Ever use Sears for alignment?
Dec 2, 2011, 11:06 AM
#16
Okay well I called around to a few local tire shops they charge a little less than sears but one only offers a month/1K mile warranty. Another doesn't offer a warranty at all. Sears at least offers a 6 month/6K mile warranty. I will let you guys know how it goes.
Last edited by S2K2EVO; Dec 2, 2011 at 11:10 AM.
Dec 2, 2011, 11:18 AM
#17
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I dont like those big 50 thousand dollar alignment racks.. When i had training on one i put my evo on there and got 2 different readings back to back without touching aything... I recently got the 300 dollar camber gauge thing, leveled my garage with plates, and us the string method and do me and my friends alignments now..
Dec 2, 2011, 11:30 AM
#18
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Just remember you get what you pay for. And sears has a horrible rep as far as anything goes. I only take my car to the best places, that care just as much about me and my car as I do.
Dec 2, 2011, 12:45 PM
#19
Despite some of the negative feedback, everything went great. It only took 30 to 45 minutes. They gave me a print out of the specs that were out of alignment and what they did to get things back in order. Everyone was nice and explained it all. Can't say I have any complaints. I told them before they started the work that I wanted to go on the test drive they didn't make a big deal out of it and were fine with everything.
The important thing is the car drives great and I get the 6 month/6K mile warranty. I guess its like a few said. Its all in who does the work and how they treat you that make the experience good or bad.
The important thing is the car drives great and I get the 6 month/6K mile warranty. I guess its like a few said. Its all in who does the work and how they treat you that make the experience good or bad.
Last edited by S2K2EVO; Dec 2, 2011 at 12:49 PM.
Dec 3, 2011, 07:55 PM
#21
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Hey I'm glad everything worked out for you bro. Good stuff. Though I'll never do it since a buddy of mine can do it for free. Guess I'm lucky there. Glad to hear something good from Sears...
Dec 4, 2011, 09:40 AM
#24
edit: oops. the tag "J/k" seems to pwn me. but the point stands for others who might be tempted.
Dec 6, 2011, 12:31 PM
#25
Sears
I work for a sears and yes it really depends on who does your alignment, If you get a good tech your alignment will be well worth it (they will match angles as possible, adjust front camber even though the manufacturer says you cant with stock equipment, and reset your Steering angle sensor- should be done with any alignment) if you get a new tech who doesn't know about all those things, you will still get an okay alignment. Another good thing is that many of the new stores have alignment racks which use tire-clamp on sensors, so there is almost no chance of damaging even the nicest wheels.
Dec 8, 2011, 07:57 AM
#26
I used to work for Sears for over 5 years, ended up working sales more than the shop because not everyone has social skills I guess.
However, most sears auto centers use Hunter alignment machines that are laser accurate, along with the nice nice hunter alignment lifts. It's true you can get a careless tech, you can get a busy tech, on average our alignment and suspension techs made dealership techs look bad. They weren't only knowledgeable but they were enthusiasts that understood why you don't want to align your daily driver like a track car.
Most of my time working the sales aspect I would still help out the work flow and pull a vehicle up, do it's rolling compensation so the the laser paddles would be ready to go for measurement and adjustment (but didn't finish because I didn't want to steal the techs commission since they are paid by the job, not only by the hour). When setting stuff up I couldn't tell you how many times I would find destroyed ball-joints, inner and outer tie-rod ends, or a rack with more slop than strippers in the little town I lived in at the time. Customers would refuse to spend the money to fix their suspension components and wouldn't understand that their alignment is going to have issues because stuff was loose.
Anyhow, those guys didn't just make the numbers go green on the machine, they understood how turn-in affects camber, how stability can change with your dave's point, and why some customers wanted a little toe-out on their rears for auto-x.
I believe for someone to get the most out of their alignment, they should be active with talking to the tech on what they are looking for. At Sears you can usually get some safety glasses and talk with the tech while they work, where as a dealership you probably won't even get the print out of where the alignment was even adjusted with before and after print-outs.
Sears management though...Seriously, I felt they treated their employees terribly. I watched so many co-workers get grief in the auto center because they looked dirty and would swear up a storm, and weren't good for the company image. Happiest day I had with them wasn't telling them I wasn't ever coming in to work for them again, but that day rated pretty high. If the management changed, it could be great again.
