Pontiac: GP front end question

jwardl wrote: 


You don't pull the steering wheel to center it. The car needs to have the
tie rods adjusted. This is known as setting the toe in/out.
 

The car needs to have the caster adjusted. Caster is the setting that
aligns the axis of the upper and lower ball joints to give it that "self
centering" among other things. It sounds like after the shop replaced the
parts they didn't properly align the car. Does this shop have an alignment
machine? If not they probably tried to eyeball align it. Take it back.
 

Dumb questions are the ones that go unasked for fear of looking silly.

They also charged me $99 for a front end alignment while it was there.

-jwardl


FBR wrote: 

jwardl wrote: 
I'd take it back, describe the problems, and ask them to re-align it. They
might not have test driven it after the alignment, although if it was
correctly aligned that shouldn't matter. I've seen shops tack on an
alignment after doing front end work yet the car never sees the alignment
rack unless it comes back with problems. Sad but true.

Good Luck

Yes, I would definitely take the car back & get the correct alignment
procedure. That's a downright insult to you the customer to turn the car
over in that condition.
--
markwb
2001 Bonneville SLE

what was wrong witth the car that you had to have all that front end work? I
know that the GP has a history of crapping tie rod ends, but what was up with
the rest? just curious :O)