seems like a silly question but just not sure if i should trust a franchised shop like townfare tire or firestone to do an alignment on my car. Where are you guys gettign your alignments done?

 

ide recommend Firestone or Tiresplus, but i do my own alignments for free . i work at a tires plus (which is owned by Bridgestone/Firestone) and we all usually have the same equipment and our alignment machines are pretty badass, plus if youre not satisfied w/ the alignment you can have it done again(for up to 6 months) unless you go off and hit something or modify the car's suspension... make sure you ask for a before and after printout of the specs, just because i cannot vouche for the tech thats actually doing the work (although i could if you came up to my store )

 

i work for goodyear and do my own as well

i`d like to think most shops even stores like these should be good enough to do an alignment. its really not too complicated.

best thing find a shop you can trust and watch while they do it. and just keep going back there.

 

100% true. find a place you like and become a regular, as you build a repoir w/ them, they'll usually start hookin you up w/ good deals on other services that you'll eventually need (ide personally avoid dealerships, as they are more expensive for the same service, and their prices are usually set so youll rarely get any deals)

 

matty,

try the regional forums. also look at the miata and bimmerforums regional forums - those guys track a lot in the NE and have good alignment shop references.

 

well i attempted to get the car aligned on sat morn. firestone and other franchised locations werent willing to do it to my specs. it had to be factory specs. oh well.

 

does your vehicle have stock suspension? if so than its best to go w/ factory specs. if you have after market suspesion, they should be able to do it to what you request, assuming they are used to such things. ive aligned many vehicles at my store, slammed out w/ coilovers and camber kits, and first thing I ask the owners is what they want for settings (mainly camber) and then set it per request.

 

mom and pop shops are the best for custom alignment

look for one with alot of high end sports cars lying around
or a shop car or two

 

It's best to find a shop that a lot of track guys use....you can usually troll the SCCA forums or such to find a good place. Firestone/Goodyear is fine for the daily driver but not my FD....

 

I actually use a Goodyear for my FD. One close by has ramp extensions for the lowered cars and they align to my specs without complaints. I tried a Firestone to get that lifetime alignment gag, but they refused to do anything to my car.