Lifetime wheel alignment - Group Buy

[nkohlimd]

Fellow owners,
I just upgraded tires and am looking to enter into a multiyear or lifetime alignment deal with a local/regional shop. Have not made any commitments yet but I think it may be beneficial for those of use within close proximity to Boston-Watertown-Natick-Dedham to select one shop and then sign up and ensure they have enough experience and expertise to do the job right for a good price. Firestone in Natick quoted me $179 for lifetime alignment while you own the care and he recommended 2x/year. I am thinking 3-4/year with the Tesla. The guy I spoke with says they feel comfortable with Teslas and his niece owns one. Online reviews aren't great for the Framingham store - mostly accused of upselling and lying about what's wrong to get more business but I don't think we will have that issue with alignment only. I am open to other shops within 30 miles but was thinking if we all visit one shop, they most likely will do the job well with increasing expertise and experience. We may even be able to get a group discount if we sign up together. $179 unlimited is a killer deal compared to the Tesla SC of $150 each. Would appreciate any thoughts or suggestions..hope everyone is having a great summer.

 

[PeterK]

Does Direct Tire offer lifetime alignment? I've found them to be good and above board (used the Watertown branch).

 

[nkohlimd]

They have a 5 year alignment contract for $299 but are hesitant to cover the Tesla due to it's frequent alignment requirements......

 

[tliving]

From what i've read I think the alignment issues are more for those with the 21" wheels/P models. Is that correct? Im at 43K miles and no alignments needed so far.

 

[alset]

Do you know that they will continue to do more than 2 alignments per year for many cars? At some point, $179 is not good for them for the amount of labor over several years and they will not be happy. I wouldn't be surprised if lifetime alignment has two per year in the fine print. At least at $150 per alignment, you know Tesla is spending the time and doing it correctly.

 

[dennis25]

what about rear wheel alignment? i've worked through a local tire shop when buying new winter tires, balancing and rotating my tires. they analyze the alignment on the front and back but claim they can only do the front as the rear end is enclosed and they don't know how to access it. anyone else know more about this than i do?

 

[linkster]

but claim they can only do the front as the rear end is enclosed and they don't know how to access it. anyone else know more about this than i do?

Ha! Come meet the Empress and I at The Top of the Hub in 15 min to talk all night about Tesla alignment (front (yup!) and extensive rear suspension mods here). Anyway, your local shop (which I MUCH prefer over any national chain, barf) just should not have that much difficulty accessing the rear inboard toe eccentric adjusting bolt.

 

[3mp_kwh]

but claim they can only do the front as the rear end is enclosed and they don't know how to access it. anyone else know more about this than i do?

Maybe they're expecting a camber adjustment point in the rear, which has not existed since the neck-down bolts were abandoned.

 

[taurusking]

From what i've read I think the alignment issues are more for those with the 21" wheels/P models. Is that correct? Im at 43K miles and no alignments needed so far.

I have RWD S85 19 inch tires with coils and they did wheel alignment and the service center showed me the test results before and after alignment.. Mine was 32 K miles when wheel alignment was done.

 

[linkster]

Do you know that they will continue to do more than 2 alignments per year for many cars? At some point, $179 is not good for them for the amount of labor over several years and they will not be happy. I wouldn't be surprised if lifetime alignment has two per year in the fine print. At least at $150 per alignment, you know Tesla is spending the time and doing it correctly.

I tend to agree. However, I have a local shop that I have worked closely with for years and they handle my custom rear alignment duties during experimentation of various suspension components. Getting back to Tesla's alignment, they follow an SB-13-34-003 document that insures/verifies a specified ride height (measured from subframe bolts) before an alignment takes place which can be very important on SAS cars that I doubt any 3rd party shop performs/corrects on our Ses before an alignment.

 

[bhuwan]

I might go in, assuming Tesla really doesn't cover alignments anymore