I have a 2004 Toyota Camry SE with 87,000 miles on it. I recently went to a local tire shop and got a set of Goodyear Eagle GT’s installed on it along with an alignment. The shop called me the day they were changing the tires and told me that they needed to install 2 front camber kits after the alignment reading came back significantly skewed, i told them to go ahead and forked over the extra 100 bucks. About a week later i noticed that my steering wheel slightly shook at around 60mph (a seemingly new problem), and my alignment seemed like it was veering to the right. 2 weeks later not too much has changed. What the heck happened?! I figure i should call the mechanic and ask what’s up, but im not sure how to attack the situation. I am 21 years old and have minimal experience with car repair (oil changes, tire rotation, etc.) and would appreciate any theories/tips/guides on how to talk to mechanics.
If you paid for new tires, balancing, and alignment, the car should not have any tracking problems or vibration problems that were not there previously. And, if there are worn parts in the car’s front end, that should have been noted by them when they were doing the alignment.
Take the car back to the shop!
It’s time to go back to the shop and ask them to re-check the wheel balance and possibly the alignment. The car should track straight and the steering wheel should not vibrate.
Check the tire pressure first. It’s always possible to have a bead leak or valve stem leak, new tires or no.
Keeping a tire pressure gauge in the glove box and checking tire pressure every couple or four weeks is a must.
As it turns out, i took your well received advice and made an appointment with the shop. I then took my girlfriend out to go get a smoothie, and a school bus ran a stop sign and t-boned the passengers side! I swerved to the left to avoid a direct hit and saw a dodge ram heading my direction, so i swerved right and hit the truck with the front drivers side. I think i managed to avoid any damage under the hood but it seems now that a vibration and bad alignment are the least of my worries! No one was hurt, but my car has seen better days. Thank god for insurance!