most of the time your not actually adjusting anything. there is a difference between having a car aligned and having its alignment checked. Ask the shop to give you a print out from there alignment machine when ever you get it checked. I don’t think a lot of people realize that most newer alignment setups have the capabilities to print you a before and after measurement, but a good tire shop should know how to do this and be willing to.
My VW dealer just sent me an invitiation for a $100 4 wheel laser alignment. Is that a good price? Actually, even if it is, they’ll probably want to do the brakes, too, and there go any savings…
All right so I just got an alignment, just to be on the safe side. That and I remembered about 8 months ago I ran over a metal plate on (the constructions ones to cover holes and such) that resulted in damage to my CV shaft.
They told me they were able to get everything aligned except for the Front Right Camber and Caster and the Rear Right Camber.
Front Right Camber -.08 with a specified range of -.5 to .5 degrees
FR Caster 1.7 with a range of 1.7 to 3.2
Rear Right Camber -1.5 with a specified range of -1 to 0
They said that I needed a bolt kit to make the proper adjustment, since my vehicle does not have any other way to adjust the camber and caster which I would not be surprised with.
My question is should I get these done, or are my actual levels fine enough to drive without any issues except for increased tire wear?
Well, you’ve asked for what was causing the wear problem that you have - and you found it.
Of course, we are all going to say to get it fixed. After all, if you weren’t interested in fixing the problem, why did you post in the first place?
But seriously, my experience with alignments is that most vehicle manufacturer’s specs are too wide to be sure that you don’t have tire wear issues - that’s the tolerances, not the target value. In other words, unless the alignment is within the inner half of the spec, you can’t be sure that there won’t be tire wear issues.
And even then there are some vehicles where the spec is not conducive for good wear - BMW’s for example.
So, if you have anything that is OUTSIDE the spec, you should get it fixed, or expect to pay for it by buying tires.
I do that, and nearly every time things have to be adjusted. Something about the high quality Missouri and Kansas potholes we drive in and round…
If you read the message that was here before disregard I forgot to switch over to the next page.
All right I’ll get them to put on the kits and adjust the camber and caster. Thanks for everyone’s input!
-Sam