Color me confused.
A year ago we bought a very nice one-owner vehicle from an elderly couple with only 35,000mi on it to use at our Phoenix home for when we visit the grand-kids from out-of-state. The only "flaw" was that the steering wheel was about 1/2" off-center when driving straight down the interstate. The car does not wander, and will track straight hands-off for maybe 1000ft on a straight road, then prefers to drift very slightly left, depending on the slant, or crown, of the pavement.
We decided to take it in to a shop to have the alignment checked and the toe reset so the wheel would be perfectly straight (annoying to look at it "off"). The tires are wearing perfectly evenly, so I had no reason to suspect anything was really "wrong."
We arrived on time for our appointment and were led to a nice waiting room where there was a TV and coffee .
After about an hour and a half later, the pleasant young counter gal came in and said, "I am afraid we have bad news for you; we cannot align your wheels." Shocked, I asked why. She replied, "You tie rods are all broken, and it will cost $400 to have them replaced so we can align the wheels."
I own and operate an automotive repair shop in our home state and specialize in front end, brake, and suspension work, and my dad fed our family for 40 years before that with a front end alignment and brake shop of his own (I did not mention any of this to Interstate, of course.), so I am not ignorant about vehicle suspension and steering systems by any means.
I asked her, "You are saying the outer tie rod ends are "broken" at only 40,000 miles? She then told me, no, it's your inner ones, and they are bad.
None of he techs in the office came forward to say a single word to us when I obviously asked for a more thorough explanation. I said that we didn't have time for the job to be done, and I said we would address it the next time we were in town. We asked for our vehicle and left.
I found a place to safely have my wife wiggle the steering wheel wife I looked and felt, under the vehicle looking for lost-motion ( commonly known as "play" that would indicate worn tie rod ends, which are ball type joints that connect the steering rack to the steering arms and to the wheels). There was none I could sense. I then grabbed the front and rear of each front tire and tried to make each deflect L/R without moving the steering wheel, which would indicate looseness in the rod ends. NONE was evident.
So I took the car to another suspension shop for a "Free Inspection" and they came back saying everything felt tight, and no work was needed, but they would do an alignment for the cosmetic condition of the not-perfectly-straight steering wheel if I wanted, but strictly speaking, it was not needed.
We were leaving the next day to fly home, and by this time it was too late in the day to get the alignment this trip, but I just have a bad taste in my mouth about Interstate.
The next time we visit, I WILL take the car to a shop that will hopefully allow me to at least watch while they do the brief pre-alignment check (looking for worn parts with the car on the alignment rack indicating Interstate was ultimately correct), before actually doing the alignment. If there IS a problem at only 40,000 mi (which would surprise me greatly), I will edit my rating on Interstate, but for now, the jury is out as far as I am concerned.