Hey Guys,

I just got my wife's 2011 Acura TSX an alignment, wanted to do a sanity check on the numbers:



If I've done my homework correctly, I believe you CANNOT adjust the camber on these cars. Is that correct?



Thanks,
Asif

 

iCrap answered on your other post.

Are you lowered? Or your wife just likes to hit a lot of pot holes?

 

You've got 0.2 degrees of extra camber in the back. I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. Granted, it is 1.2 degrees away from "max" spec.

Did the trunk have anything in it when you did this alignment? Was the gas tank full?

It could indicate normal wear of bushings and/or springs. Or...is the car lowered?

1.7 degrees isn't going to cause premature tire wear as long as your toe is fine.

And no...you cannot directly adjust camber.

 

The lazy shop should have zeroed out your toe.. that's the biggest killer of tires, not so much camber. They did it in the front but got lazy in the back..

 

Hey Everyone,

Thanks for the quick replies! Let me answer some of your questions below:

1. Are you lowered?
No, the car is not lowered. Her car is on OEM suspension.

2. Did the trunk have anything in it when you did this alignment?
I believe the trunk was fairly empty. There wasn't anything super heavy at the time of the alignment.

3. Was the gas tank full?
The gas tank was around the halfway mark at the time of the alignment.

The reason I wanted to check the numbers is that we took her car to the Acura dealership a few weeks ago, and they discovered her passenger side FRONT tire was nearly bald / having uneven tire wear. Obviously, indicating that her alignment was messed up on the front of the car.

I ended up replacing the bald tire with a new tire (same brand), and doing a rotation....so the new tire gets worn in correctly on the rear of the car. After getting tires sorted out, I got the alignment....and basically the whole reason for posting the numbers is to make sure there will be NO more surprises with uneven tire wear in the future.

It sounds like from you guys I have nothing to worry about....just keep an eye on the alignment occasionally and make sure we rotate her tires often.

Thanks,
Asif

 

The front wearing out would match the pre-aligned toe numbers on your sheet.

 

Thanks! So just to confirm, the rear camber being slightly off is nothing to worry about? No fear of uneven tire wear in the future from it being a bit off spec?

Also, how often should I get an alignment? Every 5k? Every oil change?

Thanks again!

 

Your rear camber specs are a little bit out of the "acceptable" range as indicated by your print out, but it's not enough that I personally would worry about. Camber does lead to uneven tire wear, but it wont be as drastic/quick as toe would make it.

I'd rotate tires with every oil change if it really bothers you. Depending on how many miles that is, you can probably get away with rotating tires with every other oil change.

Frequent alignments can get pricey ($100 each time here) unless you paid for Firestone's unlimited alignment. Just keep an eye for steering wandering and uneven tire wear. That's usually a good of an indicator for the need of an alignment.

 

Tire rotations every 6k miles or so is certainly called for - so every oil change.

Alignments really depend on tire wear, potholes and steering pull. I generally get an alignment after the winter even if I find nothing amiss. If you need an alignment at every oil change then something is wrong.

How many miles on the car and when was the last alignment?

 

The car's mileage is just shy of 45k. I'm actually not sure when my wife got an alignment last to be honest. I'll have to look through her car receipts and see if I can find anything.

Thanks,
Asif

 

This may well be the first alignment for the car.

Go to Autozone (or whatever auto supply store you have in your area) and buy a tire depth gauge.

Make a chart of each of your 4 tires and take measurements of each tire in three different places - outside tread, middle tread and inside tread.

Write down the measurements for each tire along with a date and check them at distinct intervals (like once a month or every 1000 miles or whatever). If you find uneven wear (one tire wearing faster than the other on the same axle, inside or ourside wearing faster etc) then it is time for an alignment. Once the fronts are wearing faster than the rears then it is REALLY time for a rotation. You shouldn't notice appreciable wear between front and rear if you do rotations with oil changes.

If one tire was replaced and the other on the same axle) had more than 10k miles then you should have replaced both.