I have a 2002 Honda CRV and when I bought it, I went to Goodyear and purchased a ‘lifetime alignment’ package. So every 4K miles I take it in and have them rotate the tires and align the wheels. (I do buy all my tires from them.) The car now has about 140K miles on it, and the last time I took it in, they said that I need a shim kit to make sure that they could keep it within specs, even though the alignment came out within specs. Is there some truth to this? Or are they selling me something that I don’t really need. It seems to me that unless they say they cannot keep it within specs, I don’t need this kit. Thank for the answers. Jeff
I am amazed that you have been going to Goodyear for a lot of years and miles and this is the first thing they tried to sell you that you questioned. If the alignment came out within specs, you don’t need a shim kit.
Too Much Of A Good Thing.
If I Had To Take All Of Our Vehicles In For A Tire Rotation And An Alignment Every 4 Months, I’d Have To Move In Near The Goodyear Dealer !
Some of our vehicles are driven over 30,000 miles / year. We operate a small “fleet” of GM and Chrysler cars in our family. I rotate tires when I buy a new pair. I align the steering/suspension if or when it’s ever needed, sometimes many years and tens of thousands of miles elapse.
We usually get 100,000 miles + out of tires this way and we have done this for decades. Every time a car goes into a shop is inconvenient and one runs the risk of having the car damaged. I try and avoid having my car worked on and do most maintenance myself.
A car that needs a tire rotation or an alignment every 4,000 miles is impractical and has got something wrong in its design or engineering. I’ll bet you don’t need to keep doing this. Eventually, something’s going to be damaged or wear out ! I’d sooner walk than have this maintenance headache.
Jeff, have you got a job or a hobby or is this it ?
CSA
Thank you for the advice, and I will take it and cut back on how often I bring the car into Goodyear. They have been pretty good - they do do my brake jobs and new tires, so they do get their money out of me, but I feel that it is reasonable. And I do have a real job! But I also enjoy working on the cars - I change my own oil and filters, every 3K miles. (I know that is often, but I believe the adage ‘you can pay me now or you can pay me later’ - and my Camry has over 200K on it and is still going strong.) Thanks, Jeff