actright

Just got alignment @ Cerritos Acura, they had a special for 79.95 for wheel alignment. My car was going to the right on its own, they took it in, they didn't do a good enough job the first time, felt like they just washed the car and gave it back to me, the 2nd time I felt the difference, they told me it was because my tires had deep tread that it follows the way the road goes, i tried it out and saw it was better, but to keep a short story long,

its almost due for a rotation, I wanted to know if it would mess with the settings?

Tecciztecatl

Deep tread?!? Most new tires have deep tread, sounds like BS to me.

Anywho, no, a tire rotation will not mess with your alignment ... it might seem that way if your tires are worn unevenly, but will not mess with the settings.

I rotate mine every oil change.

On a side note, a dealer here in Philly told my co-worker that her car was pulling to the right a little (he also has a TL), so that it would not "swerve into on-coming traffic" ... the funny part is she bought it and tried to convince me of the same.

Nandito28

I thought you had to do a wheel alignment every time you took the front two wheels off...for any reason. Not that I did...but I thought it was the recommended thing to do.

PiMpiN wHITe Cl-S

iTrader: (14)

rotating your wheels DOES NOT mess with alignment.

fsttyms1

Rotating your wheels DOES NOT mess with the alignment. Its Recomended to do often to help keep the wear on the tires even.

Nandito28

when is a wheel alignment necessary?

New tires?
springs?.....?

PiMpiN wHITe Cl-S

iTrader: (14)

new springs. but it wouldnt hurt to get an alignment when getting new tires.

fsttyms1

Any time you start to notice a pull (that is after you checked your air pressure and its correct) any time you get new tires its recomended. I get 1 once a year minimum. Or if you have recently hit a large pothole or something it wouldnt hurt to have it checked, or any time you play/change with suspension

t0ast

... unless the tire rotator is incompentent. I'm sure we've all encountered plenty of those.

Yeah besides suspension work, the only time you really do an alignment is when you see that your tires are wearing unevenly, which could be the alignment or the inflation of the tire.

2003TLSNKC

Do I remember people complaining about getting their cars alignment done at the dealer and then having their type S rims messed up? Like scratches in them or something?

loud_whispers

Yes, depending on the shape of your tires, how old they are, any different wear patterns, mismatched tires..It will affect the alignment if any of those are not within specification.

For Instance..
If you keep alot of crap in your trunk weighing the rear down..you will develop rear camber causing wear on the inner tread of the tire, Rotate the rear tires with worn inner tread to the front, the front toe settings will be off and your car will veer.

This is why Tires should be rotated every OTHER oil change. or 7500 miles. Keep heavy things out of the trunk. Have the tires inspected every Oil change or 3,000 miles. Avoid Potholes and i "personally" recommend having them balanced every 15,000 miles.

So, Yes..a Tire Rotation very well can affect alignment of the vehicle under certain circumstances. Have the tires and wear patterns inspected before rotating or performing an alignment..

Remember, if you go in and ask for an alignment, that's what you'll get. If you go in and ask them to inspect all tires for wear patterns..then the tech will check everything first instead of driving the car straight to the alignment rack.

good luck.

Pure Adrenaline

iTrader: (2)

That still won't change the actual alignment settings. After a tire rotation, the wear patterns on the tires could affect the driving characteristics of the vehicle on the current alignment settings, but it still won't affect/change the actual settings.

It's not an easy task to set up the alignment specs perfect left to right, and front to back. Even with camber kits, there will be minor differences, not to mention different load levels on each corner. So tires will unavoidably wear differently, to a certain extent, noticeable or not. The only real solution is to rotate often.

loud_whispers

Yes it will change the settings..


If your WORN rear tire with barely any inner tread is aligned, then rotated to the front where there was a tire with full tread..the suspension will move to accomodate that tire and how it sits. The rear will move also because it was formerly accomodating a worn tire, now it accomodates a tire with full tread.
If you don't believe me, try it yourself. I've seen it about a million times. The settings will change..

This is why whenever we install 4 brand new tires on a car..it's highly recommended you perform a 4-wheel alignment. This is also a reason why you alway recommend tires in PAIRS instead of single tires.

If you have 2 or more tires replaced, do an alignment. It all falls under the same principle. There are TONS of things on a car that will affect an alignment.

bigA

iTrader: (1)

LOL. If your current alignment is wearing your rear tires that much, you probably need to get an alignment. Part of the benefit to rotating your tires is so that you get even wear across all 4 tires. For most of the population, it's not necessary to get an alignment when simply rotating the tires. I don't agree that simply buying new tires requires an alignment. If your old tires were wearing evenly, there isn't any reason to do an alignment. It certainly doesn't hurt anything, but it seems to be a waste of time and money.

fsttyms1

The best time to do it is when you get new tires. You spend that much on a set of tires whats another 60-80 bucks to make sure they last? Its worth the time and money to me

loud_whispers

I was speaking for instance. By Rotating your tires in certain situations, it could affect the alignment. People were pretty much making fun of the situation when it very well could be true. Matter of fact, is true in most situations of the tires wear uneven then the car pulls after a rotate.

