Should I get alignment now or later?

Just finished lifting my 2018 Trd sport. Don’t laugh it’s a spacer lift. Kept stock tires and stock wheels but my steering is off and I know I should get an alignment.

gonna put new larger tires on soon.

should I align now or wait until the new tires are on there? Would like to get steering straightened out and tires aligned but would it be dumb to align now? Will putting new tires on not affect alignment or would I have to do it again after the new tires too?

 

You can do it now. Tires don't change the alignment specs, just the frequency of rubbing if you go wider/taller.

 

I asked myself the same question after a simple 3/4" Spacer/1.375" lift. Did not have an alignment done and the tires wore really fast. When I did have an alignment done the Toe was 15/16" out. Do the alignment.

 

Thanks guys. Got it done today.

 

Just curious, was it out?

 

More importantly, how was it out?

 

Following this to see what OPs readings were

 

Bet the spacer lift is gonna bite you in the butt down the road. I'll laugh now, knowing for a few hundred bucks more you could have gotten a Bilstein 5100 Lift.

 

There's thousands of tacomas out there on spacers. Most are happy with them. Plus it sits higher than a 5100 lift, and to some rides better.

 

Hey guys—— sorry it’s been a while since I’ve responded. My alignment went well. Steering arms needed a little adjustment and my tires were a little out of wack. I could tell by looking at it still up on the jack stands after the lift that itd need adjustment. Will post photo of the printout here in a bit.

 

The good thing is you were driving it with stock tires after the lift and there’s no vibrations/issues. It’s now easier to pinpoint issues (vibrations ) that occur after you get new tires installed .

 

Unless you thrash the truck off road there is nothing to bite him in the butt down the road. Good quality spacers are $60 on Amazon and if you DIY and know what your doing you don't need an alignment so have no other costs. Truck even had a complimentary alignment check whilst in for service and verified no alignment needed. Bilstein's are $300 plus labor for swapping springs or new springs if you cannot DIY plus alignment if needed. Easily $500+. I agree that 5100's are better as that is what I am on now but the hatred on spacers is misguided and antiquated.

 

Not being able to tell if a vehicle is or is not performing well, isn't synonymous with it performing well.

 

I agree with take it slow and incrementally in modifying one’s vehicle. As pointed out earlier in a post above that doing one thing at a time helps with troubleshooting problems. Spacers are a good start and if the vehicle is going to stay on pavement with no on pavement thrashing then that is all one may need.
In your experience you somehow got lucky and seem to not need an alignment. Most will not be that fortunate.

 

It all depends on what you want out of the vehicle and how deep your pockets are. Want to tear apart your brand new truck and throw $10k at it? go ahead and enjoy, I wish I could. For me in the beginning I was looking for more looks and the spacer did its job. Now that I wanted more out of the suspension quality I upgraded to 5100's I sold the spacer to recoup a coupe bucks. If it were not for wanting different ride quality I would have just stuck with the spacer.

 

They did a pretty good job on that alignment. Hopefully they did an initial alignment and then destressed the suspension and performed a second. These trucks are super sensitive.

It's weird to see caster that low since I'm used to the numbers for fitting 285's. I would be rubbing like crazy lol.

 

Precisely, too many people want to do it right right out of the box. I myself am only use to a straight axel and manual trans. This is going to take some getting use to.

 

Yes, as long as he does not go off roading....

 

Planning to install some 5100s up front this weekend. If I mark the alignment cams ahead of time and only plan to go to the second circlip location, any idea how out of whack things will be when I get the truck in for an alignment on Monday?