Alignment

[erikvonb]

I'm planning on making an appointment for an alignment sometime this week and I was just wondering I few things:

1- Would it be a better idea to go to a shop that specializes in alignments or would the dealer be better suited for this job. (the dealer's price is about the same as independant shops)

2- How can I be sure that they did a good job? Do they give you some sort of print-out that I can compare with the actual manufacturer's recommended settings?

3- Should I be providing an independant shop any information (i.e. owners manual or any other specifics) to make sure that they do it to the proper specs for this car? Or would the shop normally have this information? Here's what I found from someone else's post:
MP3 Alignment

Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,

-Erik

*edit* Here's the reason I'm bringing the car in for an alignment:
http://www.protege5.com/vbb225/showthread.php?s=&threadid=38454

 

[Sir Nuke]

I will answer in the order of your questions:

1. IF you have a reputable Mazda dealer in your area that you trust....that would be MY first choice. however, if you have a very reputable shop that specializes in alignment that too would be an acceptable choice. but still my first choice is a trustworthy reputable dealer.

2. YES, you can get a print out....just request one from the service manager UP FRONT, BEFORE the work is done. As they will most likely print one out for their records anyway. then if you KNOW what your specs are...you can compare the print out with the specs. otherwise you can only judge the quality of the alignment by the ride you have....and even that isn't a true indication of the correctness of the alignment. fore if the toe in or toe out isn't correct, the ride may not suffer...but your tires will as the inner or outer edge wears out prematurely.

3. ANY and ALL reputable shops that perform alignment work will have the specs for your car....if you have to tell them what the specs are....take your car somewhere else as they don't know what they are doing.