Before and After Alignment evaluation

Maintenance/Repairs
1

Hi all, just had new tires put on and an alignment done at local Goodyear. 2020 Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid.

My understanding is Thrust Angle and Steer Ahead should be 0.00.

  • Weird the Thrust Angle is worse after?
  • On my old tires the left front was definitely humming at the end, should I be concerned that drive side caster was 5.5 before and only adjusted to 4.9 now?
  • Do I need to have a second shop check out the alignment?

Thanks

alignment
alignment1570Ă—1783 158 KB

2

I’d be concerned about your right rear camber . . . it’s definitely off

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3

Thanks, definitely odd, especially since it was in spec to begin with?

4

It is adjustable but toe also depends on it so it may have moved when toe was set BUT the camber is out and needs correction.

I wouldn’t be too concerned with thrust angle as it is pretty small as is steer ahead. I’d prefer zero, too.

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5

Thanks, appreciate the feedback.

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6

A vehicle of this age should only need minimal adjustments. The before measurements can be influenced by lifting one corner of the vehicle with a jack, this gives the impression money was well spent on the alignment.

Caster usually isn’t easily adjustable on a strut suspension, camber adjuster would require cam bolts to be installed on the struts.

Your car may have only needed minor adjustment for the toe setting.

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7

I’m not sure what the "steer ahead " spec refers to. There are multiple ways to configure the front tie rods to achieve a given toe setting. I presume the “steer ahead” spec is how they decide which of the possible configurations to use, probably done that way to best center the steering rack.

8

Looks to me like the rack was raised and not lowered on the locks for the (before) printout…

Then lowered on the locks and they had something frozen/damaged on the rear and made 3 out of 4 adjustments trying to get the rear total toe closer to center spec…

Steering wheel is off center, meaning 11 o’clock or 1 o’clock (or whatever) instead of 12 o’clock basically

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9

Thanks for the input. Just to confirm, you agree that that right rear camber should be looked at again? Thanks

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10

Ask the shop techs. They may feel it is still within the measurement error. Then monitor for any tire wear problems developing, esp more wear on one edge than the other. .

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11

If I had one of my techs bring me that sheet, it would have thrown up a red flag to me, I would have at least asked for a very good explanation and documented it on the WO and informed the customer about it or made the tech pull it back on the rack and recheck it so I could see if it changed… I would have also walked out to the vehicle and looked at the rear tires to see if they and or the r/r tire was leaning in that much, yes you can see 2 degrees…

I had a store manager helping a 40 year tech set an alignment that was given him a fit, the store manager brought me the sheet and started explaining to me what was wrong, I said hold on and went and looked at the car, the wheel was almost straight up, the sheet showed almost -2.5 degrees… I had him pull it back in and recheck it, found out the head caught the valve stem and was holding it off the wheel just a little bit, hard to see it… Took a while to get it all back in spec… lol

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12

Thanks Dave, that’s really interesting to read. Amazing from a layman’s perspective how many small details can mess up an alignment. I’ll check the tire out by eye out of curiosity to see if I notice anything weird, though my eye is untrained. Your examples are definitely helpful.

13

Definitely will monitor and rotate. This all started because I went for an oil change and thought there might be a wheel bearing hub issue; was hearing that humming. As you can see in that before alignment measurement, the left front tire was pretty out of spec and the interior of the tire had a ton of wear.

14

The left front wheel measurements were not off in a manner that would accelerate tire wear and I doubt they changed or corrected the caster setting. I still believe the before measurements were simulated.

2 Likes
15

I have seen thousands of alignment sheet/screens from over 20 different machines, over many years and normally when all 4 cambers are tilted one way, and normally to the left, usually it was not set on the locks all the way, most of my experience has been with Hunter machines/racks… A lot of times it seemed at waist height when the heads were hung and rolling compensation was done with the print/save screen, but the alignment was then set with the rack almost or all the way up so you could stand up under the rack for the service…
Had one (junk) rack that we used a 6’ level every time to make sure the rack set level…

EDIT: possible cradle shift on the front?? I am not familiar with OP’s vehicle…

16

The tire itself can cause height change issues, including worn suspension parts on that side. If you fix those issues, the camber “might” fix itself.

As for the thrust angle, it shouldn’t be too much of an issue. If the car drives straight and is getting the rated MPG, don’t worry about it, as those are the two most important concerns, and then after that is proper tire wear.

Humming may come from a bad tire or a bad wheel bearing. Figure out which it is. Again, the most critical thing is straightness and MPG, then tire wear. Bad wheel bearing and bad tires will affect straightness and MPG.

17

Agreed on the T/A. I prefer a slightly negative thrust angle, as it counters the left pull designed into most modern(2000-present) cars.

Ask me how I know this!

18

No, have it checked carefully again. Assuming an out of range value is measurement error means the alignment machine is worthless.

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19

Remember that once that rubber is gone, it is gone, you can’t go down to Auto Zone and ask for a can of tire rubber add back… lol

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20

Thanks all! Will update what happens.