eluzion

Just curious how often everyone gets an alignment done. Also, when you did get it performed, how much was it off?

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

Never, as long as the tires show no uneven wear pattern it's a waste of money.

Costco

and/or the vehicle doesn't dog track or pull/drift in any certain direction. If you don't bump into curbs, drive into potholes or drive your car at 8/10ths or more 50% of the time, your alignment shouldn't change unless something gets excessively worn, in which case an alignment won't necessarily fix it.

eluzion

Yeah, makes sense. I had my car aligned when I first got my wheels installed and about 10,000 miles later the insides of the rear were worn like crazy. I took it to Honda to get aligned and the rear toe was 0.16 and 0.22. I don't understand how they were that much out of spec after 10,000 mile and I didn't hit any major pot holes.

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

They set it incorrectly when they did the alignment. It happens from inexpenerienced mechanics, or their alignment machine is out of spec and needs to be calibrated. This happens more times than you would ever believe.

GeezerB

iTrader: (1)

On the other hand, I hit a giant pothole that bent my rim enough for the air to escape. Pics are available in another thread if you are curious.
Would I be a candidate for an alignment? I am experiencing some vibration but not sure if it is the repaired wheel (it's still on the front), alignment or just from the tire rotation. I think I'm going to move it to the rear to see if that helps. Sucks cause I just had my tires rotated at the dealer the day I hit the pot hole.

csmeance

I get an alignment any time I notice the car pulling, the tires show uneven wear/odd wear and when getting new tires put on.

LaCostaRacer

The alignment people recommend once a year but that's like a mechanic thinking you need to change the oil every 3k miles. I align after I get a new set of tires or see uneven wear. I just aligned my TL after 3+ years and wound up needing a rear camber kit to fix an alignment issue. I haven't aligned our 05 Pilot since there's no pulling or tire wear so that's almost 5 years- it's probably due.

Will Y.

Same with my TL-- haven't had an alignment yet.
No pull while driving, and the first set of tires wore perfectly evenly across the tread; the 2nd set of tires is also wearing very evenly.

GeezerB

iTrader: (1)

Not trying to jack your thread but just a followup on my vibration problem. This might help others that faced my symptoms...
I moved the repaired wheel from the front to the back (after balancing) & the improvement is very noticeable. The car tracks perfectly now. Before I was afraid to let go of the wheel but now it handles much better.

Jackass

I would almost bet that within the new couple thousand miles you will see odd tire wear. I have caught two potholes in the past year or so and both times I had to get it aligned again.

The first was big enough to bubble the sidewall, bend the rim (not visible, just shook the car), as well as cause the car to dart from lane to lane when under acceleration.

The second did no visible damage other than requiring me to get my tires balanced. They checked the alignment and once again it was off even though the car drove perfectly.

ChewyBalls

I get an alignment every 15k or so whether or not my wheel pulls just to get the most out of my tires. If you toe gets thrown off uneven tire wear is gonna happen quickly

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

What a waste of money. Why and how would the toe get "thrown out" as it doesn't magically move in and out. Once set it won't move unless worn parts or suspension damage is encountered. I've had jeep Cherokees and Grand Cherokees for many years and some have had well over 200K and no alignment. In fact, my son in law has my wife's old JGC Limited with 276K, and never an alignment, and the last set of Michelins lasted 102K miles.

I hate cars

That is so true. It took me 4 tries to get mine aligned correctly once.

subinf

Every two years or so

DUHockey9

Resurrecting an older thread here...

So I can't say I know anything about alignments. What do I need to know and ask when I go to get an alignment done? I've heard horror stories about Firestone, yet I've heard of other people going to Firestone. Should I ask if they have a certain piece of equipment? Do TLs have certain specifications they need to meet, if so where can I find them?

sddale

Firestone worked fine for me when I had my old car. I had the lifetime alignment and used it quite often because the car had over 100k miles and steering/suspension parts were being replaced and I had to have an alignment done when that was being done and I'd get it done when getting new tires. Some Firestone shops were better than others though.

wasupdog

iTrader: (2)

go to firestone and get the lifetime alignment, it runs about $150 which is basically the cost of getting 2 alignments done. you don't have to ask or tell them anything. if you don't like the first firestone you go to, go to a different one next time.

alignments in tl's take about 15-30 minutes. the only thing you can adjust is the toe. if the toe is off your tires will wear down really fast.

Goodthaimer

Tech tip...
When you get a front end alignment, there is a compensation for "road crown" that technicians tend to over look or perhap not know about. This is done by either setting your driver side front camber slight positive (top of wheels away for vehicle) but although this prevents the vehicle from pulling, it does cause tire wear.. The good news is, theres a different adjustment that can be made to compensate for road crown that would not cause uneven wear on your treads. Its called caster, positive caster on the driver side front, which causes the tip of you wheel to shift toward the rear.. This would keep the vehicle rolling straight without pulling and uneven tire wear.

I hate cars

Good post and I agree. Where were you when I was getting flamed all over the place a while back for suggesting this lol.

nfnsquared

You're saying that road crown tends to make cars drift to the right (in N. America) and that the alignment is set to pull slightly left to counteract the right drift?

Goodthaimer

Square,
Road crown where im from, is how the road is laid down by DOTD guys, its done in a slight point, triangle, or cone, however you want to look at it.. This is so that when it rains, the water can flow or drain without flooding the roads..

Goodthaimer

Yes square, very much so... So next time you get an alignment ask the service advisor how do they compensate for road crown there, and if he or she even knows, they will either tell you camber or caster, if they say camber, tell them you want your cambers to be even and your caster to be adjusted instead, so that you wont get uneven tire wear.. You can thank me later..

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

First there is no adjustment on the caster to make the necessary change, and years ago on the old 2 lane roads where crowns were king and biased ply tires were the norm, this might be a consideration. However, with today's roads, many being multiple lanes in each direction and the crown is actually to move the water to the center divider along with the radial tires that don't track like the old bias ply, you’re much better off in maintaining the factory specs. Another problem that needs to be considered is that any inherent difference in alignment specs from one side to another would only work properly if the crown were equal to the set specifications. A crown that is either less or more than the specific setting would still cause the car still drift and on a flat road it certainly would be an annoyance.

Leave it factory.

I hate cars

Hi Goodthaimer, square knows how the road is crowned, that comment was based on my comment in another thread where I said that cars are set up so that if you take your hands off the wheel it should have a very slight drift to the right for safety.

nj2pa2nc

The only time I got an alignment was when I bought new tires. I do get the tires rotated/balanced every 7,000 miles. The original tires lasted 74,000 miles (all measured 4/32 when they were replaced. I am now still with the 2nd set and still alot of thread on them with about 46,000 miles.