Hello everyone. Hope everyone is well and preparing for the holiday.
As the title states, can any shop perform an alignment on a Lexus ?
The reason I’m asking is because mavis did an alignment 2 years ago for $89 which I thought was a reasonable price. However, I had a weird experience with the steering wheel pulling ( grabbing ) when accelerating above 65mph and brought the car into the Lexus dealership where they said my car needed an alignment and the price was outrageous at $190
The pulling and grabbing symptom seems to have been eliminated as I haven’t felt it since my last visit at the Lexus dealership.
I want to save money but at the same time I want to make sure other shops can perform an alignment just as good as the dealer.
There is no guarantee that an independent shop can do it right, but then not all dealers get it right either. It depends on the calibration of their alignment rack the skill of the technician.
If you are not having any drivability issues like pulling to one side or instability and your tires are not wearing out prematurely or unevenly, then I would suggest that you leave things alone. Alignments don’t just go out over time, They go out when you have hit something very hard. It is not a regular maintenance item.
I have had several vehicles that never needed an alignment in their lifetime and some I’ve put well over 200k miles on them. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Do not let a tire shop tell you that you need an alignment for the warrantee on the new tires to be valid. Also in my experience, a tire shop is the worse place to get an alignment. Don’t even allow them to do a “courtesy check”.
No. Use a local, independent shop with a good reputation that specializes in alignment. One of the ones near me had a telling name - “Bob’s Wheel Alignment” - where you can actually talk to “Bob” (or his son). And it’s been in business with a good rep for over 30 years. That kind of place.
Not every alignment shop has the tools to attach to the car’s computers that control the electric steering assist, stability control or lane keeping and other safety systems. Those systems may need to be recalibrated to the new alignment to function properly.
+1
Personally, I wouldn’t go to Mavis for an alignment. In fact, I wouldn’t even go to one of their shops for tires.
I recently had alignment done at a Lexus dealership, and the price was $249. However, it was apparently done properly because the vehicle’s handling is even better than it was before the alignment.
The Lexus dealership most likely has a labor rate of around $200/hr, give or take, and they have a set fee for a steering alignment
I don’t know who Mavis is . . . presumably an independent shop and/or chain . . . but they probably have much lower overhead costs and therefore a lower labor rate
To answer your questions, yes, any decent independent front-end shop with the right equipment should be able to do it. Many cars require certain things to be reset, re-initialized, etc. and if these “good shops” want to stay in business, they’ll probably have what they need to do the job properly
We don’t bring our cars to a dealership for steering alignments
At work, we bring our fleet vehicles to a good independent shop to perform steering alignments
Or, as my old MD used to say, almost anyone can “take an X-ray”, with just a bit of training. However, doing it correctly, and–even more importantly–interpreting that X-ray properly is something that requires a LOT of education.
I have had LTA’s (lifetime alignments) on every vehicle that I have since 2004 with only one exception (well 2 now with the new truck, but wait for it), Currently that is 6 vehicles, but that doesn’t include the ones that had LTA’s that are no linger alive… The old Chevy truck is the only exception, but the last set of tire stayed on it for 16 years and only had maybe 20K in 16 years…
Now the newest addition to the fleet, well at it’s 1st oil change/tire rotation with me, I want to add a LTA to it as well, but not yet 100$ sure if FS has the updated software to calibrate all the safety stuff… If so, then I will add it, but if not then off to the dealer (or an indy shop) that has the software to calibrate everything…
To add to a few of the other answers, Yes any shop with calibrated alignment equipment can align your/my vehicle, but it comes down to if that shop also has the up to date software and it’s equipment to properly recalibrate everything if needed…
BTW, I always have my alignments checked and set (if needed) every 5,000 miles… It doesn’t take much for one to be out of spec…
A proper alignment aids in the vehicles proper braking and handling… Plus IF properly done, and on time, it helps to find worn parts (before they become a safety issue) as well as adjustments from seizing over time…
It’s a large tire retailer in the Northeast. When CR published customers’ satisfaction ratings of tire retailers, they ranked close to the bottom, with only Pep Boys and Wally World ranking lower. Obviously, there is going to be variation from one retailer’s location to another, but this is how they stacked-up, overall.
$89 sounds suspiciously like a front-only alignment. $190 for a 4 wheel alignment at dealership is actually a pretty reasonable price. What might’ve happened was that you rear wheels were out of alignment and the first only did the front wheels, which were not the problem. When you went to the Lexus dealer they did a proper (for your car) 4 wheel alignment and eliminated the problem.
I saw a Mavis shop being constructed down here in Florida.
As far as car dealerships, since they have owners, service will very.
My dealership price matched and included free rotations, even had a couple of repairs done for free. After 30 years the dealership has new owners. Will have to do a wait and see.
BTW, there is one car brand that is highly regarded for quality, but I bought a different brand (new) from same dealership owner. Horrible service after the sale. Never trust them again.
When my local Subaru dealership was sold, things definitely changed–in some cases for the better, in some cases for the worse.
The dealership had been owned for several decades by a man who was the best foreign car mechanic in Central NJ before he bought the dealership. When this man died, his wastrel son took over, and very soon, the service manager left, to be replaced by another guy who only lasted for a few months, then… rinse and repeat… several times.
After about 4 years, the son sold the business and some changes were apparent. While maintenance prices went up slightly, there was suddenly stability in the service department, and they actually added extra service writers, so waiting times to check in and to check out were cut in half.
The bizarre end to the story is that the wastrel son wound-up in the State Penitentiary for 5 or 6 years after he was convicted of robbing quite a few homes. I guess that the $2 million or so that he got from selling the dealership didn’t last very long.
Problems with gambling, or women, or drugs, or???
Who knows?
Mavis is the tire world equivalent of “jiffy lube.” They might take care of the basic thing you need (like new tires or an oil change). But it’s not something to count on for quality and expertise. There’s nothing like a local, reputable, independently owned shop.