@Nevada_545. Hyperbole, mere hyperbole. The Impala I referenced turned out to have a design defect in the rear end such it would not stay in alignment and all the Impalas for several model years had a nasty habit of chewing up tires very quickly. Something about a badly designed spindle, if I recall.
Some of the roads I regularly drive are badly potholed and patched. I try to route around those streets but cannot always do so. I am disinclined to believe I can assume I can go many years without having alignment checked but posed the question of how often I should have it checked on a proactive basis minus evidence of undue tire wear, handling problems, curb strikes, etc.
Frankly, driving the Camry since purchase new 14 months ago is the longest I have had a car have the steering wheel centered and the car not pulling in many years. Quite a refreshing driving experience.
Of course I’m not saying that an alignment needs to be done after every trip around the block; or even every 10k miles. What I did say is that checking it every 40-50k miles is a good idea; and especially so depending upon potholes, curbstrikes, and environmental conditions.
I’ve done a lot of alignment checks on what could be considered low miles cars (20-60k miles) and found a lot of them off. This will occur with the suspension settling in along with the other things I mentioned above.
Even cars that have caster and camber built in can change and can be corrected simply by loosening suspension bolts and forcing things around which may be off due to normal slop in the bolt holes.
I also disagree with the premise that if a car drives straight and the tires show no wear that everythng is fine. Not necessarily. I’ve seen cars drive perfectly fine with garbage ball joints, worn tie rods, and so on. Sometimes tire wear may take a while to surface so it’s better to head off a problem before it starts.
As I also mentioned, checking the suspension is a necessity when doing an alignment in my opinion.
Not long ago a Buick LeSabre belonging to an in-law was presented to me for a couple of minor repairs. The car drove fine. Unfortunately, the right lower ball joint was not far from snapping and the tires showed no abnormal wear. Yes, the car got a new control arm/ball joint.
Just a few years ago the local news reported that a woman in southern OK was killed when a ball joint broke on her Buick while she was at speed on a sweeping curve and the car rolled. So one has to wonder if the car had been taken to a shop for an alignment and suspension check if she would still be alive today.
I get an alignment when I get new tires, which is around every 30,000 miles. I’d rather not wait to see if there’s abnormal wear on the new tires, as then I’d have to replace them sooner than necessary.
Exactly. Many years ago my dad took his car in for an oil change and a new set of tires before heading out on a multi-state vacation. When he arrived at his destination about 900 miles later it was pointed out the next morning by his brother in law that both of his new front tires were showing steel. The BIL had noticed the problem when he walked out the door, saw the wheels slightly turned, and the bald tire edges with steel protruding became very obvious.
Less than a 1000 miles for new rubber to turn into junk. He had to go and buy 2 more new tires plus replace a bad tie rod. An alignment check could have headed this off before the car left the shop. He suspected nothing because he said the car drove fine all the way there.
@ok4450 Your point is exactly why I posed the question. The Impala handled fine from new but the tires showed undue wear at the first rotation at 7k. The dealer assured me it was normal. But at the second rotation at 14k two tires had dangerous belt deterioration. That’s when I took it to the indie mechanic who referred me to a specialty body/suspension shop. That’s when I learned about the common rear end problem due to a design flaw. Lesson learned was that when I questioned unusual wear at 7k I should have double checked with a secons opinion then! I could have saved the expense of new tires at 14k. So although the Camry’s tires look good and all handles well, I take nothing for granted.
I think the Impala was cursed from Day One. Shoulda bought that Mojo Hand…
Seriously though, some neighbors have Impalas of that vintage and have had little to no trouble at all out of them even after 6 to 9 years of ownership…
That one of yours seemed to be plagued with way too many issues for a gently driven low miles car. I can’t explain it. A few flaws I could understand as that happens with most everything but a How To book could have been written about yours.
@ok4450 Yes, it happened to be rather a lemon despite giving good use overall. My brother and his wife have an Impala about a year older that has done well without the abundance of problems mine was plagued with.
As to mojo, I just don’t understand why it failed with the Impala. After all I had the floorboard trash basket in it like has been in all my cars and one of parents’ car before that.
