Southwest Alignment Service

Mar 27th, 2024

Mar 22nd, 2024

Mar 17th, 2024

It depends on whether you want to have the parts you paid for installed and if you want your vehicle to be safe to drive when you leave.If you read my reviews of other businesses, you will find that I praise them highly when they do what they say they will. I recall leaving only one negative review before going to Southwest Alignment, and I gave that company an out because my dissatisfaction may have resulted from extenuating circumstances. In the case of Southwest Alignment, there were no extenuating circumstances. What was once a well-respected and trustworthy business was sold to a new owner notvery long ago, so if you have parts, such as Bilstein shock absorbers, installed on your vehicle, check your receipt carefully before leaving to be certain the brand of parts you paid for is written legibly on it. Also, be certain to keep your receipt because Southwest Alignment does not keep copies of them and has no way of retrieving them, according to the placard in their office. Then, later, check your credit card statement to make sure the amount billed to your card company equals the amount on your receipt, and you will need the receipt if you file a claim for a refund with your credit card company. I returned home after leaving my vehicle at Southwest Alignment thatday, which I expected to pick up later that afternoon based on what Lee had told me. Awhile later Lee called and told me that my vehicle had 50K miles on it, so it was time for new shocks. I was happy with how myvehiclerode before I brought it in, so I wanted OEM shocks as replacements. Lee went into a maniacal rant explaining a (painfully) long list of why Bilstein shock absorbers were the best. I then insisted on the OEM shocks as replacements; however, Lee told me it was too late because he had already installed the Bilsteins. After Lee had kept my vehicle for several days, I returned home and glanced under it expecting to see the yellow Bilsteins but seeing black shocks instead, I called Lee, and he told me that the color of the shocks depended on the factory where they were made. After checking the internet, I found nothing corroborating Lee's statement, so I crawled under my vehicle and snapped a pic of the serial number on them.I Googled that serial number and found out Lee had installed a much lower grade of FCS shocks on my vehicle.It was then that Ilearned Lee at Southwest Alignment had another odd business practice, claiming that the consumer had to take up the issue of the wrong brand of parts being installed on their vehicle with the parts supplier as this was not Lee's fault because he said that he does not have time to inspect each part before installing it despite the Bilstein shocks I paid for being a distinct shade of yellow as opposed to the black FCS shocks Lee installed on my vehicle. I next took my vehicleto AmericanWheel and Tire, where Johnny took care of me and let me know that SouthwestAlignmenthad left the jam nuts on my tie rods completely backed off, causing the front end to be dangerously loose and, if not spotted soon enough could have resulted in completeloss of steering with thefront wheels suddenly going in opposite directions from each and likely a swerve into another lane. If this happened on the freeway, it could have caused a fatal accident not only for myself and my passengers but others in vehiclesaround me. I also discovered that Bilsteins do not come with a spring perch for the front struts, requiring the spring perch from the OEM front struts to be installed on the Bilsteins. However, FCS shocks do come with a spring perch, and once a shop has discarded the OEM struts, it turns out one will need new spring perches, which are not available separate from the entire strut assembly, which are around a thousand dollars.Fortunately,Johnny at American Wheel and Tire found some OEM struts out back that they could use. Caveat emptor.
Mar 11th, 2024

Mar 10th, 2024