The other day I had my car aligned (4 wheel alignment) after replacing pretty much my entire suspension. A friend recommended Johnson’s Alignment Service out of Torrance. All I can say is WOW! (I usually, don’t write about a specific shop, but was truly impressed with the product and service that Johnson’s offered and in some cities these types of shops don’t exist, unfortunately). You’re probably thinking…big deal? Well, it was a big deal for the fact I haven’t seen a shop like this for close to twenty years! Most technicians have been there 10+ plus years and knew their stuff. Totally “old school” but for the right reasons.I spoke to John, the Manager and spent a little time with him on the phone and he asked me what components that I had put on. John knew the products cold. Having said that, once I arrived…it was all Porsches, BMW, SAAB and a truck, yes, a good ol’ Chevy pickup.John asked me how I wanted it set up. I told him that I don’t race the vehicle anymore and suggested “aggressive street driving”.
Now, I’m going to water this all down. This is like asking me how I want my steak - rare, medium or well done, as well as getting the salad dressing on the side. He catered to my needs. There is sort of rule is these type of setups…better handling applications increases wear and tear, more so, in how it is aligned. In other words, an aggressive set up will make you look like Jeff Gordon or Mario Andretti, but you’ll need a pocket book like Trump, because it will wear down your tires faster.
Conversely, a good, standard alignment will give you longevity, better than factory handling (I will talk more about this later), better gas mileage, etc. Further, with these “old school” techniques they work out all the components over and over and yes, over again. With these typical shops that you get a 4-wheel alignment, which is done electronically and can have you out in jiffy- 30-40 minutes, tops. At Johnson’s he worked on it for 2 hours straight! And let me tell you, even though I replaced the entire suspension, it wasn’t until the alignment came in effect that the car was, frankly, a new car.
In fact, I felt, that I had to learn how to drive the car again.John told me what was out and let’s just say for argument sake that the tire can go in roughly dozen plus positions and multiply that with 4 wheels, are you getting the math on this?
Well, to make a long story short there were considerable amount of things that were out and when he explained it, it’s almost like I was driving a tractor out on the freeway. Three words: Night and Day. As I mentioned earlier about factory “settings.” The manufacturer gives tolerances and parameters to work with and as long as you are within those “boundaries” you are good to go. In other words, when you get a brand new car whether it is an Audi or Yugo, professionally speaking, they will suck.
As I mentioned, there was a BMW 5 series, it was brand new. Another gentlemen had just bought a Porsche Cayman (one of the best handling vehicles in the world) that he was putting the finishing touches. In fact, he was doing something a little bit more advanced-corner balancing. In laymen’s terms, this is like getting an adjustment from your Chiropractor, so that your hip is in place and that the legs are moving freely and going back and forth to legs and to hips, but in the cars perspective, from corner to corner and yes, OVER and OVER.
Lastly, as I mentioned that an old pick up had an alignment done. You see, it doesn’t matter what you are driving and alignment like this WILL pay for itself from decreased wear and tear on your tires to better gas mileage. I almost felt like I ripped John off, from how much he charged me. Now, how often does that happen when you take your vehicle to the shop?
Sincerely,
Lawrence Ribeiro
