Miata Mailing List: February 1999, Message #130

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Previously on botched alignment, miked@reporters.net said...

> i finally replaced the factory rubber with four new tires - dunlop d60s
-
> and got a balance and alignment. the shop quoted me the price, plus $10
> "for the rear wheel alignment, since it's a front wheel drive car"(??) i
> told the genius at the shop that it was not front wheel drive, that
mazda
> does not recommend doing a rear wheel alignment (that's what the
dealership
> here told me) and to only do the front. i picked up the car and, sure
> enough, they had thrust aligned the rear wheels. the car pulled strongly
to
> the right and the ride felt a lot more nervous and darty; i sent it back
> and now it more or less tracks straight, but still feels jittery.
> did they mess this car up? is there anything they could have messed up
by
> aligning the rear end? or am i just feeling the difference in the
h-rated
> tires and their stiffer sidewalls? if it lines up correctly on the
> alignment rack, is everything okay? i'm afraid that if it's messed up,
by
> the time i start shredding these tires it will be too late to go after
them
> for it.

Well, first of all I'd be really suspicious of any shop that tells me that
my Miata is a front wheel drive car.  That said, they should have the
alignment specs on their computer and just use those.  Since they /didn't/
do that I'd be even more suspicious.

Personally I'd take it somewhere that actually knows something about cars.
 I'd also take a copy of this: http://www.miata.net/garage/align.html and
say "Align the car to these spec's".  Don't let them sing you a song and
dance, and don't let them deviate from the specs.  Also, insist on a
before and after printout of the numbers.  If the car is properly aligned
it will drive nice and straight, the wheel will be straight and you won't
wear out the tires.

Nice thing about the Miq alignment specs is that any simian can align the
car well as long as they can read and make the numbers match, which is
about the job description at most idiot alignment places.

	-John

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John Freas (jfreas@earthlink.net)
Red '90 Base-ish #7690
Birmingham, AL
Team LS1,2, SP, the Gap...
Team dlralt, MRoadster, PBC, Roebuck, Voodoo...
"I have no idea what those dimple things on the windshield frame are for."
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