Tire discounters can’t align my Dart.

doogievlg said
I dropped of my Swinger on Wednesday for an alignment. Got a call the next day asking what parts my front end came from. They could tell everything was new because I installed all new moog parts and new shocks. Upper control arm came from another dart and the LCA never came off the car. Zero after market parts besides the moog and one caliper. He tells me they can’t get it aligned but they are having someone else work on it the rest of the week. Got a call today and they said it’s as close as they can get. I asked for the numbers and of course they “couldn’t” get them to me after hours. Drove the car 2 miles home and it’s pulling to the right like crazy and I can see the difference in camber. They charged me $150. At this point I’m not taking the car back there but do I ask for my money back for such a trash job or be lucky that after working on it for so long they only charged me $150.

I took my 1940 Ford Fordor in to have the wheels balanced. They said they could not as a wheel was bent. It was, but they had a good used one. Then they said the tires were cupped from the unbalance and I needed 2 new tires. OK. So one wheel and two tires I thought an alignment would be a good plan. Had to go back the next day as they had no time. It has a Mustang 2 front end in it.
So I arrived the next afternoon and explained to the counter salesman and the mechanic that nothing annoyed me more than getting a car back from an alignment and the steering wheel is not straight. I asked if he wanted me to sit in it and make sure the wheel was straight. Nope. They should have a tool to clamp on the steering wheel to hold it straight and adjust the front end to that. Well I watched the mechanic in the middle of the process, reach up and tweak the wheel a bit. When driving home the wheel was off about 1 1/2" to the right. Normally the crown in the road causes you to turn a bit left if anything. It tracked straight and did not pull left or right so caster and camber were good. I was so mad after telling them that error infuriated me, that I did not dare return as I would have started punching stupid or llights out of them. Went out to my rented storage and turned one tierod adjuster to lengthen and the other to shorten, and went for a drive. Still off some gave both a bit more until the wheel was centered. Adjusted both the same amount to keep toein the same. About 5 years later I noticed the treads were wearing like toe was out, so went for another alignment at a different shop. I had moved and would not go to the other anyway. Yup, too much toein, but equal on both sides. Told them the story then. Obviously he put too much toein in first time. Turning the wheel on the rack he adjusted incorrectly. Drives me nuts as being a mechanic, an alignment is a fairly straight forward operation. Best let your friends know the shop.
The pat answer/excuse is differences in the crown can cause the car to pullone way or the other. Works for the unknowing but not on me.