for cheaper, most likely. I heard a while ago on SE forum in Vortex that some people took their cars to Butler Tire or Big 10 Tires and got lifetime alignment for like $120 or so. I'm not a big fan of those shops cause I've never used them on my Audis since they are like third grade shops (took my Escort to get a new tire, fvckers stripped a stud and a nut and left the nut halfway through) but I need a nice place that will charge me less than 170 for all wheel alignment.

I know nobody else does it better than them AFAIK because they actually "neutralize" the steering rack prior to aligning the wheels. I've had plenty of experience with Goodyear Gemini shops and they were never able to properly align the front wheels on my old car because they didn't put the SR in neutral position.

Anybody have some advice/recommendations?

Thanks,
Alen

have to watch them like a hawk.

and only charged $70 but only a few adjustments needed to be done on the front.

I had NTB in Chattanooga check my alignment once and they adjusted one thing in the back and charged me $24.

I would go somewhere else and ask would the price be less if very little work needed to be done. The only time I was ever charged the full price was after my suspension was changed out.

How bad is your alignment?

German Master Tech does alignments and wheel mount/balance here in Alpharetta. I've only bought parts from them thus far, and the guys are good, so I'll let them have a go at my TT's alignment pretty soon. These guys are true car enthusiasts (confirmed by the expletives I've often heard eminating from the shop area) and they even offered to work on my Lancia!

They were real easy to work with.

however, there was some noticeable wear on the inside of the front left tire but i assume that had to do my recent replacement of the tie rod ends and i probably didn't thread it back correctly.

anywho, i'm getting some new (used) tires and want to do the alignment ASAP just to be on the safe side.

there is only one Gran Turismo (in doraville)?

Where are they located (I guess I could use google) and is there only one shop that everybody is referring to?

$85 for all 4 is not bad but do they put the steering rack in the neutral position prior to adjusting the components?

Alen

but don't take anything for granted. If you ask Jeff at Gran Tourismo East to do that, I'm sure he will.

Gran Tourismo is only a few miles from Autobahn, if you're familiar with that.

Look them up in the phone book under "Gran Tourismo East"

By the way, why are you so worried about centering the rack? Have you removed the steering wheel and lost track of where "center" is? Or did you replace the rack and are not sure you got it centered? If neither of the above applies, starting with the steering wheel in a "straight ahead" position before adjusting toe should achieve what you desire, and pretty much every shop should do that.

not adjusting the steering rack leads to premature wear on the fixed alignment. i've had plenty of experience with stated above shops and i'd come do the alignment more than necessary. i actually bought the tool to center the rack myself on my old 90S and then take it to the shop. nevertheless, it worked and i was satisfied with the car for a long time.

if you go to any audi dealership, they will say that they center the rack because it's recommended for the above reasons. i assume that's where part of their price comes into play.

i will give gran turismo a call in the morning, it looks like it will be them who will work on my car.

thanks all

Premature wear on the alignment? The alignment is held (in the front) by two things: adjuster in between inner/outer tie rods (toe), and the nuts holding the ball joints studs in a specific position on the slots in the control arms (camber). Neither of these will be affected by the rack. What would affect alignment is hitting bumps in the road, etc., that slightly "tweak" suspension components, necessitating re-adjustment of the toe & camber. Caster is non-adjustable.

Are you speaking of the ADJUSTMENT screw on the rack? Because from an alignment standpoint, the rack doesn't really care where center is. Only problem I can imagine is if you align the front wheels with the rack not centered, the wheels will turn sharper than intended in one direction, and not as sharply as intended in the opposite, which, if taken to the extreme, could cause a variety of issues. This could only be caused by the steering wheel to rack orientation changing, so straight-up & down is no longer center.

The price for a 4 Wheel Alignment at our Doraville Store is 89.00 You do not have to watch us like a hawk, we are highley qualified on all Audi Products. We have up dated Hunter Equipment. Did you know that we do alot of alignments and balancing for the Audi dealers also..


770-451-3828
Kevin

i wrote that it prematurely wears out the alignment but i should have stated what you wrote in the second paragraph. it doesn't mess up your alignment but it puts up a considerable amount of stress on your steering and suspension components. that, in turn, wears out weaker parts faster.

not centering the steering rack is not a big deal. however, if you want to make sure that your car is 99% how it's supposed to be it's a very good idea to do it.

sometimes when they do alignment on your car and not center the rack, your steering wheel may not be centered and that is one negative outcome of that.

anyway, i'm taking this topic way too seriously but it's just what i had experience with in the past.

Alen

also, i'd like to mount two tires and balance four. when is the earlier possible day for all of this?

palen2k at hotmail dot com if you want to email me.

alen

<ul><li><a href="http://forums.audiworld.com/southeast/msgs/2680.phtml">BAM</a></li></ul>

you're talking about adjusting the preload (for lack of a better word) on the steering gear? I've done this myself on the V8, but it took 200k miles for it to get loose to the point that I noticed it. I think that bolt basically just compensates for wear by adjusting the preload. Do you have a pic of the factory tool for your B3 90? Interested to see what it looks like.