Question about wheel alignments

[Newf]

I had asked this before but I don't think anyone knew.

I get a wheel alignent every spring, when putting the summers on. I've done this with every car I've had. Now, around here, our garages don't have a lot of experience with nice rims like the R.H's. Example, when putting on my winter tires, the ediots used an air gun, and chipped them badly. Needless to say, I wanted them replaced.

So, I'm half scared to get anyone to do anything with these wheels around here. In the past, getting wheel alignments done on my old Preludes and shit, usually ended up with little circles scratched into my rims.....pisses me off, and I'm sick of getting replacement rims.

So, I got winters on now, and this is my question:

Is it a waste of time to get a wheel alignment with my winters on just before I put my summers on?

I figure, I'll get it aligned, and then take it home, and put the summers on myself.


pointless?

[APEXistud]

Olny thing I can suggest is that you find a tuner friendly shop that will be more careful when dealing with your wheels. Most wheel shops don't understand that people actually give a damn about they'r car. Either that or you' ll get some kid who's working to hard an not paying attention to what he's doing.

[AZxMP3]

Wow I have never had that problem. Like APEXistud said see if you can find a more custom type shop. They should take better consideration towards your car. I go to Suspension Techniques and have never had a problem. But I do stand at the opening of the garage and watch the whole thing.

[cjstringer]

I will second the question about getting one set of tires aligned and then putting the good ones on yourself. An alignment is an alignment, right? It should still be right, right?
I experienced this problem in the past with a Bimmer I had. Sucks to have quality stuff and have others destroy it because they just don't give a damn. :(

[Brian MP5T]

Bump The Dead!

[pdhaudio83]

LOL brian.

[DrummerJim50]

In case anyone is wondering about the question on this dead thread:
I work at a car shop. Alignments can be effected by uneven tire wear. Tires effect the stance of your vehicle just slightly - a 1/32"-2/32" difference in tread between the left and right side tires could effect it. Alignment angles are specified down to 0.01 degrees, so even slight differences could cause variation. Front to rear may differences may effect your caster a little bit, but usually caster isn't a big deal unless you're a fanatic and want the car to feel a very particular way (but caster doesn't effect tire wear). Bottom line is I wouldn't worry about it, and I can't imagine many people on this forum let their tires wear unevenly without noticing so that shouldn't be an issue. Although, it's optimum to get an alignment with the tires you currently use.

Here's a question: why not put the summers on yourself FIRST, and then go get it aligned?? They don't have to take the tires off to do an alignment so there's no way they would mess up your nice rims....