Im wondering if the $190 I spent this morning on an alignment is typical for a 'sports alignment' or I got bent over. I have the feeling I got bent over.
Sure it was a pretty good alignment at a top quality shop- Currys, but damn. (still a tenth off on a couple settings though)
$190 should have paid for 3 or 4 alignments


[Modified by elgorey, 2:38 PM 7/11/2002]

 

good god... I think my alignments usually run in the $60-70 range... I think...?

 

Funny you should ask, because I just had one done to my car today. I paid $85 -- it was done at a shop recommended by many of the local area Solo II and road race folks. $190 sounds hella expensive...

 

Do0D was that price with or without the tube of KY?? He did give joo a reach around at least right??

 

that had better have included cornerweighing. what was the price of their non sports alignment? did you ask what the sports alignment did extra? i struck up a deal with my alignment dude, Wrights Wheel and Alignment in San Pablo, CA for free alignments before every race for sponsorship. normally costs $60 for 4 wheel alignment which is a must for making sure your rears are referenced to the front.

 

Yeah...it's usually in the $60-70 range, and they usually do it right otherwise I don't pay them. In fact, my last one was free because they refused to do it right.

 

i always pay 59 bucks for my.................

 

I want to say that it's like $65 up here in VA. I paid about $50 at a performance shop down in FL that got the car aligned EXACTLY how I wanted it. Best place I've dealt with so far.

 

This was done by a reputable race shop, Curry's in Ashburn VA
I think some people racers on the board also go here.

It was $190 because it took the guy 2 hours to align it, so I got charged by the hour instead of a flat rate.

 

What type of car? What is needed to align it? How far out of alignment was it?

I ask because Hondas are pretty easy to align, even if you do have adj. arms.

But other cars, like my Chevy, are a pain in the ****. The control arm needs to be shimmed, so every adjustment requires loosening the arm, shifting it, inserting N shims, tightening it, and checking the machine. If the car is way out of alignment, it can take a while, especially if the tech doesn't know how many shims are required for X amount of adjustment.

Either way, $190 is steep. I had a shop try to charge $130 once. I told them to suck it. They dropped it to $90.

 

That's a BS answer... That's like saying "it took me 45 minutes to find your oil drain plug so we're going to have to charge you extra". Anyway, it's done now so there's not much point in worrying about it.

...don't go back though

 

i've paid $75 once, but it was for a little more than alignment. the last alignment i got cost me ~$50. sounds like you paid a good amount...

 

Evan, don't you have some sort of adjustable top mount now with your c/o system or camber plates? Maybe that was why it was so much... I do know that for a stock WRX, aligning it is a piece of cake since all you have to do in the front is loosen the bottom bolt and rotate the upper eccentric for camber and the front tie rods are pretty standard... and for the rear, you rotate the lower bolt to do your toe.

 

I have camber plates in the front, which are MUCH easier than the camber bolts that will change when you tighten them. It took him 5 min to do the front camber. Most of the time was spent with the rear camber (camber bolt) and toe. Every time he tightened it down it moved. and then he had to start over with the rear entirely because the camber shifted. I was there watching him the whole time (they actually encouraged me to come in and watch to that)

Seeing how delicate the setting were I seriously doubt the alignment held up for 5 minutes of regular driving.


[Modified by elgorey, 3:10 PM 7/11/2002]

 

I Love Sponsors with alignment shops.

 

I'll assume it is a WRX. That sounds awfully expensive. We have been known to charge some customers $80 for some auto-x alignments, but damn.

 

I know a lot of people really like that shop and maybe I'm way off base, but I've heard a few stories about people walking in the door wanting something "sport" or "for the track" and getting charged or quoted an amount that bordered on a sex crime.

I had a friend get quoted $1000 P&L for a job that took $150 and about 1.5-2 hours of his time (using parts that cost about 50% more than the OEM they were going to use)