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Did dealer mess up alignment?

travysh

Seasoned Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2021
Messages
138
Location
WA
V-Series Cadillac(s)?
'22 CT5-V BW
I'm too new at this to be able to easily say one way or the other. All the alignment specs are fine but the wheel is slightly off center.

I threw it up on ramps to adjust the tierods and noticed that left to right they have considerable differences in how much they're threaded. Not sure if this is "ok" / expected or not.

Right:
PXL_20230414_200522843.jpg



Left
PXL_20230414_200540875.jpg


This is *after* adjusting both sides by over 1/4 turn. I'm really hesitant to adjust it any more than that. Steering wheel is still slightly off center
 
If you paid for an alignment and the steering wheel is slightly off, bring it back. I have no idea how you think you can do your own alignment on the ground with no measuring equipment. As for the amount of threads showing, there is a reason there are so many threads, tolerances stack up, etc.
 
If it drives straight but the wheel isn’t straight then likely the dealer didn’t have the wheel centered when they aligned it. As long as you adjust equally in the same direction on both sides you should be fine.

Best thing to do is paint one of the flat spots on the 13mm adjuster with a paint pen, then count the flats. The key is to make sure you know which way to adjust and that go in the same direction relative to the road on each side. That means on one side you will be screwing in to the toe link and unscrewing the adjuster out of the toe link on the other.
 
If you paid for an alignment and the steering wheel is slightly off, bring it back. I have no idea how you think you can do your own alignment on the ground with no measuring equipment. As for the amount of threads showing, there is a reason there are so many threads, tolerances stack up, etc.
My friend took his to the dealer three times for a track alignment. They finally got the specs right but we still had to straighten the wheel after he picked it up.
 
My friend took his to the dealer three times for a track alignment. They finally got the specs right but we still had to straighten the wheel after he picked it up.

Am I your friend? 😂
That's exactly what happened to me too. Three trips to the dealership for track alignment, steering wheel a few degrees off center.

I'll have to take it back again. Just annoying.

I did exactly what you mentioned BTW. I used a chalk pen to mark the spot then rotated two flats.
 
An alignment rack is only as good as the person using it. I've had mine for about 14yrs, done thousands of alignments, nobody is perfect all the time, but getting the steering wheel perfectly straight I've found to be very tricky on some cars since nothing is flat or straight anymore. Ours should be somewhat easier with the red stripe on them. On my machine, on a cold day, the toe numbers will change just from the heat of my hand holding the inner tie rod. If you are relying on counting flats, you are not going to be very accurate.
 
IIRC, one flat is something like 0.5mm of toe. Even if you are off by an entire flat you’re not going to notice.

I guarantee it’s more accurate than the dealer alignment machine that likely has never been recalibrated or had the level checked on the rack.

I ended up buying the CSM hub stands with lasers and they are super accurate.

IMG_2456.jpeg
 
For what its worth, I have a new 4VBW and it came from the factory way off on the alignment, pulling right and steering wheel over near 11 o'clock. I took it to the local dealer here that has two locations within about 20 minutes of each other and had an alignment done (this was about 3 months ago) under warranty and they claimed it was definitely out of spec. So when I got the car back, it was definitely improved but still not where it should be and was still off a bit and pulling right and just not feeling aligned. So long story short, I took my vehicle in this morning to the other dealer location here and had my first oil change and I also had a four wheel alignment and was assured by the service advisor that they have a quality technician who knows what they are doing.

I got the car back 90 minutes later with oil change done and a 4 wheel alignment and it is spot on now, its night and day better, steering wheel at 12 o'clock, no more pulling to the right and I am super happy with it now. The service advisor said the Toe was out and they corrected it. The moral of the story is your alignment is only as good as the person operating the rack and also that the rack is kept properly calibrated.
 
@V56, yup, and I had lots of warnings in advance.

At first the tech did not want to work on my car as he had done only 1 other blackwing alignment and messed that one up, so he was worried. I will end up taking it to another location (whether Firestone or Chevy dealer i'm not sure).

I was also hoping to see what my factory alignment looked like, but sadly I did not get that. Since the alignment took 3 different trips I only got the final adjustment and not the first.
 
It sucks its so hit or miss with technicians at these stealerships. The industry just not what it used to be. You buy a $75K car and wait many months for it, it comes completely missaLIGNED and then you struggle through poor technicians. I even dread having a simple oil change any more at dealerships fearing they will botch that.
 
I have a new CT4BW that I picked up nine weeks ago. I took it to my local dealer for my first oil change at 1600 miles the other day and told them my car does not feel out of alignment but the steering wheel is off slightly. When I am tracking straight on a flat road the red stripe is is cocked about three quarters of an inch to the left. I want everything to be perfect and this is always noticeable to me. The service manager told me they can not adjust/re center the steering wheel and that they have to order a new steering wheel but it might be worse than what I have now. This seems crazy to me. The red stripe on the wheel seems perfectly centered and does not appear to be out of place. They told me once they install the new wheel I am stuck with that wheel even if it is worse that what I have now. I purchased my car out of state even though this dealership is within ten miles of my house so I do not have a relationship with them but this seems like a load of crap. Maybe I am being too picky about the steering wheel issue, not sure. Could you all please shed some light on this. Mr. 'poor-sha', I think you are in my area and this is the dealership in Chantilly Virginia. Am I better off taking my car to one of the other dealerships in Northern Va? My first experience with them is not sitting well with me.
 
