Tire and Alignment Dilemma
05-29-2007, 09:11 AM
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Tire and Alignment Dilemma
Quick Synopsis: My rear tires are shot after only 1800 miles after my last alignment, and I have to buy a new set 
. I think the shop may be at fault . I need some input on how I should approach the alignment shop about this. Details below:
My last alignment was done on 3/17. I had about 6/32-7/32 of tread wear left. Everything looked pretty good, on paper and by the looks of the car, and I had a good experience overall with the shop. The tech even let me make adjustments to my coilovers while the car was on the racks.
This past week (5/20) made a few adjustments to my rear sway bar when I discovered that my rear tires are feathering... BAD! I went back to the shop today, with the specs that he printed out from the last visit (which was VERY important, in this case) and asked him what was going on with my rear tires. The printout of the original is the first attachment (3-17 po).
After he did a diagnostic, he re-aligned my car free of charge. The printout is attached below (5-28 po).
This is NUTS! He claims that he checked the bolts and they were fine. Also, he mentions that the only way this could have happen is that I adjusted the ride height and all the specs went crazy or I tracked the car. We also setup another appointment in two weeks to check if the suspension is doing something funny after use.
Something doesn’t seem right. Here are my arguments for what he suggested:
- I have not changed the height since I put my rims on in Nov 06. As large as the tires I'm running (285/35/19), if I lowered it anymore, you would see damage on the side walls from rubbing and I wouldn’t be able to go up on to driveways and such. If I raised it, the car would look stupid. How drastic of a height adjustment would I have to make to cause the alignment that much harm?
- I have not tracked my car since I put on the new rims back in Nov. (besides, on 30ish lbs, 19in Work Meisters doing a time attack? Come on?!?). And if I did track the car, I'd use my stocks, which I cant anyway since the tires are shot to hell also.
-My Z is a weekend car, which I put very little miles on. Just in the span on 2 months, I only put on 1800 miles and went from 6-7/32 to practically nothing.. Side note: Miles were documented in the invoice from the first alignment job. Also if the suspension was doing something funny, we should have noticed it from the first time I had the shop do the alignment.
Something fishy is going on here… I wouldn’t mind so much if this happen to my corolla, as those tires are inexpensive, but these BFGs are going to cost me $500+ to replace! I need some good solid input about this from all the tire/suspension gurus so, in worst case scenario, I’ll have a good, technical argument.
BTW this shop is NOT West End Alignment. I wouldn't have this issue if I went back to Darren
...
Thanks in advance for the help. I’ll post pix of the tires soon.
. I think the shop may be at fault . I need some input on how I should approach the alignment shop about this. Details below: My last alignment was done on 3/17. I had about 6/32-7/32 of tread wear left. Everything looked pretty good, on paper and by the looks of the car, and I had a good experience overall with the shop. The tech even let me make adjustments to my coilovers while the car was on the racks.
This past week (5/20) made a few adjustments to my rear sway bar when I discovered that my rear tires are feathering... BAD! I went back to the shop today, with the specs that he printed out from the last visit (which was VERY important, in this case) and asked him what was going on with my rear tires. The printout of the original is the first attachment (3-17 po).
After he did a diagnostic, he re-aligned my car free of charge. The printout is attached below (5-28 po).
This is NUTS! He claims that he checked the bolts and they were fine. Also, he mentions that the only way this could have happen is that I adjusted the ride height and all the specs went crazy or I tracked the car. We also setup another appointment in two weeks to check if the suspension is doing something funny after use.
Something doesn’t seem right. Here are my arguments for what he suggested:
- I have not changed the height since I put my rims on in Nov 06. As large as the tires I'm running (285/35/19), if I lowered it anymore, you would see damage on the side walls from rubbing and I wouldn’t be able to go up on to driveways and such. If I raised it, the car would look stupid. How drastic of a height adjustment would I have to make to cause the alignment that much harm?
- I have not tracked my car since I put on the new rims back in Nov. (besides, on 30ish lbs, 19in Work Meisters doing a time attack? Come on?!?). And if I did track the car, I'd use my stocks, which I cant anyway since the tires are shot to hell also.
-My Z is a weekend car, which I put very little miles on. Just in the span on 2 months, I only put on 1800 miles and went from 6-7/32 to practically nothing.. Side note: Miles were documented in the invoice from the first alignment job. Also if the suspension was doing something funny, we should have noticed it from the first time I had the shop do the alignment.
Something fishy is going on here… I wouldn’t mind so much if this happen to my corolla, as those tires are inexpensive, but these BFGs are going to cost me $500+ to replace! I need some good solid input about this from all the tire/suspension gurus so, in worst case scenario, I’ll have a good, technical argument.
BTW this shop is NOT West End Alignment. I wouldn't have this issue if I went back to Darren
...Thanks in advance for the help. I’ll post pix of the tires soon.
Last edited by plastiketa; 05-29-2007 at 09:42 AM.
06-01-2007, 12:08 AM
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its pretty obvious that the toe bolts slipped, likely due to improper torqueing, nothing you can do about it now other than making sure they are torqued correctly so your alignment stays correct
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