I went to get alignment but got refused because my tires were worn and my car was low.
Is it normal to get refused? or is ot just this place.

Usually not. They should be able to align your car no matter what. I have a friend and I consider his car really low. He took it to an alignment shop and they had no problems working on it.

If they were using a machine...I can see them rejecting you same thing happened to me. I eneded up going to Dick Cash in Glendale expensive but they know there stuff...


areg

thanks, I'll look into the place in Glendale.

Depending on how low your car is your car might not make it onto the machine of theirs. Just the same way some lowered cars are a PITA to get onto a lift. Before you go in for an alignment you should change the tires anyways if they are really chewed up. Aligning the front end now won't change the fact that the tires need to be replaced.

my tires were worn out a lot on one side (driver side) because my front driver camber was messed up and the shop wouldn't align my car. i bought some new tires and they aligned it. tires plays a role in alignments...

about being lowered... depends on the shop.. i think

True about the shop cause not every shop or mechanic is going to want to risk breaking a side skirt with a lift or messing something up cause the car sits so low. I've turned a few people away before cause their cars sat so low they needed to be jacked up in the back to get them high enough to get the lift legs under them.

Because my toe is out on front somehow, my front tires' inside wear too fast. (going through 3 sets a year)
I rotated the tires so the fronts are okay now but if I don't fix the alignment, the same thing will happen. That's why I went to get alignment.
I care less about the rear but the place I went told me that they can't align the just the front. They said all 4 tires need to be new.
I thought they were just trying to sell me brand new sets of tires.

A simple toe in toe out drive over plate would give you an idea as to which way to adjust your tie rods to get it close to center. A shop can do a simple toe in toe out adjustment. It doesn't have to be a 4 wheel full camber, caster, toe in toe out alignment. Maybe I'll scan in and translate the walk through that Options mag put out for doing your own toe in toe out adjusting.

If tires are worn wrong from having a misalignment they turn you away quite often due to the car will hobble and track wrong even when the alignment is on.

It's always best to align with new or properly worn tires.

They don't want the rework cost and bad talk of you coming back complaining that it don't feel right.

Make sure when you do the alignment, you're standing there watching. You don't want to have to absorb the cost of a broken body part.

yah, everyone expect for those dorks at america's tires. man, they rested the entire car on the side skirt when i took my prelude for a tire change. and to top if off, they stipped the
lugs and even managed to rim my wheel when backing out
of their garage bay.

never trust those bastards!!!

I've not had an alignment refused, but I took my car to firestone six months ago to get an alignment. I had printed out some camber and toe-in numbers that I wanted my car aligned to ( specs that came with the prodrive springs ). when I came to pick up the car I was notified that the tech did not give the amount of negative camber that I had requested, in fact he aligned the camber to 0 deg. When I requested that I redo the alignment the guy at the desk said that I should talk to the tech. when he called the tech into the office I was told that he wouldn't align it to those specs. The ***** of it is, they tried to charge me for the alignment.

After arguing that I paid them to perform a service that they did not do, it was unfair to charge me. And I took my business elsewhere.

-Duncan

I miss my old days in High School taking auto shop. We had an alignment rack and I knew how to use it. My car had an alignment done about once a week showing people how to use it.

By any chance, did the place you went to see tires also? This could have been their scam for not aligning your car. Tires are worn, if you buy some new tires from use, we'll hook you up.

It seems that most of the techs I've seen that run the racks, have no clue what they are doing. They pull your car on it, enter the car info and make the lines match up on the screen. Lowered cars or different tires just confuse them since they have no true understanding of what they are doing. Find a good shop and they will hook you up with what you want.

/\rcanum

I can't believe they made you pay the full amount for work that wasn't what you requested. They should have at least cut you a break on the bill because they wouldn't do it to what you requested. Its a simple concept. If the owner wants it aligned to something other then stock then you do it but make sure its clearly marked on the bill and told to the owner that there is no warranty with the work.

maybe the tech didn't know how to align to a specific camber, just to make the lines meet, as posted above?