Dealer alignment

Above is the result of a dealer alignment. This was thei second attempt. Truck is currently at dealer for yet another attempt and possibly straighten the wheel. They could not give me numbers from first alignment but it was still pulling. Second attempt tracking ok but wheel might be a little off.

Scary to think this is the same dealer doing every maintenance on my truck!

 

yeahhhh.... you should probably find another dealer bro.

 

Dude that's horrible. Their techs don't know how to do alignment? Looks like they just adjusted toe.

 

Looks like my steering wheel after firestone store did my alignment.

 

Adjusting just toe will not cause or remove a pull, only affects steering wheel offset and tire wear

 

It’s Taco lean, that wheel is totally straight and level, the cab and your camera aren’t!

 

I just got a dealer alignment after my lift and they did the same thing. I called them on the way home to let them know. They said I could make an appointment and bring it back another time.

 

Did they disconnect the battery to perform alignment?
If not, did they do the zero-point clear and calibration?
VSC might be affecting it; maybe try fully disabling traction control.

 

I had the same problem with them, I even had to leave my truck overnight

 

No way, if your caster and camber are off you can still get away with toe being good . If your toe is off it will pull left or right, it's just like turning your wheel. Looks like they didn't center your steering wheel and clamp it down before they did an alignment. Very important to center the wheel and lock it down before making any adjustments. I was the alignment tech at a dealership and I've done hundreds of them.

 

this would cause me to call back to the dealership and ask to speak to the General manager or owner if he is present. and tell him exactly what just happened and the response from the service dept.
tell him or her that is not the quality of service that you expected, and that your time is worth something also.
while you have him on the phone, ask him for the phone # to Toyota customer service. it will be interesting to see his response.

 

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Don't worry. They have a solid team.

 

Just put 15" tires on the drivers side and you'll be good to go. Damn you guys over think everything.

 

Don't forget him!



All kidding aside, makes my dead pancreas cry

 

You used to do alignments? anyone that knows anything about alignments will tell you this info in your comment is incorrect. Camber will pull to which ever side is higher caster will pull to which ever side is lower.. Further more all the alignments iv ever done require you to adjust camber and caster 1st and toe last. Adjusting camber and caster will affect toe angle.

 

changing toe does not make your vehicle pull.. even if one side is positive and the other negative, meaning both tires are steered in the same direction. If then are both evenly out in opposite directions the steering wheel will stay straight but wear tires. if they where evenly out in the same direction your vehicle could drive perfectly without wearing tires but your steering wheel would be off-center.. OP If they have had to realign is multiple times and can not get it. they most likely don't know what they are doing. maybe ask for a different tech. the other variable would be if a censor slipped but even then they should have noticed when they drove the vehicle afterwards.

 

There's some things you shouldn't let a dealer do, an alignment is one of them. Take it to a good alignment shop with the right gear.

 

when do you know you need an alignment....is it mileage, at 5k rotation or yearly or new tires

 

I am not sure this is all true, at least not in my case. My truck came with the wheels toed out from the factory (evenly out in opposite directions). It took me a while to figure out what my complaint was (not knowing at the time the wheels were toed out) as the vehicle would pull to the left sometime, and other times pull to the right. What it was in the end, was with the wheels toed out, it would tend to favour or pull to whichever side you last turned, or with the trend of the pavement. It was really weird. My Toyota mechanic basically said the truck was completely fubar and he was surprised I lasted a week driving it that way.

 

Check your tires for wear. Rotate your tires if you feel like it. Then when you have everything good and set with correct psi and a level/straight road, take it for a drive. If you can keep your hands off the wheel for like a mile and the truck tracks straight, its pretty good alignment. Additionally, if you feel lots of shakes in your steering wheel, this could also indicate bad alignment (could also be a number of issues).

Essentially, if holding your steering wheel to go straight or turning when you want it to is becoming a chore, check the alignment.