Alignment Problems!

[Chew_12]

I just changed my shocks and my RA bushings and I took it into a shop to get it aligned. And when i go to pick up my car the guy says that he cant align my car anymore because it needs cams so they can adjust it more. So he figured it would cost about 440$ But they did align it some and here at the specs after

Left Front |||| Right Front
-.5 Camber -.6
4.7 Caster 5.3
.04 Toe .06

Front
Cross Camber .1 Note:These are all in degres
Cross Caster .6
Total Toe .09

So my question is what I have good enough or do i still need to get it aligned more? And is 440$ a right price for what they need to do?

Thanks

 

[jimbo74]

$440 is INSANE!!!!!!! Parts should be way less than $50 (probably like half that) and to actually do that job at a basic mechanical shop labor scale is a 2 hour job.... At the shop where I work (keep in mind Northern California, Silicon Valley--Where everything is already outrageously expen$ive) We charge $85 an hour for labor.... By my Calulations... Thats about $220............
A standard Ford truck alignment runs about $70 at my shop as well, still for all that, well under $440!!!!
Just on a side note... Those alignment specs are not too bad.......
If they did not have weight in the vehcile when they aligned it (ie no driver or weight of a driver) then technically, they did the alignment wrong, and when there is a driver in it, negative camber increases... so you are about 1 degree negative on both sides... you should get the eccentric camber/caster bushings...
Camber/caster are not independently adjustable on any vehicle, adjusting one will change the value of the other....
Caster is good... the right side should have about .5 degrees more than the left side as America's roads are "crowned"
Caster does nothing to affect tire wear... all it does is preventthe vehicle from pulling.... its not related to tires, but placement of the axle horizontally to the tires position onto the road (some people say that tire looks like it is further back in the wheelwell than the one on hte other side--technically, that is caster >or the result of a front end collision<)

 

[Black Magic]

Take it somewhere else! That is out of control!

 

[Chew_12]

My real problem is that I dont have hardly any money probably at the most 150$ and then i still have to use that money towards other things. Is my car aligned good enough as it is, or will it cause me problems in the long run?

 

[SiLenZe]

where did you take it?
i had this same problem at my dealer. they were going to charge me 30$ for parts and 200 for labor to put those camber adjusters on. plus the alignment fee.
this was after they had my car for 2 days and wouldnt give it back unless i paid up. i wanted them to adjust the camber and they didnt. just gave me the run around and asked for more money.
i called ford and put in a negative complaint and called my credit card company. i will be disputing the alignment charge.

 

[Agent_51]

I just did an alignment on a ranger with i-beams that needed the new cam bolt. The bolt cost 29.99 and took 10 minutes to install.

Those measurements are good but theyre not terrible either. The car might pull a little to the left and it will wear your tires a bit faster. My advice would be to get the bolt and install it yourself, if you have basic tools its a snap. Then take it right over to the alignment place and have them do it.

Theyre trying to burn you hard on this.

 

[Chew_12]

Yea I took it to Advanced Auto Service which is a Goodyear place. I took it to them because they had the cheapest alignment - 50$. When I called ford before the alignment they said that it would cost 60$ plus 40$ if i needed cams. So would that be 100$ or would there be tax in there? But the problem is I dont have 100$ anymore. Ill look into putting in the camber kits myself.