Alignment Required?

I think its a little odd to have wheel alignment as scheduled maintenance every 1yr/20k miles. None of my cars required that.

Can you post your before and after specs?

 

Many posters have received a free alignment during the first year. I $mell something fishy in Maryland. Jerry

 

Absolute baloney.....either the car tracks well, or it doesn't. Either the tires are wearing evenly, or they aren't. No such thing as an annual wheel alignment requirement.

 

I think that's the Toyota Dealer, we'd like a 100 bucks a year from you, annual requirement.

Unless you notice a problem with tracking or pull, and/or tire wear, I generally do not worry about alignment. When I have tires replaced and usually have them mounted, balanced and perhaps then I'll have an alignment done. I certainly do not schedule an alignment automatically on a yearly basis.

 

I think my allignment was out when the car was new as it chewed up the front tyres in about 14k miles. They tracked it up with the new tyres and since then all is well and the tyres are wearing well with 11k miles on them.

As above posters have said - if the tyres are ok and not scrubbing the inside edge, then there is little need for an allignment check, unless of course you are ultra cautious and like to give money away.

My dealers actually checked the allignment for free as part of my last service!

 

Yeah, and I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you, too. Look at your owner's manuals/service recommendations. Perhaps you will want to have a little discussion w/ that dealer, asking for your money back and change dealers, if possible.

 

Agreed. Total B.S.

OP, I'd speak to the service manager, and ask to see where in writing Toyota makes this recommendation.

 

Go to your Warranty and Maintenance Guide for Toyota's recommendations.

We are told to rotate tires every 5000miles / 6 months which would include inspecting tread wear. Alignment is driven by those inspections, but is not a scheduled maintenance item.

 

Alignment is like buying insurance. You don't think it is important until something bad happens (I hate it too). Here is a reminder, two tires cost nearly $300 at this point.

 

I'll disagree here.

If your tires are showing unusual wear patterns, getting an alignment is called for. If your tires are wearing evenly, and your car isn't pulling to one side or the other, no reason to get an alignment.

I don't understand your insurance analogy. If your suspension isn't out of alignment, and you pay for an alignment, that's not insurance, that's an unnecessary expenditure of money.

 

+1 With the type of suspension on these cars there isn't much to go out of alignment unless there is damage or severe wear.

 

Since you can't see the specs of the wheels, the only thing you can do is put it on the rack. Your alignment can still be out even if the car is not pulling to one side. No one likes to pay for it, but it's part of owning a car.

 

If your tires are showing unusual wear patterns, it is too late. After years of not doing alignments for all the reasons listed in this thread, I have changed my mind. My 2003 Matrix had so much road noise that it was painful to drive, and it went thru tires every 20K miles. Then I had it aligned, and it was much quieter and the tires lasted 30K.

My [quiet] 2010 Prius had a tire rotation at 5K miles, and the result was road noise that sounded like I have studded snow tires on it this summer. The problem: the rear alignment was so poor that as my tire guy said, I was 'dragging' the rear tire down the road. The current tire on the left rear is already so cupped that you can feel it with your hands after 3K miles. I will begin fighting with the dealer later this month.

 

As part of the 2 years free service package at the time of purchase, I got a coupon for a free alignment. Check to see if you have one too.

 

I just had mine aligned at one year and 8400 miles. One front wheel was out of spec just slightly. Probably would have made very little difference on wear but better safe than sorry.

Heads up, the Prius is a two wheel alignment. If they say you need a four wheel alignment (more expensive) they're pulling a fast one on you.

 

Unless they will be shimming your rear axle....