being $368.00, I found out something else that has me even more pissed off. The original trip to the dealer was due to the fact that my electronic sway bar would not disconnect, and to check the alignment. I thought the swaybar thing was a warrenty issue. They told me today the $125.00 of the bill was to diagnose the issue, and they got it to disconnect on the lift. So they charged me a flat fee, since it was fine!!! I have not tried it myself but I will after work today.

 

[wayoflife]

UPDATE: I went to the dealer and complained, and was able to recover $132.00 dollars for the cam bolt kit and get my stock bolts back from them. They did not drill out anything, so I can put them back in and they told me to keep the cam bolt kit. So I paid $89.95 for an alignment I did not need. I fairness to my original post and the cost being $368.00, I found out something else that has me even more pissed off. The original trip to the dealer was due to the fact that my electronic sway bar would not disconnect, and to check the alignment. I thought the swaybar thing was a warrenty issue. They told me today the $125.00 of the bill was to diagnose the issue, and they got it to disconnect on the lift. So they charged me a flat fee, since it was fine!!! I have not tried it myself but I will after work today.

Glad to hear you were able to recover some of your cost. I would verify that they didn't "notch out" your axle mounts as that's what would have been done to install cam bolts. If they did like they were supposed to, you will want to get that welded up. If they didn't and just charged you to do a whole lot of nothing, I might look for another dealership for future work. This is assuming they haven't flagged your Jeep.

BTW, a speed related shimmy is almost always a tire balancing issues - NOT an alignment issue.

 

[bowtech50]

Thanks for all who replied, and yes I will be changing dealers in the future. The notch you speak of has me puzzled? According to the mechanic, he took the bottom axle side lower control arm bolts out and slid the cam bolts in? They are still in there at this moment, but I don`t see any grinder marks? And I asked him straight up if he drilled anything out and he said no.