sears auto alignment

Please send an email to Dennis Johndrow include your contact information, store location, and the posting above.  He will help you resolve the issue. We apologize for your negative experience.  dennis.johndrow@searshc.com

I got a new tractor battery at a Sears Auto Center.

They tested the old battery - dead.

And, I got me a new battery there - too.

Tractor's work'n GREAT!

I also got a alignment with the purchase of 4 new tires and balancing all from sears. The alignment was way off as soon as I left there. If I put the steering wheel straight, the car goes to the right. It was perfect before. I also had problems with the rebate which they tried to fix. So I submitted the rebate and now got an email that it was rejected. I took my wife's car for tires also and they vibrated at 50 +, so took it back and they did another balancing, but same thing still vibrating at 50+. So took it to a Mobil station on victory blvd and Willow brook rd. They did a balancing and now no problems at any speed. Its a shame cause the rest of Sears is good. I have a basement full of tools from sears. Also only buy all my footwear and work apparel there also. The automotive dept stinks. Now cant get rebate and car pulls to right and its an 2006 with 40,000 miles on it. It didn't do that before, now I'm afraid to bring it back and get even worse results after they try a second time

I am a former Sears employee. I actually worked for National Tire and Battery before Sears sold it to Tire Kingdom. I was a Tech III for NTB and performed all types of mechanical repairs. I was also ASE Certified in the 3 fields of service NTB provided, Brakes, Steering and Suspension, and Electrical Systems. Every customer should know, not ALL Sears technician's are as well educated or trained to be automotive technicians. Some of them are promoted from tire changers to techs. The only course of training they receive are one to three day classes at Sears' main shop in your area. Then they work side by side with the technician at their store. The technician they work with may have been promoted in the same fashion. I am not trying to knock Sears at all here, just simply trying to educate their customers. I myself went to a trade school for two years and was a dealership technician for 4 years.

The hardest part of working on any vehicle is diagnosing a customers complaint. For example, alignments. A vehicle that is out of alignment will ALMOST NEVER cause a vibration. A poor alignment will cause the vehicle to do one or more of the following; pull to the left or the right, hard steering, and/or premature/uneven tire wear. I say "almost never" because depending on the make and/or model vehicle, there are rare instances it may cause a vibration, but it is very, very rare.

The main cause for vibration is "usually" poorly balanced tires and/or faulty vehicle components (which includes the tires themselves). This is where diagnosing becomes the difficult part. Anyone can be a parts changer, an experienced technician will look for the cause of a vibration and go from there. I did work with individuals who simply changed parts (if it needed it or not), and came up with all kinds of excuses as to why the problem wasn't solved. This was the main reason why I left the automotive business. Too many untrained, greedy grease monkeys out there ripping people off.

Why didn't I go to management about this problem you ask? I did. At that time management didn't care. They were paid salary plus bonuses. We as technicians were paid hourly plus commission on labor only. A good incentive to make a technician work faster. Also another incentive to make him sell you something you may not need.

Every good auto shop will post their technicians ASE Certifications somewhere on location. You have the right to choose who works on your vehicle. You also have the right to be shown your vehicles bad components BEFORE they are removed from the vehicle. If getting an alignment done, you have the right to be shown either a print out of the alignment BEFORE it is performed, or be shown the actual alignment screen while your vehicle is attached to the equipment.  Now most places will tell you that you are not allowed in the shop area because of insurance reasons, which is true. If they want your money, they will hand you a pair of safety glasses and escort you to your vehicle and show you what needs to be repaired. Sears used to do this, not sure if they still do (been out of the business for 6 years now).

