Alignment in Guelph/KW/Cambridge area?

[Bergen23]

This is a bit of a question and a bit of a buyer beware thing here...

I went to Big Wheel Alignment in Guelph on Saturday morning hoping to get my rear end taken care of (installed new LCA's, toe arms and lowered the rear end by about an inch, toe was a bit out, camber was a lot out). I pulled up, got out of the car and walked up to the shop, they had a couple guys working and a few cars in the shop. Seemed very clean and organized, very professional looking all around. I spoke with who I assume was the manager/supervisor/head dude in charge or whatever and he asked what I was looking for. I told him I wanted the toe and camber fixed, gave him a quick run down of the specs I was looking for. He came over to my car and said he might have a hard time adjusting my camber to my desired spec due to clearance issues, I said not a big deal if you physically can't do it because the tire would be rubbing the fender and I'd be willing to go with a bit more camber to facilitate that.

After that was all sorted out, he said it'd be between 1-2 hours to get done. My girlfriend and I left, as there was a Timmy's right around the corner from the shop and we'd have a coffee while we waited. As soon as we left the shop, my girlfriend made a note that she caught the other worker staring at her chest and checking her out in general multiple times, that was the least of my concerns with this shop.

2.5 hours later, they called me and told me my car was "ready". We walked back to the shop, and I was pretty stoked to see my car in tip-top alignment, ready for some spirited driving, as my girlfriend had been wanting to get onto the backroads, and I was also really looking forward to it as I hadn't driven my car in almost a month at this point.

We arrived, and I saw my car ready to go out front and immediately noticed the toe was fixed, although the camber didn't look like it was touched. The reason "ready" was previously in quotations, is because it wasn't really ready. Sure enough, walking into their office, they said the toe was fixed on the car, but my lower control arms didn't have enough adjustment to fix the camber... Uh, what? They showed me the alignment sheet, and sure enough, right rear was at -4.7* and left rear was at -2.6* and I requested -2*. Surely, my adjustable lower control arms (Powered by Max) have enough adjustment, they must, since in my understanding, to give less camber, you thread the pillowball into the body of the lower control arm (please correct me if I'm wrong here). Immediately, a couple different options ran through my head. Option 1) just say fuck it and pay, then take it to a shop that can actually properly adjust my alignment settings. Option 2) Say no, fuck you fix it. Option 3) Tell them I wasn't paying since the services I requested were not given to me.

I went with option 1, because I was in a hurry to get out and enjoy my few days off, I also didn't trust them to try it again when really, it seemed like they weren't too keen on doing it anyways and I didn't want to deal with the hassle of getting into an argument with them about me not being willing to pay for shitty workmanship.

I'm really disappointed it didn't work out for me, because they looked like a legit shop and I was totally ready to recommend them to everyone since they accommodated my requests when I dropped my car off with them. And I would have been more than happy to be a repeat customer. However, after being told they couldn't do my camber, that was only a part of the further disappointment. When I opened the door and went to get in my car, I noticed dirt was on my seat, dirt was mashed into my carpet, dirt was on the knee pad, dirt was on the center console and a bunch of grease was on my brand new shift knob. I didn't even bother going back into the shop to mention that shit, because I didn't even want to see either of those dudes at that point. Also, to add to the frustration, on the drive home, the rear of the car was making a lot of noise, which worried me a bit as well.

So, now, I need some recommendations on a shop that can do lowered cars, knows how to adjust aftermarket lower control arms, won't charge me 200 dollars for services not rendered, won't make my girlfriend feel like an object and that can make me a repeat customer. Right now, I feel like NV Auto might be at the top of my list, but am open to other suggestions.

[Fishbone]

Go see Scott at CanAlignment in Flamborough.

http://www.canalignment.com/

[Skurj]

err yes, please go see Scott, not too far from you, just you will have a wait to get in. He will align your car with you in it, he will ask you questions while he does it, he will look after you.


www.can-alignment.com