More than one way to align? And other questions!

eggshell1

Hi. I took my daughter's 2001 Sentra to K-Mart for a wheel-alignment. They could not align the rear right tire without a shim, so I decided to take the car to a Nissan dealership for their opinion. They were able to align the front two wheels, then the back two wheels, without a shim. K-Mart was trying to balance all four together. Which is the correct way?!

Since I'm trying to get my daughter's car ready for her to go back to school, I gave it a good washing. Unfortunately there was alot of dried pine sap on the paint, so I used some "Blue Magic" bug&tar remover to get it off. I had a hard time, so I used a kitchen scrubber sponge made for glasses and non-stick cookware. Well now the surface of the paint is dulled and scratched. (I wish I left the sap alone!) Now what do I do?

Also, if water gets under the edge of the black weather-stripping between the windshield and roof, will this cause any problems (leaks, etc.)?

Sorry about all the questions...
from "Worried Mom"

eggshell1

My daughter goes back to college on Monday, so I need to work on her car ASAP. Thanks.

Mr_Shiftright

Okay, most serious problem first.

The paint issue will require a professional buffing of the top coat, and this may or may not restore the finish. So you'll have to have it buffed out by machine to see what damage you may have done. Basically, you used an abrasive surface and scraped some of the clear coat off. Since the clear coat creates the shine, the paint now looks dull. If you can restore the clear coats transparancy, the paint may look good again. If not, you'll have to repaint that surface.

Water should not be getting under the weatherseal. The weatherseal is supposed to fit tightly against the windshield.

Alignment---don't go to discount chain stores for work like this. The best place for alignment is a specialist who does alignment for dealers, race cars, commercial vehicles, etc.

div2

Ditto on the alignment. Chain stores are barely adequate at best, and totally incompetent at worst. One of the best alignment shops in my town is located in a small nondescript building at an older industrial park. They do the job right and don't find lots of other "problems" to pad the bill

mrdetailer

Kleen Strip (obtained from Auto Paint supply stores) removes tar quickly wihout abrasion.

eggshell1

Thank you everybody! I really appreciate the responses!

"Worried Mom"

lbthedog

They aligned the front then the back? The whole idea of an alignment is to get all four going in the proper direction. Stupid as this sounds, it's not always straight. There should be a tiny bit of toe in depending on the manufacturers specs. The better shops these days will have an alignment machine that is comprised of four sensors that are mounted on all four wheels, a very level hoist or pit and the better shops will have all this hooked up to a computer with the latest specifications loaded in it. The trick to a good alignment is not just how well the vehicle is set for straight line driving but how well it is set up the various angles that any given wheel can move to. In other words, are the settings right when the vehicle is in a turn. I'm going to assume a lot of this has gone beyond what you were looking to find out. Best way to get a good alignment? If the shop is using a PC based machine, most machines will have specs stored in it, the PC based machines will have a printer attached. They will (if they are reputable) print a specs./before/after sheet for you. The days with strings and mirrors are all but dead, those machines had too many variables. Your paint problems, nothing beats hot water, elbow grease and some good old paste wax. The water leaks? Get some clear RTV.

eggshell1

When I discovered that the alignment was still under warranty, I brought the Sentra to a dealership for the alignment. They are the ones who aligned the front wheels together, then the back. Do you think this was done incorrectly? Do you think that they didn't want to bother with the shim? Should I have someone else check it out? ...And who?

Thanks.
Worried Mom

lbthedawg

If your car is going down the road correctly, just keep going. If it is pulling to one side or the other or requires steering when braking, return to the shop that did the alignment, somethings wrong. Might just be an interpretation on my part or yours but to align the front, you would first have to align the rear. Doesn't mean they "disconnected" the car from the alignment machine. They just got a proper baseline to work from.

Mr_Shiftright

You can always tell you are in a good alignment shop because after they set the alignment, the operator of the machine goes out for a test drive. If they set it and park it, they aren't doing their job and there's a chance it isn't right. A really good shop may do this 2-3 times.

zr2rando

Most vehicles these days need 4 wheel alignment.
1. Make sure the back wheels are parallel and then align the front wheels to the back ones. If the vehicle is new, let everything settle for at least 5-10k and then make sure the dealer sets everything right (3 settings they need to check (castor/cambor and toe-in).They SHOULD do this under warranty! Shims are a normal part of alignments so don't pay extra for that part. Check the tires for abnormal wear, it is easy to see if it has been happening for very long. Sometimes a tire will have more rolling resistance and will PULL if it is on the front-alignment can't fix this-you can mark it and keep it on the rear if it is very bad. Check air pressure every month. Don't let anyone tell you to pay extra for anything normal!
Take charge!
Good luck
Rando