Alignment shop in the South Bay

Hello, Are there any recommendation for alignment in the South Bay? I lifted my truck and bought to the dealer, and they tried their best but still the truck is not going straight.

The spec now making the steering point to the right, front of the truck pull to the left front caster, and rear turning to the right due to the toe issue...

Please help

 

Thanks Guy, I will hit them up next week.

 

I have an appointment on Thursday to try and sort out my caster issues. Spoke with them on Wednesday and they were booked solid until Thursday next week. Trust me when I say, call and make an appointment. Will say this for them, never been there before but when I called to discuss my alignment issue I when to voicemail. I didn't leave a message. Was about to call a different shop and I have this incoming call from "Custom Alignment". That speaks volumes to me. They called me without a message. Spent 20 minutes on the phone going over details - not once did I feel rushed. They have my business.

 

Already mentioned TW and Don referring me over there. I'll tell him you said 'hello'

 

Clearly, you have already experienced their professionalism. It'll be on full display once there, as well. They are meticulous so expect it to take a little time. There's a cool shop next door that you can browse around in, and there are always an array of nice cars running around.

 

Wanted to update...

Arrived at Custom Alignment about 7ish as I didn't want to deal with traffic. They were not late at all, promptly opened at 8am. Met Joe (owner) and Bernadette and Joe took the time to answer a few questions and explain how they do alignments. They took my keys and immediate put the truck on the hunter and started checking things over.

One of the things which really impressed me, as part of the alignment process, they check every aspect of the front (and rear) suspension. Looking for anything worn that could lead to a potential issue with alignment/safety/etc.

Alan arrived a short time after my truck was on the rack and came over to check and make sure I had all my questions/concerns addressed and to see if I needed anything. Level of professionalism of this shop continued to impress.

Took the tech about 2.5 hours to correct all the laziness the Toyota alignment tech had caused.

Alignment report from Toyota when their tech performed the work (7/30)



Alignment report from Custom Alignment (8/9)



dont mind the color of the report numbers, their ink cartridge is on its last leg and a replacement is on the way

So, bottom line - Toyota had me negative Caster and said it was maxed and it was either caster would be off or camber and camber was more important. Said nothing else could be done except aftermarket UCAs.

The real pros at Custom Alignment were able to correct what Toyota had done, I am now back into positive caster (1.3 / 1.7) and camber is dialed in as well.

I have found my new alignment shop - I'd rather pay a little more than the typical shop cost and have these professionals take care of it. Oh and worth noting, my steering wheel has been a little off center to the left for some time now. They fixed it. Joe (owner) said that was something they take very seriously - they want to make sure the steering wheel is aligned and the customer has no issues. They want you happy when you leave! When i left, truck felt 1000 times better. No more backwards shopping cart wheel

Thanks to @Don5352 @jberry813 and others who commented on Custom Alignment in Mountain View being the place to go. 100% satisfied and will be paying them another visit in the coming months after I install the AAL and order new tires.

Oh and by the way... they are a tire rack installer! If you are in the Bay Area and want your alignment done right, go see --

Custom Alignment
2599 Wyandotte St, Unit A
Mountain View, CA 94043
(650) 961-5311


NOTE: Call and make an appointment. They are that busy!

 

100% oh and here's a kicker, the tech noticed that there was an ever slight pull during the road test after he had everything dialed in. So he puts it back up on the rack, ends up swapping front driver/passenger tires with each other, dials everything back in, pull gone. Suggested not doing a front to back, back to front but an X rotation pattern . I've always been used to the back to front, front to back. I'm going with his recommendation.

 

Hmmm on my AWD system that is how they recommended doing the rotation. Been a habit of mine doing a partial X. Rears go to front and the fronts go to opposite sides in the rear.

Sounds like I will need to come to these guys as my steering has been off center for a few months now and it drives me nuts.

 

If you do, be sure to pass them @Don5352 or myself as a contact. You'll get a 25 credit on your bill. Regardless of the credit, do it. So worth the peace of mind knowing its done right. Also, Don pointed this out but I didn't actually go inside - the shop next door has a killer model porsche collection on the wall.

For those wondering about price, $195 for the alignment, throw out a referring name and its 170 out the door.

 

I actually don’t know when the heck I can make it. I work biz hours and I live far. Damnit

 

Drop off on Thursday evening and see if they will accommodate a weekend pickup?

 

Any other recommendations? Not having the same experience as others mentioned on here about custom alignment. Completely wasted a day today and was hoping I could get fit in somewhere.

 

What happened?

 

Dm me if you want to know details. But long story short if I’m paying that much for a alignment I shouldn’t need jump threw hoops and deal with all the bull shit. Just my opinion though

 

It would be nice to know what hoops they asked you to jump through? Maybe you are unfamiliar with the necessary steps to ensure an alignment properly happens? My curiousity may be mirrored by others. Care to make their requests public so we can learn new things?

 

I haven’t seen their work so I won’t comment on that. However I felt like they didn’t want my business, when I called last week I took me like 4 or 5 tries to get someone on the phone. Once I got someone on the phone he didn’t seem to care about any of my needs just kept saying he was super busy and asked why I needed a alignment. I told him I got new tires and just wanted to get stuff right since I heard such good stuff. He kind of snarled back and said is your truck modified? I said yes. He said it starts at $330. Me, after reading up on the post was like wtf? I told him some other people on Tacoma world highly recommended him and told me a different price. He started back tracking his story and then told me $190 after mentioning tw. It doesn’t stop there. So still kind of shocked with the whole experience pulled the trigger and made appointment for 9/4. Confirmed appointment and started makingarrangements for work and find a baby sitter who will pick up my daughter. Couple hours later he calls me back and said he misread his calander and he couldn’t make my appointment...I was like wtf again. But still played cool and asked him when is the next availability. He told me 9/5 12:45. I told him ok, but still hella palisade inside because now I need to cancel all prior arrangements. So now it come today 9/5.i drop off my girl at school and took the day off since my appointment was at 12:45. I get a phone call around 8:45 telling me someone at work is sick and that person is the only Tacoma specialist. So basically I’m done. Was hoping anyone else had other recommendations