Alignment Off on stock 2018 Off-road.

This might be useful to some of you.

I’ve had my DCSB Off-road since July but due to having a work car have put less than 3000 mostly local miles on it. Vehicle is stock. Noticed steering seemed a bit touchy and required a lot of adjustments to keep straight.

Did some reading online and heard of a few trucks where the factory alignment is off. Did my 6 month service today and mentioned it at the desk. It ended up being off. Thought I would share for those who might be experiencing the same issue. Haven’t had it up to highway speeds yet but on the 45mph stretch that I drive on often truck seems to be much straighter.

 

Theres before and after there printed out

 

The majority of all vehicles come with a less than decent alignment from the factory. My truck was no exception either.

 

My truck had a case of toe out from the Factory.

 

After driving it a couple weeks it is better but I still think it needs tweaking. (I think the stearing wheel is off to the right slightly for one thing) If there are any alignment experts here do you see any adjustments in my after specs in the first post that could be tweaked a bit more?

 

The tech just needs to make sure the steering wheel is straight when he does toe. I would suggest 0 camber. 3*+ on caster and .10 toe in to help it track straight.

 

I got mine aligned at 900 miles. They fought me on weather or not it should be internal (free of charge). But some strategic wording got it done in the end.

 

We had the same argument with getting my wife’s 4Runner done. Ended up having the sales manager get involved and they ended up doing it free of charge. I was told 1 free alignment within the first year but apparently the service department didn’t get the memo

 

Doesn't surprise me at all. New vehicles have new suspensions that will settle over the first few thousand miles.

 

You should not need to fight with the dealer on getting one free alignment after purchase. It is in the warranty manual that you are covered for one free alignment within the first 12 months of ownership.

 

Totally forgot about that.

 

What do you all think..... truck drives perfectly now. Steering wheel dead straight, no pulling, no vibrations. I noticed a slight bit of extra wear occuring on the outside of the passenger front tire the other day (2400 miles on truck). I measured both front tire tread depths with a penny and they look about the same eyeball wise, but the passenger front tire has a tiny bit of feathering going on. Not sure if its toe setting or just that its the right front tire and they tend to take a lot of wear normally.

Think I should leave it be? Worried if I have it adjusted the truck will not feel the same.

 

Same case with my wife’s 2018 4Runner. When she took it in for its first free oil change at 8k, they showed her a similar sheet, and told her that she had excessive tire wear on the front right tire, so she paid them $99 to align it. When she got home, I went and checked all of the tires for tread depth, and I couldn't seem to note any excessive wear so I called to ask about their claim, and the manager wrote it off on new staff and refunded me for the alignment. Yesterday, I took it back for its second free oil change, and again, alignment off, which I thought it drove straight, and so I declined it. I use to have plenty of old cars that always had alignment issues, which thankful IMHO modern cars just don’t have like they use to.

Interesting enough, the Toyota dealer failed to give me the sheet showing the details and just noted in the final paperwork that it failed front total toe alignment and that was "recommended for tire life, fuel economy, and safety.”

I use to have a Jeep dealer that was notorious for extra charges if not questionable work so I’m just a little cautious. We’ll see how this Toyota dealer goes as I also just bought a Tacoma from them.

 

Looks like your thrush angle maybe giving you the off center steering position because of the rear toe, for which no adjustments are provided. You can ask and see if they can bring the thrush angle down to .10-15* range, by adjusting the front toe.