However, most sears auto centers use Hunter alignment machines that are laser accurate, along with the nice nice hunter alignment lifts. It's true you can get a careless tech, you can get a busy tech, on average our alignment and suspension techs made dealership techs look bad. They weren't only knowledgeable but they were enthusiasts that understood why you don't want to align your daily driver like a track car.
Most of my time working the sales aspect I would still help out the work flow and pull a vehicle up, do it's rolling compensation so the the laser paddles would be ready to go for measurement and adjustment (but didn't finish because I didn't want to steal the techs commission since they are paid by the job, not only by the hour). When setting stuff up I couldn't tell you how many times I would find destroyed ball-joints, inner and outer tie-rod ends, or a rack with more slop than strippers in the little town I lived in at the time. Customers would refuse to spend the money to fix their suspension components and wouldn't understand that their alignment is going to have issues because stuff was loose.
Anyhow, those guys didn't just make the numbers go green on the machine, they understood how turn-in affects camber, how stability can change with your dave's point, and why some customers wanted a little toe-out on their rears for auto-x.
I believe for someone to get the most out of their alignment, they should be active with talking to the tech on what they are looking for. At Sears you can usually get some safety glasses and talk with the tech while they work, where as a dealership you probably won't even get the print out of where the alignment was even adjusted with before and after print-outs.
Sears management though...Seriously, I felt they treated their employees terribly. I watched so many co-workers get grief in the auto center because they looked dirty and would swear up a storm, and weren't good for the company image. Happiest day I had with them wasn't telling them I wasn't ever coming in to work for them again, but that day rated pretty high. If the management changed, it could be great again.
Dec 8, 2011, 08:08 AM
#27
...those sensors are accurate to better than 1/100th of a degree. (if you set up the pc right to show it). So yeah, you can get different numbers, but all your crosses should come out the same, and the uncrossed numbers should still be in the green (if you're aligning for daily driven use, not a track alignment, or slammed suspension, etc).
We were able to set my old roommates alignment in the green on his bodydropped s10 as long as he was running without changing +/-3psi per bag of when we aligned it, and we could re-test the alignment after pulling the truck off the track and bringing it back to retest.
If the alignment is done right, I found the only way to get the sensors to read too far off is to do the rolling compensation on pre-measurement wrong. I did catch a tech using the wrong model since the Hunter pc goes by year make and model, and everyonce in awhile they would put in a car as a base, when in fact it's a sport model. (who'd think a buick park ave ultra would be supercharged and have sport suspension
)
We were able to set my old roommates alignment in the green on his bodydropped s10 as long as he was running without changing +/-3psi per bag of when we aligned it, and we could re-test the alignment after pulling the truck off the track and bringing it back to retest.
If the alignment is done right, I found the only way to get the sensors to read too far off is to do the rolling compensation on pre-measurement wrong. I did catch a tech using the wrong model since the Hunter pc goes by year make and model, and everyonce in awhile they would put in a car as a base, when in fact it's a sport model. (who'd think a buick park ave ultra would be supercharged and have sport suspension
)
Dec 10, 2011, 02:29 PM
#28
Despite some of the negative feedback, everything went great. It only took 30 to 45 minutes. They gave me a print out of the specs that were out of alignment and what they did to get things back in order. Everyone was nice and explained it all. Can't say I have any complaints. I told them before they started the work that I wanted to go on the test drive they didn't make a big deal out of it and were fine with everything.
The important thing is the car drives great and I get the 6 month/6K mile warranty. I guess its like a few said. Its all in who does the work and how they treat you that make the experience good or bad.
The important thing is the car drives great and I get the 6 month/6K mile warranty. I guess its like a few said. Its all in who does the work and how they treat you that make the experience good or bad.
To all the haters, realize that a lot of the guys that work at Sears are just like us; they like nice cars and tend to go the extra mile for them.
Dec 11, 2011, 12:46 PM
#29
I used to use Sears and Firestone for alignments on my Eagle Talon and had good experiences, but as others have mentioned the alignment has more to do with the tech performing it rather than which chain shop you choose. Now I only use performance shops that are familiar with sports car and custom-spec alignments. Ideally that would be your best choice, especially if you have any aftermarket suspension components.
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