I recently believed my alignment was off.

After reading this forum, I understood that an alignment is under warrenty for the first 12k miles (which my Xterra was still under). I also read about the ficticious "radial pull".

I took my Xterra to the local dealer and told them my concerns. They called me at work telling me that it was "radial pull" and all that was needed was to swap the front two tires (a non warrenty service thus a $10 charge). They also adjusted the tire pressure in all 4 tires.

I got the truck back, and ... big surprise ... the alignment wasn't corrected.

A death in the family prevented me from taking it back in and having them finish the job.

Two weeks later (still under 12k but damn close) I decided it was time for an oil change, and decided to take it to the dealer to do both the oil change and fix the alignment. This time the dealer actually did check the alignment, found some problems and made corrections.

The dealer told me that since I had warrenty work done Nissan would be sending me a survey. He wanted to remind me to fill it out and send it back. I get the impression he wants me to leave a favorable reivew.

Given this information what kind of response would my fellow Xterra owners leave in the survey?

i'm a firm believer in the old howard cosell adage, which would be: tell it like it is .

'nuff said.

I do plan on telling it like it is. I just wanted to read what other people think of this situation.

I suppose this could have gone under the Dealerships thread, but the dealership I wrote about is Viking Nissan of Rochester Minnesota.

I purchased the Xterra in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. I didn't buy my vehicle in Rochester because they wouldn't deal on the price of an Xterra. The Rochester dealers think they have some sort of monopoly on cars and trucks. I drove 70 miles to the Twin Cities to because they would deal on the price (the second time I have done it).

That little warrantee customer satisfaction survey means more to the service manager than you may think. I haven't filled mine out yet because my warrantee brake work has not been completed to my satisfaction and they know it. However, I remember reading a thread about someone who blasted a dealership and now that dealer won't allow him back on the property nor will they service his X. Of course Nissan North America won't get involved. My take is just be honest. Let them know how you feel but in a professional manner. I would keep a copy with your receipt for your records just in case.
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I recently had the same issue with a 2002 SE. I had 800 miles on it when I took it in to have the alignment checked. Took the FOUR times to get it right. It's still not perfect but it's close. They also sent me a survey, must be something Nissan requires. Well, I let them have it. Four times to fix a simple alignment problem, and even then it's still not right! What the heck!

Granted, I had done a few MINOR mods to the truck, and was still under the 12k warranty (but I do have the extended gold warranty up to 100k). They flat out told me that the alignment would NOT be covered under warranty because of "aftermarket suspension mods."

So, I ended up paying TWO HOURS worth of labor ($135 or so). I'm thinking there's a standard rate for this, but didn't check at the time.

However, the alignment isn't perfect - the steering wheel is a little off-level to the left when driving straight, and no tire wear or pressure is correcting it...

So guess what? It's going back, and they're going to fix it, and I will not pay another cent. If this had been done under warranty, I wouldn't care so much - but since I had to pay for it, they're fixing it...

Sadly, I'll need another one after the next round of suspension mods... I was hoping to get them done first, but time is ticking by a bit too fast.

There must be something about the Xterra and the steering wheel leaning to the left when driving straight. 4 trips to the dealer finally got it "close" on mine.

Wonder what it is. I've read a lot of posts about this.

Hmmm, that's weird. I know it was *perfect* before they touched it, and now it's not - so they're getting it back until it is...