The best I can tell people is to ask a lot of questions. Ask to see exactly what needs to be replaced. Have them show you (if possible) what a new part looks like compared to the faulty part. Not all parts will appear faulty to the look, have the technician explain to you why the part is bad. Most of all, GET A SECOND OPINION. I know it's a hassle going from one place to another but, it may save you a ton of money. When you take your vehicle elsewhere, DO NOT tell them that another place said "X" part was bad. Let them inspect the vehicles general area. For example; Sears claims your brake rotors and calipers need to be replaced. Take your vehicle to another location and ask them to do a brake inspection. If Sears claims you need new tie rod ends (suspension work), take it elsewhere and ask for a suspension inspection. If they tell you everything checks out good, THEN tell them another shop claims "X" part is bad, please check it again. If they come back and say, "Oh yeah, it is bad!!" Take it elsewhere again, because now, either they are trying to rip you off, or they were too incompetent to see it in the first place.

Again, I'm not trying to knock Sears, just trying to educate the public. I take my vehicles to Sears for all my tire and battery needs. Obviously if I need additional work, I perform it myself. There are a lot of GOOD technicians who work for Sears, then there are the bad ones. Ask if they have ASE certified techs. If they do, request those techs to perform your repairs.

I just wanted to add (in Sears' defense). When employee's are trained by Sears, they are trained by highly experienced instructors. Each trainee is tested in both classroom work and hands on work. Learning to become a good technician takes time. Diagnosis of a vehicle is not always easy. Some of the most experienced technicians have a hard time diagnosing particular vehicle problems. There are times that diagnosing a problem is only learned by trial and error. Even a highly trained dealership mechanic will have comebacks of the work they performed. Technicians are human as well.

To Jmcalvo1960,

First, allow me to apologize for the delay in responding to this post. My name is Brian and I am part of the Sears Cares escalations team. I am sorry to hear that you are having issues with both the rebate and the automotive service department. I can't understand why the service department has been unable to resolve the issues. We would like to look into this situation on your behalf. We can also check your rebate and determine what needs to be done to get this resolved for you as well. At your convenience, please contact my office via email at searscares@searshc.com and we will be happy to do what we can for you. In the email, please provide a contact phone number and we will call you directly. Also, please provide the screen name (Jmcalvo1960) used to post here for reference to this issue, and we do look forward to talking to you soon.

Thank you,

Brian J.

Senior Case Manager

Sears Cares

There are many things that go into a proper alignment besides setting it on the machine with laser guidance.

Factors that can throw off even a well done algnment can be worn tie rod ends, Pitman arms, and idler arms if you don't have a rack style steering system, ball joints, and even strut bearings.

Indications of extremely worn tie rod ends will be uneven wear on the outside edge of the tire, and worn ball joints will normally wear the inside of the tire.  The latter is only untrue if you have something like a Subaru, where the ball joint is inverted, and then you will notice a vibration at high speeds.

The other thing that can affect a "perfectly good alignment", is a machine that is not calibrated properly.

Most vehicles these days will need a four wheel alignment, with camber in the front, and caster in the rear.  This is the "tow" of the tires, and ensures they stay flat on the road.

The other thing to consider is "road crown".  Most roads are pitched like a roof for the purposes of water runoff.  Even a perfect alignment will pull toward the low side of the road crown.

Not trying to vindicate the techs here, but, we have two words for fault, and blame, and two different meanings for both.

I am considering taking my car to Sears for a wheel alignment, but I have concerns based on some of the comments I see posted about the lack of competence of some technicians.

I'm not concerned with tire vibration because that's not due to alignment in 99.9% of occasions. What I'm concerned is vehicle handling and tire wear. My car tires are very expensive and I want them to wear well and last as long as possible. I also want my car to track properly, and the steering wheel to be properly centered.

In my opinion Sears has provided better service than most of the auto repair shops that I have dealt with.  Keep in mind that industry estimates say that half of all car repairs done at shops where mechanics operate on a commission are unnecessary.  The only solution is an educated customer, second opinions - and always ask for the parts back that are being replaced.

worldweary2 is correct about worn suspension parts. As a rule of thumb, if your vehicle has worn or defective suspension parts (such as your tie rods, ball joints, pitman arm, idler arm, etc.) an alignment is completely USELESS!!!!!! Bad suspension parts will throw off your alignment, wether the alignment machine says its correct or not!!!! Your bad parts need to be replaced before an alignment is performed!!!