I would not go to a dealership to get an alignment done, even if my car's alignment came screwed up from the factory. That's how more problems arise. There are race prep shops that do excellent alignment work and I only have to take it to said shop just once.
 
If the red stripe is in the right spot on the wheel, it might better articulate your observation if you reframe the concern as the entire wheel is off center. A new wheel is not going to fix an off center condition, a proper alignment will.

I don't discount all dealer service departments, many (most?) are quite good. The Chevy dealer here in town has a very good shop with techs that all care about their output. I take all my vehicles there for alignments now.
 
I have a new CT4BW that I picked up nine weeks ago. I took it to my local dealer for my first oil change at 1600 miles the other day and told them my car does not feel out of alignment but the steering wheel is off slightly. When I am tracking straight on a flat road the red stripe is is cocked about three quarters of an inch to the left. I want everything to be perfect and this is always noticeable to me. The service manager told me they can not adjust/re center the steering wheel and that they have to order a new steering wheel but it might be worse than what I have now. This seems crazy to me. The red stripe on the wheel seems perfectly centered and does not appear to be out of place. They told me once they install the new wheel I am stuck with that wheel even if it is worse that what I have now. I purchased my car out of state even though this dealership is within ten miles of my house so I do not have a relationship with them but this seems like a load of crap. Maybe I am being too picky about the steering wheel issue, not sure. Could you all please shed some light on this. Mr. 'poor-sha', I think you are in my area and this is the dealership in Chantilly Virginia. Am I better off taking my car to one of the other dealerships in Northern Va? My first experience with them is not sitting well with me.
That’s the same dealer that messed up my buddies 4BW alignment twice and he finally brought it over so I could fix it. Fitzgerald in Frederick has a really good tech who does all the Blackwings and Corvettes but I’m blanking on his name at the moment.

If you don’t mind paying I would take it to Craftsman Auto Care. Andrew Gunn is the manager and a great guy, but I don’t know if they moved him from the Sterling to the new Ashburn location.
 
I have a new CT4BW that I picked up nine weeks ago. I took it to my local dealer for my first oil change at 1600 miles the other day and told them my car does not feel out of alignment but the steering wheel is off slightly. When I am tracking straight on a flat road the red stripe is is cocked about three quarters of an inch to the left. I want everything to be perfect and this is always noticeable to me. The service manager told me they can not adjust/re center the steering wheel and that they have to order a new steering wheel but it might be worse than what I have now. This seems crazy to me. The red stripe on the wheel seems perfectly centered and does not appear to be out of place. They told me once they install the new wheel I am stuck with that wheel even if it is worse that what I have now. I purchased my car out of state even though this dealership is within ten miles of my house so I do not have a relationship with them but this seems like a load of crap. Maybe I am being too picky about the steering wheel issue, not sure. Could you all please shed some light on this. Mr. 'poor-sha', I think you are in my area and this is the dealership in Chantilly Virginia. Am I better off taking my car to one of the other dealerships in Northern Va? My first experience with them is not sitting well with me.
Listen to @poor-sha . A fair number of us have noticed the same exact issue as you and have been able to get our dealer to 'align' it without getting a new steering wheel.
 
I had this exact same issue on my 2022 brand new 4VBW. Steering wheel over at 11 o'clock when going straight, I took the car to the dealership and they did an alignment. The first alignment I had improved the situation but it wasn't exact to where I felt it should be, so I took the car to another caddy dealership, they did another alignment and stated the toe was out of spec and they corrected it and now steering wheel is spot on 12 o'clock when driving straight and the car tracks much better like I expected it to when I bought it.

I would just take the car to the dealer and have it properly aligned.
 
Finding workers seems to be a problem these days for many industries. Apparently the auto world is expecting quite the shortage of techs & mechanics. Competency may become even more of an issue unfortunately.


 
It’s literally as simple as adjusting one toe link out a flat and the opposite side in. Drive the car and if it’s still off do another. I think it’s a 22mm wrench for the lock nut and a 13mm nut for the adjuster. Why a dealer thinks this can’t be adjusted is beyond me.

There is a procedure to zero the steering angle sensor but I would only expect it to be necessary if it was initially calibrated off. PDR data will tell you steering angle so you can verify with that if you have it and know how to use the software. I’ve never had to zero mine.
 
It’s literally as simple as adjusting one toe link out a flat and the opposite side in. Drive the car and if it’s still off do another. I think it’s a 22mm wrench for the lock nut and a 13mm nut for the adjuster. Why a dealer thinks this can’t be adjusted is beyond me.

There is a procedure to zero the steering angle sensor but I would only expect it to be necessary if it was initially calibrated off. PDR data will tell you steering angle so you can verify with that if you have it and know how to use the software. I’ve never had to zero mine.
Bingo on the steering angle sensor.
 

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