Best way to fix Alignment

Funny you mention this. I just took mine in today and had the same thing fixed. Fortunately my dealer handled the fix well, since
my steering wheel is centered and the car tracks nicely.

I had actually resolved to live with it since it was only off a few degrees instead of going to the dealer. This being for the same reasons you are hesitant. However, when I changed my oil I felt the outside of my passenger side front tire and it had begun to scallop a bit. Not something that I would expect from these hard tires at 1800 miles! So I bit the bullet and took it in.

Good Luck,
Ray

BTW, First Post, Hello everyone.

 

I think your steering wheel isn't centered. Perhaps this will be covered under the 3 year warranty?

 

I've heard of bad and good stories on this.

the bad is that most independent places may not be able to fix this.

the good is... every Toyota dealer so far has been able to fix this problem.

I have similar problems... the independent place somehow didn't notice my wheel being off.... ( two visits )

 

Front:
- Total toe-in: 0° ± 12’ (0° ± 0.2°)


- Camber: 0° 35’ ± 45’ (0.58° ± 0.75°)
Right-Left Error: 45’ (0.75°) or less



Rear:
- Total toe-in: 0° 18’ ± 15’ (0.30° ± 0.25°)



- Camber: -1° 30’ ± 30’ (-1.50° ± 0.5°)
Right-Left Error: 30’ (0.5°) or less

 

Not necessarily, but it is an indication that the alignment could be out. Alignment refers to the actual position(s) of the individual wheels compared to the theoretical correct positions.

Yes, it is possible for the wheels to be within spec and have the steering wheel off somewhat.

The PDS (pre-delivery service) has a step where the dealer tech is supposed to check for this (and correct if necessary) before delivering a new Prius to the customer.

Slightly off-topic:

As an example, my GF bought a motorhome built on a Ford F-53 chassis (Class A motorhome). Apparently they built many of these with the steering wheel tilted about 10° to the right when the MH is tracking straight down the road. It is a common enough problem that it is documented in a TSB. The wheel alignment is within spec, but the steering wheel is off.

 

You can look at the tires to see if you have uneven wear, but to actually know what the alignment values are, you need to have a shop check it.

 

Any alignment shop can check the physical alignment of the wheels, and for centering of the steering wheel.

Some shops tend to align the styeering wheel to the dash, which is NOT level or perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the car. You want the steering wheel level with the horizon, not the dash, on a level road (no crown).

See this threa dfor my experiences related to wandering and braking instaiblity after letting a tire shop align it during the previuos 80K miles. I ended up at the dealer in need of a bunch of settings only they can set, cost me about $250.

http://priuschat.com/forums/care-maintenance-troubleshooting/56929-solution-wandering-freeway.html

 

ive scored a free alignment, from the secret alignment warranty.

because the way they load prius cars on the boat, there is a supposedly a free alignment that toyota offers, and toyota does not go out of their way to inform us

do not know how long the warranty for it is

 

I went to "regular" shops and eventually all that steering wheel straightening threw off several sensors related to the VSC and power steering systems, requiring a complete realignment at the dealer and sensor resetting costing $250. It had been wandering and acting unpredictably on heavy braking. Dealer fixed everything.

I would recommend alternating between dealer and non-dealer as a compromise.

 

It seems that the Prius needs more than just a regular alignment since there are those sensors involved in the process.
This car is not an ordinary car, it it a computer controlled car Best to bite the bullet and visit the dealer.

 

Prius doesn't need anything special beyond what most modern cars need. An alignment is an alignment as long as its done properly. All within spec steering wheel center car will drive fine. Almost every card need a steering angle sensor reset after an alignment especially if the wheel was off center previously. On every car we do a test drive after alignment and make multiple turns to verify ABS and TCS are working correctly and usually do a steering angle reset if needed. In fact we get techs from other shops stopping by for us to recalibrate sensors frequently because they don't have the OEM scan tools.

Sorry to kinda blow up on my very first post i've been reading a while and just signed up today because it seems like the people on these forums are totally convinced that there are things that can only be done at the dealer and thats a myth. You just need to go to a facility that knows what they're doing and buys proper tooling. For the guys in cali i def recommend Art's, when i was shopping for the techstream I emailed Paul Cortes from Art's for some info, they are great guys.

 

Bumping up an old thread.

Just got new tires and wanted to get an alignment done.

So has it been settled that an alignment for the Prius is like any other alignment? Are there additional sensors that requires resetting that only the dealer can do?

Thanks,
Anthony