Rear Wheel Toe-In on 2008

What were the front wheel numbers? I'm especially interested in the camber.

How about rear camber?

Bob Wilson

 

Yes, a really skilled tech can manipulate the car and alignment rack to read anything they want. But it won't correct the problem.

At least they are going to try to fix yours. My dealer just fabricated an alignment printout showing that the rear toe was in spec (after two other checks showed it was not). When I asked the Service Manager how they fixed the problem he said "We just put it on the rack until we got the numbers we wanted".

I finally ended up shimming it myself with the help of Galaxee and her DH.

 

Unbelievable on two counts:

1. is that the "really skilled" technician thinks this is an acceptable practice.
2. is that the service manager thinks this is an acceptable story to tell the customer.

 

Hi Patrick,

I did not make this up. The service manager at the dealer where I bought the car is a moron. If I ever have to take it back for warranty repair, I will request a different service manager (they have 6).

I documented the whole story in this thread:

http://priuschat.com/forums/care-maintenance-troubleshooting/33373-2007-model-alignment-issues.html

starting with post #10 in the thread.

 

Sorry, didn't mean to imply that you made it up. I know you well enough to understand you would never do that.

However your story is amazing to contemplate!

 

At the time, I considered sending the link to that thread to Toyota Customer Service, but I don't want to sabotage myself if I ever need any warranty service. But I don't take my car or my GF's car there anymore. There are 3 other dealers that I could go to for service if necessary.

 

let's just say that you have to really push them to shim a rear axle.

 

That is an understatement. I had to do my own shimming.

 

Heh. I just [finally!] shimmed my own right-rear too, after
determining by long-term tire wear patterns that it was toed
in just a teeny bit. I wrote it up over at prius_technical_stuff,
but can copy that over to here if anyone wants. No change in
how the car feels, and it'll probably take another 40,000 miles
to see if the tires start un-fudging themselves.
.
The interesting piece was the difficulty in getting that
hub/bearing piece to actually *move* in the axle-beam bracket.
.
_H*

 

Congratulations!

Did they tell you what type of shims they used or list a part number on the work order? I'm curious if there is more than one source for the shims. The aftermarket shim that Bob Wilson used is:

Specialty Products Company
EZ Shim - 75800



​

 

That's ok. It sounds like they may have used a generic shim, not a specially designed one. I was just curious if the dealer had an "approved" Toyota shim yet.

 

toyota approved shim? LOL! don't hold your breath on that one, there's no approved shim for anything.

 

Something like these?

Bob Wilson

 

Yeah, I know.

But I wonder if Toyota will ever recognize this issue officially. There appears to be a small but measurable percentage of cars delivered with whacked out alignment.

What do they (Toyota) say about Camry(s) that need rear alignment? Do they try to trick the customers into thinking its ok, or do they fix the problem?

 

there are only a few toyotas without rear adjustment. if the shim is available and they've installed the shim on other vehicles... you may be in luck. otherwise, good luck with the state of things as of the last time DH was in the shop.

in general, toyota doesn't support the use of shims. very few oems do. so you address the issue through an alignment shop and hope they can do something about it.

what's the technician number on your paperwork? was this at rice?