Yesterday I took my Camaro to an alignment shop, and the shop owner who did the alignment asked me if I wanted him to center the rear, so I said yes. Now, the rear is visibly shifted to the drivers side and the tire rubs the inside of the wheel well when going straight and turning left, but not right. Did the alignment guy center it with respect to the front wheels, or what?

Should I adjust the panhard so that the rear tires are equal distance away from the fenders? Right now I can't stick my finger between the inner fender and the tire on the passenger's side, but the drivers side has enough room to fit two fingers!

 

Do you have an adjustable panhard rod? If not, then there's no way the shop could have adjusted it. If so, then yes you need to adjust it back. You can do it in the driveway - it's easy (unless you have an adjustable rod like some of the UMI's that have to be removed to adjust). But even then it's not that difficult. I have an Edelbrock bar, I can adjust it by hand (after the locking nut is released) with the car sitting on all 4 tires in the driveway.

 

Oh, and screw the sign that says "Because of insurance reasons customers are not allowed in the shop". If I can't watch EVERY little thing you do to my car, you don't get my business. BTW - alignment is the ONLY thing anyone is allowed to do on my car, and that's only because I don't have a machine!

 

Yes, its adjustable...I had it centered so that the wheels were equal distance from the fenders, but the guy doing the alignment asked me if I wanted it centered so, I figured it was slightly off center and with his machine he could get it better than I ever could so I let him. The alignment shop I went to has a pretty good reputation and they deal with alot of lowered cars, but I think they usually deal with porsches, audis, lexus, etc. They let me walk anywhere I wanted in the shop while they aligned my car to my specs. This is the first time I have ever let anybody other than my father touch my car.

 

I'm a tech and feel the exact opposite. If you dont trust me to work on your car, then dont bring it to me. With that said, I do agree that I dont want anyone working on my Camaro. I'm the only one that touches it unless I need machine work done on something.

The machine wont tell you if the rear is centered. Its because it doesnt effect the toe of the rear axle so it wont show up. Its an eyeball thing only. If its adjustable, just loosen the set screws and turn the bar so the body is centered over the axle. If you have wide wheels though where your tires get really close, you may need to get a bunch of weight in the back, or take the springs out so you can get the tires in the wheel wells then adjust the bar. It may not sit perfectly straight when the car is unloaded just sitting there, but it will be centered when the axle is compressed up in the car, thus making the tires not hit anymore.

 

I don't know what he thought he was adjusting then...Anyways I just went and made my own plumbob and used that to center the rear, which was shifted an inch to the drivers side.

Would the rear end being off center have affected how the front end was aligned?

 

We've never met, but I've read alot of your posts over the years. And I've dealt with alot of automotive folks. And I have to disagree with you - your official job title might be tech, but from reading your posts, in my opinion you are a mechanic ... and I favor mechanics much much more! Most techs look at service manuals and replace parts until the car runs again. Mechanics actually diagnose and fix things. You my friend are a mechanic, regardless of your 'official' title and any shop policy that may restrict your nature to repair rather than replace.

You must understand that many of us have dealt with many different "techs" - don't take it personally if we don't trust you right away - it's not you, it's all the "techs" ie. total idiots that we've had to deal with - most don't know anymore about a car than your average $7.25/hr Best Buy worker knows about electronics. Finding a good tech (which in my mind is a true mechanic) is a very rare achievement these days.