My buddy that I work with said that a 4 wheel alignment would cost 200 bucks. Does that sound right?

 

Pretty damn close!

 

Kinda depends where you get it done at and what state your in, but yea.

 

$200!?!?!?! holy crap thats steep. I charge $65 for a true 4 wheel alignment. that $65 covers adjustments needed to correct alignment angles using factory provisions (i.e. front camber via the strut to knuckle bolts, and front toe for our cars.). If the car needs an after market shim/busing/eccentric bolt to correct something that the factory adjustments wont cover (like i would use a full contact shim in the rear to correct improper rear wheel camber and toe/correct thrustline), then we go up in $$ from there.

But to say that $200 covers everything needed is a little unnecessary since there are alot of cars that do not need after market products to get all angles into specified range. most alignments dont take longer than an hour so that to me is really steep.

 

here in NY its like 2 hrs labor - 90 bucks an hour. so sounds about right.

 

I just paid $45 for a 4 wheel alignment.

 

59.99 here in Miami, for 4wheels

 

Don't forget, the only factory adjustment on the cobalt is front toe setting, the rear is fixed. If you want to adjust front camber, you have to get a camber kit. The rear is not adjustable. Shouldn't cost more than 80-90 bucks, thats the highest I've ever seen, and that was at the dealer. I worked at Sears which we only charged 69.95 for an alignment, or $99.95 if the car was a pain in the ass, like a Benz, Porsche, something like that.

 

69.99 in Texas at Goodyear, Firestone, national Tire & Battery. Etc. $200 is way out of line.

 

64.99 at Sears !!

 

That price is right for OTHER cars. The Cobalt however has only one thing you can adjust, the toe. Everything else is factory set with no adjustability. My dealer did mine after my spring install and it only cost $50. Toe setting only.

 

60 bucks and i got all 4 done

 

I pretty much got raped by my dealer. They charged me ~$250 for a four wheel alignment after I put my sportlines on. It was originally going to start out as just a plain old alignment for $85 or something like that, but then they said that my rear tires had an excess of toe in, and that it would tear my tires to shreds unless they put in some shims (which cost $80 a side, plus the price of the shims themselves). I was pretty angry, because I'd never heard of anyone else having to do that... I didn't like the sounds of my tires being "torn to shreds," though...

 

i had mine done at the dealer for 80$ after i put my lowering springs and aftermarket rims on. i had bought a camber kit for the front and rear and let them adjust it.
seemed like a good deal to me

 

Thats a little harsh on the price, but you should correct for proper tire adjustment when you raise/lower a vehicle. Suspension geometry is very important, and affects all aspects of driving, including traction while braking and other safety related things. Not worth it to try and save money on that. It also will tear up tires real quick if you are dragging them down the road at an angle. It doesn't take much to cause a lot of wear.

 

Hey guys! Thanks for all of the input. I'm going to start searching around for the best price for an alignment. Under 100 bucks sounds fair to me. (especially since its technically only a 2 wheel alignment then)

I'll give me dealer a call and check Sears too.

 

wooohoooo its free for me

how do you get charged for a 4 wheel alignment when the cobalt doesnt have a rear independant suspension? or does the ss have that?

 

one word Ass raped by a dealership, there is only one thing to adjust on these cars and that is front toe. Shouldn't cost no more then 50

 

why would you take a car like that (or any car for that matter) to sears? I do loss prevention at sears and I don't think we have gone a quarter without something major happening in the auto center. we have had 2 cars fall off lifts, DRIVE UP LIFTS for alignments, i don't know how you do that, but they did it. we have probably had to buy 4 new engines because the morons forget to put oil filters on (they just leave it off...) or dont' tighten the oil drain plug.

I'm sure they are not all ran by high school drop out morons, but i would never take my car there for anything, and if i had to i have a camera i can watch them with.

I think brakes plus charged me $45 before...

 

Yeah, Sears is kinda shitty, we actually had one of the better departments in the area, and I helped keep everyone in the shop on track. Never had those types of problems, also we had a Jiffy-Lube franchise in the store to handle all oil and fluid changes. Sears is ok for regular people that don't know/care about thier cars, and if something was done wrong they just come back in and argue. I don't advise anyone to make a regular habit of going there though. I only have had one set of tires installed and two flat repairs, the alignment wasn't really out when we checked it. You kinda gotta go talk to the guy doing the work, make sure he isn't a complete moron. Sears does not pay well, and will hire damn near anyone.

 

I paid $100 for alignment at tire kingdom... got a 1 year deal where I can bring it back as many times as I want to... a definate plus when I get my springs on... free alignment.

 

i'll secound that! i'm not calling myself a moron, just saying everyone else is... and the pay sucks.