SAGE

I just had an alignment done @ Sears and so far am very satisfied. I have a fairly complex awd Audi and was wearing rear tires very quickly. The techs that worked on the car were very profesional and seemed knowledgeable. I was also there intentionally at a slow time and asked a lot of questions. If you ask informed questions you'll get informed answers. Don't rush your mechanic, be respectful of the work they are trying to do and you will get the same. If they don't know what they're doing it will show right away. Additionally the work was done quickly and at a good price. I wouldn't go to Sears for an engine rebuild but the basics are fine.

First of all an Alignment will have nothing to do with a vibration what so ever.Check for bent rims,index the tires,dismount and reinstall the tire 160 degrees, are just a few simple things to solve the vibration problems.Any experienced tech should know this...Good luck

Sears does one thing good and thats their tools. But as for the Auto dept. they are really bad or just dont care

Funny Story, I once worked as a Alignment Mechanic at a Local sears store, One night, I received a chevy Nova for a alignment, I set up the Machine, made my adjustments, turned in the paperwork and started my next alignment, my service mgr came to me about half a hour later, the nova was back,it pulled to the left, I put it back on the machine, all the settings were correct, so I rotated the tires and gave the car back, went to work on another car, about half a hour later here comes my mgr, Nova's Back!, ***, this time I swaped tires side to side and drove the car, No pull, gave the car back and went onto another car, Half a hour later, You guessed it, Nova's Back, This time I went to talk to the customer, In the waiting area there was this man, if he didn't weigh 400 lbs at least, with him in the car it threw off the settings, I aligned the nova with him in it, Problem solved

Exact same situation happened to me as well!....I’m on my 4th visit to sears, with over 10 hours total time waiting for the car...and still didn’t fix the problem. Sears is now willing to pay my Nissan dealer to check and reconfirm that the tires are out of round and recommend replacement, which Sears cannot believe. Will see what Nissan says.......unbelievable....just went to change tires, and balance them, in the end I should've just paid more somewhere else and would've avoided this frustrating mess!!!!!!......also the Sears in Washington, Bellevue, extremely poor service....stereotype as well....especially if you are a woman!. They will look at you as if you don't have a clue about what you are talking about, but now that my dealer said the tires are out of round, they sure know I am not dumb!...they know it....they just thought they could get away with it......why can't there be normal people, helping us!!! we just want our cars to run good and be fixed!...that's what we pay for!....not to mention I paid close to $1000 for my Nissan Murano's tire, balance and alignment.....Unbelievable!!! Avoid sears if you can!!...don’t waste your time! trust me !

Hey All,

I would like to put the Eibach Performance Kit and Alignment kit on my 2006 Chrysler 300c.  I have been a lont time Sears auto customer, but has never had full suspension work done by Sears.  Are the techs in the Nashua NH store able to handle this work?  Also am I able to purchase the Kit online and have it sent to store.(meaning I would buy the kit through Sears.com>

Thank you,

T

At this point, I would not recommend Sears Automotive for any work.  I purchased 4 tires a year and 6000 miles ago.  When I had normal scheduled maintenance done today, I was told that there seemed to be an alignment problem as the front tires were not wearing properly.  When I went back to Sears I was told that the alignment was only guaranteed for 6 months or 6000 miles.   After 30,000+ miles with no alignment problems, I buy tires at Sears, get an alignment and it lasts only 6000 miles.  I have lost all confidence in Sears and will go elsewhere for any future service.  I would recommend that others do the same.

I'm sorry to hear about the problem with your alignment rmccolgan. Could you send me a private message with your name, contact and vehicle info, and the store that you went to for the alignment? I will try to help.