Question about front end alignment on a Chevy Express Van?

Question

I have a 1997 Chevy Express 1/2 ton van. I brought it in for an alignment today. The mechanic tole me that the "first alignment" is more involved and he explained that he needs to switch the upper control arms with each other before he can adjust the caster and camber. He wanted $300 for this. The van is 10 years old but I only had it for 2 years so I don't know if this is the first alignment ever but he claims to know that from looking at it. Does this sound like the normal way to do the "first" alignment? I told him to just set the toe-in ($75) and to wait on the caster and camber so I can check this out. What's your opinion?

Answer 1

If you didn't have abnormal front tire wear or hard pulling left or right on a flat highway road, then you didn't need an alignment in my opinion. Don't forget that a bad tire in the front can make it pull one way or the other. So have him rotate the tires and forget the alignment. One further point is that if he had a modern alignment machine, he could have given you a printout of the alignment settings when he put the truck on the machine. Then you could compare the readings to the specs and you might decide they're good enough without him ever having to turn a wrench! I think many vehicles are ok once they put them on the machine, but they charge you for an alignment anyways. Finally, on a vehicle that old, the steering component tolerances are probably so worn that you can't do a proper alignment until those components are replaced.

Answer 2

Yeah, $75 for setting the toe-in is a rip off. Anyhow, charging $300 for doing the knock-outs is ridiculous. It might take him...45 minutes to do the knock-outs on both side. He shouldn't be able to tell if they have been done without trying to move them, as the cams will cover up the slots. So basically, I would take it somewhere else.

Anyway, on the 'first alignment', if needed, one has to take an impact hammer and a chisel, or a special tool, to knock out imprinted metal to allow the upper control arm bolts to move freely. It really isn't that difficult, so I don't know why he would want 300 dollars to do it.

The hourly rate is going to be more depending on where you live (city or rural), so that is going to have some influence, but I really can't imagine anyone charging you more than 120 dollars for doing the knock-outs and the alignment. In a rural area, you should be looking at prices around 60 dollars or so.

Find another mechanic.

Answer 3

Go somewhere else. He's blowin' smoke.
And $75.00 to adjust the toe-in is way off-base, unless there is damage he is trying to accommodate. Most shops charge that or less for the whole alignment (front end only).

Answer 4

The assertion "because of the brakes, the grasp cylinder grew to become into replaced and it affected the alignment" is ridiculous. the two the venture grew to become into lots, lots, greater than changing purely the grasp cylinder, (like replace of guidance knuckles or spindles) or the guy repairing the truck had no clue what they have been doing. yet another probability is that the brakes pull to a minimum of one area because of the fact of undesirable restoration/maintenence.

Answer 5

I'm not gonna tell you he doesn't know what he is talking about, but I've never heard of anything like that before... I'd get another opinion...