unneccesary alignment with a surprise

[Bruce Wayne]

Well, I took my treasured black beauty in for a front end alignment yesterday, after it had been sitting in the barn since November, with limited action, lots of salt still on the roads around here. I ask the guy to set it up with car-fixer specs, which he dosen't seem to agree with." you gotta watch what you read on those websites" he says. After what seemed an eternity, I venture into the shop area and 3 greaseballs are leaning on the fender gazing at that DOHC. Everything OK, I ask, they all disperse, muttering something. 10 minutes later, I hear the unmistakable sound of my car firing up, and then Horror strikes! through the back window, I see my car sneaking out the back entrance for the dreaded "test drive", Grease ball no# 1 comes back in ,after what seems like a lifetime, with a sly grin on his face, I couldn't bear to ask him how it went. I,m still reeling. Anyways, printout reads as follows: LF Camber-0.59, RF Camber-0.43 LF Caster = 5.84 degrees RF Caster= 5.95 Toe=-0.02 on the left, and -0.02 on the right. Does this look alright?

[Kelly]

Had mine done to carfixer's Spec.on 2/13

Camber LF before -1.4 Actual -0.5 right front was -1.3 before and -0.5 actual

Caster before 5.8 Actual 5.8 on LF RF 5.7 before and 5.9 actual

toe LF before -0.15 actual -0.03 RF -0.20 before and -0.03 actual

this was the best that he said he could get it, maybe this will help. Kelly

[Dr Caleb]

I ask the guy to set it up with car-fixer specs, which he dosen't seem to agree with." you gotta watch what you read on those websites" he says.

No offense intended, but it's your car, not Greaseball #1's. If you say 'do it this way', right or wrong, it's not his call.

[Dragcity]

Had no problem at my dealer. I gave 'em the specs and they did it. Took extra time to break the welds on the adjuster and re-set everything, but it was don and is beautiful. Tech didn't think it would would track properly, but did it and was amazed at how well it tracked.

Find a new bunch of greasballs/gearheads/Techs....

[Dave-T]

Could you guys please explain the front end alignment issue. What are the carfixer's specs? Who is carfixer? What happens if you leave the alignment as is.

[magindat]

Could you guys please explain the front end alignment issue. What are the carfixer's specs? Who is carfixer? What happens if you leave the alignment as is.

carfixer is a great guy who I had the riveledge to meet this weekend at the picnic. He has provided specs arrived at through trial and error for our cars. The specs do seem a bit odd to most shops, but they work awsome on our cars.
Straight stock, mine was a bit twitchy and wanted to rut steer. Rut steer is when tires find ruts in the road and want to follow the ruts, not your input. It's kinda like driving your car in the rack at car wash.
Carfixer's specs correct this rut steer or tracking. It also seems to releive the twitchy tension in the front end. It's not something you'd notice 'till you change. You would just have accepted the behavior as the carachter of the car. Take it from my and many other's experience. A 50-100$ alignment to carfixer's specs is the single best bank for the buck you can do with your suspension and handling.
Sorry for being so long winded. Just tryin' to help.
http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showpost.php?p=211998&postcount=11
Take these to the shop.

[sweetair]

:D Thanks for the info. When I get my new sneakers installed in a few weeks I will try this alignment. :D

[MM03MOK]

What are the carfixer's specs? http://www.mercurymarauder.net/reviews/showproduct.php/product/34/sort/2/cat/19/page/1

[Pat]

I took Car-Fixers specs to my usual pre-Marauder alignment shop and they promptly showed me the door. Something about insurance, they align to what's in their machine and nothing else.

I went to a specialty frame/alignment shop with a Hunter machine and they took Car-fixers specs and compared them to what's in their machine for a Marauder, not a Grand Marquis. The specs were almost identical and within the tolerances.

They aligned the car and it seems to work OK. I also put on new tires at the same time, the orginial fronts were very worn on the inside edges. FWIW.

[Dan]

Since when does a car need a test drive to check an alignment? They've never done that for any of my Ford Rangers.

I would suggest that you not allow them to test drive anything, let alone your Marauder, when you go for an alignment.

Best,

Dan