Wheel alignment

[joemilitary]

Sorry, another thread.

So I took my car for tire repair and they recommended tire rotation and balance as well a wheel alignment.

I sucked it up for the tire rotation and balance. But said I would look at the steering later

It's a 3 year old VW Golf. Could it really need steering alignment already? I am skeptical about it needing a tire rotation too but sucked the egg on that one.

It's a Midas I am at. Just wondering your thoughts? Thanks.

[justme]

Alignment has nothing to do with age. Or at least a car can go out of alignment regardless of age.

The two easiest ways to tell of your car is out of alignment is to look at your tires - are they wearing even or is one side of the tire more worn than the other? And if your on a flat road sites your car pull to one side if you let go of the wheel?

Being out of alignment wears your tires faster and probably does some other bad stuff if you leave it that way too long.

[justme]

Also, your tires should be rotated every 3-5k miles. Again has to do with making sure your tires wear evenly which prolongs their life.

[alabamagal]

You can tell if you need alignment by driving on a flat straight road and seeing if your car pulls to one side.

If you do alignment frequently your tires will last longer but it costs about the same as 1 tire.

We don't do alignments unless there is a severe problem or when we get new tires. After 3 years you may be needing new tires soon I would just do it then

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

I rotate the tires on my car about every other oil change (or around 8-10K miles).  

Just because a car is 3 years old doesn't mean that it's in alignment.  I bought a 2 year old Sentra and the first thing I needed to do was take it in for an alignment.  All that it takes is a good pot hole hit in the right way.

[joemilitary]

Does $80 for an alignment sound right?

[ZaireinHD]

yes - however alignment is NOT needed

it is not even considered pre-maintenance

[tskeeter]

Jul 6, 2015 18:50:48 GMT -5 joemilitary said:

Does $80 for an alignment sound right?

yes.  That's what it is most places I've lived over the last many years.

[tskeeter]

Jul 6, 2015 12:55:15 GMT -5 joemilitary said:

Sorry, another thread.

So I took my car for tire repair and they recommended tire rotation and balance as well a wheel alignment.

I sucked it up for the tire rotation and balance. But said I would look at the steering later

It's a 3 year old VW Golf. Could it really need steering alignment already? I am skeptical about it needing a tire rotation too but sucked the egg on that one.

It's a Midas I am at. Just wondering your thoughts? Thanks.

How do I know when I need my tires balanced?

Out of balance tires hop up and down as you drive, causing vibration.  Tires out of balance is characterised by vibrations that come and go as your speed changes.  For example, you only feel vibration between 55 and 60 MPH.  At other speeds, there will likely be no noticable vibration.  If you feel the vibration in the steering wheel, a front tire is probably out of balance. If you feel the vibration through the seat or the floor of the car, but not the steering wheel, it's likely that a rear tire is out of balance.


How do I know when I need an alignment?

One of two ways.  The steering wheel pulls to one side.  (This can also be a sign of low tire air pressure in the front wheel on the side that the steering wheel pulls toward.)  The second way is uneven tread wear patterns on a tire.  Reading tread wear patterns requires some skill.  But it's pretty easy to learn.  Many tire repair shops display examples of a variety of tread wear patterns that indicate specific types of problems.  Everything from worn shocks, over and under inflated tires, and alignment issues can be disagnosed by studying the tread wear patterns on a car.


I know that many tire shops recommend rotating tires every oil change or two.  Anywhere from every 3,000 to 7,500 miles.  I think the biggest reason for this recommendation is so that all four tires on a car are worn out at pretty much the same time.  I've also been told that the drive train on certain all wheel drive cars wears faster than necessary if the front and rear tires are significantly different in size (this was used to try to convince me to replace two half worn out tires on my manually activiated four wheel drive car).  The concept does make some sense, but I don't know how big a deal it really is.  As for me, I rotate tires whenever I get around to it (usually every 10K - 15K miles) and not on a specific schedule.  I don't think that regular tire rotation really extends tire life.  Other factors, such as road surface conditions, aggressive braking and acceleration, etc. have more impact on tire life than rotating tires.


By the way, balancing a tire after it has been repaired is a good idea.  The repair adds weight to the tire (either in the form of a plug or a patch) and creates a heavy spot in the tire.  The heavy spot throws the tire and wheel out of balance.  And it doesn't take much to throw a tire out of balance.  Those weights they put on tires to bring them into balance often weigh only fractions of an ounce.