I never said rotating your tires, get an alignment. ever. You need to read.

Replacing 2 or more tires you should have the car aligned. Your tires play one of the biggest roles with alignment issues and if your paying 300+ dollars for a brand new set of tires, would you want to get the most life out of them as possible? I would..

It doesnt matter if your old tires were wearing evenly, ALWAYS do a 4-wheel alignment when replacing all 4!!. ALWAYS!

Your Suspension accomodated to tires that were 3/32 of tread before you replaced them..Your suspension cannot adjust itself PERFECTLY back to Brand New Tires 10/32 of tread.. It's either going to be off ALOT or a TAD.

Either way, the tires will still wear uneven if the settings are off a TAD..


This is why, ROTATE your tires ON SCHEDULE.
Problems like this won't arise unless it's a SHIT tire.
If you buy SHIT tires, then that's on you, you'll be paying more in the long run.

Pure Adrenaline

iTrader: (2)

Dude, you're telling me that once you rotate a worn tire into a new place, it'll change the alignment settings. But at the same time, once you get new tires to replace old ones, it won't move to accommodate for those? Right, it only goes one way, not the other, right?

Dial in some serious negative camber on new tires, and it will wear out the inner side, right? But you're telling me that on a zero-camber setting, and you put these tires with camber wear on, and the suspension will change to negative camber?

No. That just isn't going to happen. Maybe, just maybe a tiny, negligible amount, but tires won't change the actual alignment settings.

loud_whispers

My exact point, when you align the car with worn tires or with new tires..

It's going to affect the settings when either REPLACING or ROTATING worn tires to the front where there once was brand new tires or vice versa.

Im not saying the suspension automaticly adjusts itself to the proper setting. Thats impossible. I was saying the suspension tries to accomodate a worn tire where a brand new one once was when the car was aligned and vice versa.

it will change the settings..

DO THIS!
you take 2 WORN tires and 2 good tires.
Align the car so the settings are within SPEC.

ROTATE the tires.

Then see if the settings are the same on the second alignment.
They won't be.

good luck trying to prove me wrong.

loud_whispers

ALSO,

Try aligning the car with all worn tires within specifications.

Then replace ALL 4.


See if the alignment settings changed.. It's all the same Principle as rotating.

good luck buddy.

fsttyms1

loud-whispers is correct. you will be adjusting for the way the tire is causing the suspension to sit. If you align it to the way its sitting it will be off when the tire is is new/different.

Ive seen it first hand on one of my different cars.

The other thing i dont like is when they lift the car off all 4 tires then set it down and align it that way never getting the car settled on its springs the way it should be. Ive had alignments off right from the get go with that method.

loud_whispers

The old alignment machine they had to raise the car to compensate the heads by spinning the wheels. They pretty much did away with it, but alot of shops still have it because they can't afford a new one.

We have the New Hunter machine, we don't lift the car at all. We mount the heads/sensors on the wheels.. Roll the car back then roll the car forward..Then the heads are compensated. Very nice machine. Everything is showed in 3-dimensional.

Great for flat rate techs and very accurate.

fsttyms1

Yep. the place i go to does it that way.

Pure Adrenaline

iTrader: (2)

I see your point now. I misunderstood you.

fsttyms1

OEMAcuraPartsTim

iTrader: (1)

Rotation in some rare cases may also cause radial pull. I've seen this on TL's before.

Pulled from the web:

"Radial pull" is another condition that is tire-related. Sometimes a variation in a tire's construction creates conicity in the tire that causes it to pull to one side. The pull will remain to the same side whether the vehicle is being driven forwards or backwards. If you suspect a tire is pulling, switch the front tires side-to-side and see if the direction of the pull changes. If it does, the tire is to blame.

The cure here is to replace the bad tire, or if the customer's budget can't afford a new one, move the bad tire to the spare position or rear axle where hopefully it will have less of an effect on the steering.

Radial pull can also be caused by misalignment of the plies inside a tire. This creates a sideways push that causes the vehicle to drift to one side. If switching the front tires left-to-right causes the direction of the drift to change, you've diagnosed the problem.

Lawaia

Let's get realistic. Who the hell would get an alignment with fvcked up tires to begin with? You guys crack me up.

fsttyms1

Valid point. I wouldnt

Pure Adrenaline

iTrader: (2)

Well, there is a sucker born every minute. Guaranteed, someone has done that before.