I think that they get you with this whole "lifetime replacement/yada/yada"! What I mean is you can go in for a lifetime alignment and they might do an alignment but I have a very good feeling that they play around with something else, so you can come back to their shop and get it fixed. Unless its a trusted shop that you know the owner of, that shouldn't be a problem.

When my dad had a "lifetime oilchange" he would go to the shop get the oil changed and come back to them in a matter of weeks with a new problem.

I think this whole "lifetime" deals are just to get more business to the shop.

Thats my $.02.