Wheel Alignment Questions

Just for grins, ask the stealer how he adjusts the rear alignment.

As far as your costco advice goes, front wheel drive cars wear the front tires out faster than the rear tires. They usually caddy 60% to 66% of the weight of the car, are the drive wheels and take the brunt of cornering abuse because the cars are designed to understeer. If the front tires were wearing unevenly, then the Costco guy had a point.

 

If you haven't been rotating the tires then it is quite normal for the front tires to wear more quickly than the rear. However if the front tire wear is greater on one side of a given tire vs the other side of that same tire, then maybe alignment will help.

Regarding a 4-wheel alignment at the Toyota dealer, all this means is that they'll measure the rear wheel alignment and take that into account when adjusting the front wheel alignment. However they won't do anything about the rear alignment if it is out of spec, since the Toyota repair philosophy is that rear suspension parts must be replaced if the alignment is off.

 

This implies that your car's front wheels might benefit from an increased value of negative camber on both sides, which would position the tops of the front tires inward, compared to the bottom of the tires.

Perhaps you might find a specialty alignment shop in your area that is prepared to adjust the rear alignment with shims. Then you'll be able to obtain a true four wheel alignment (if rear axle adjustment is needed.)

 

BTW, I have two Toyota's, one Prius and one Corolla. I went to Firestone for an oil change on the Prius and they wanted to sell me an alignment,new tires, shocks,air filters, etc. I took it some place else and they did the alignment for $70.

I decided to take the Corolla to the dealership for an alignment and they charged me @gasp@ $70. They called it a 4 wheel alignment but they only adjusted the front wheels. They didn't try to sell me all the other stuff.

Got to remember these places are all in business to make money. I have had bad luck with Firestone but never have had the dealership try to sell me things I probably didn't need.

 

I got a coupon from the dealer: $40 for 4-wheel alignment. Not sure whether to use it or not. I wonder if their equipment is not well calibrated then would they make the alignment worse?

 

You guys should consider yourselves lucky!

Across the pond here in the UK, several of my local (London) dealers quoted between £120 to £130 for their wheel alignment, which given the current conversion rate, equals to between $195 to $211 USD.

 

No it's just you guys have a higher standard of living than us. You are the lucky guy.

 

Do your dealers, unlike American dealers, actually do a 4 wheel alignment when you pay for one? If they do, then $200 is a good price, the rear is a pain to do.

American dealers will typically set front toe in and say the rest of it isn't adjustable if pressed for information. The honest ones will set front toe and front camber but no rear changes like the Toyota shop manual says.

 

To be honest I seriously don't know.

I'm getting my 4 wheel alignment done on saturday for £40 at an independent shop, however, their 2 wheel alignment is £30 so I'm not sure whether it is the actual four wheel alignment or just a 2 wheel alignment taking into account the rear alignment.

 

Parts cost for rear alignment shims for the rear cost about US$30 if you do both sides. Based on what I have seen on US vs UK prices they would probably cost you £30 plus 30 minutes more labo(u)r than an alignment check. So I can just about guarantee that for £40 that they aren't doing anything to your rear end except measuring it and maybe sticking something up it. That said, the price is fair if they give you a good report of the results. At least you will know if you should get the rear aligned or not,

 

LOOOL

I'll ask them what the difference between the two types are and if they don't give me the answer I'm looking for then I might just get the £30 two wheel done.

 

The front toe in is adjusted by the adjustable link ends on the car.. The front camber is adjusted by replacing some front mounting bolts. AFAIK, there is no place that shims are used to align the front.

The rear shims used to adjust rear toe and camber aren't special Prius shims. There are standard tapered shim that fits several different cars and cost about $15/wheel. It shouldn't take a shop more than 1/2 hour per wheel to install them, maybe one hour to screw up once, repeat and recheck alignment. $500 sounds high but at least they knew it could be done.

 

I think people only seriously consider complete alignment when the car wonders on the highway. That's why I suspect I won't need it yet since the car goes straight.

 

My one week old Prius Four went for his first ride on the Florida Turnpike today. He handled the speed just fine but required much more "course correction" than I am use to doing. Has anyone had alignment problems with cars "just off the boat"?