Dealer alignment confusion. Any opinions?

I have a 2017 Tacoma Off Road. 16" rims. I just took them off to put on my winter wheels. While doing so, I noticed the inside of driver front tire is worn more than the rest.
So I put on my winter wheels. They are 2009 Sport rims, 17" with Blizzaks.
I went to the dealer to get an alignment because I was concerned about the uneven wear.
I get the alignment and pay. $108. On the way out, I asked if the alignment was ok or if it was out and she just handed my the paper with the alignment numbers on it.
When I got home I noticed there was a number in the before and after that was still out of range. (SAI)
I called and talked to the girl. She put me on hold to ask tech. she got back on and told me ther is a glitch in their system that doesn't update the results for some adjustments and that my truck was aligned and all in spec. I asked if I brought my truck in after a month and my tire was wearing unevenly would they cover the cost of the tires. She replied I could bring the truck back to have it checked if I like.
Brought it in first thing the next morning. I said to her that according to what she told me yesterday, we should put the truck on the machine and it should show all before numbers in range. She said yes.
They put in on the lift and I was there when they did it. It was showing red for one adjustment. THe tech asked me to point out on my sheet from the day before what I was concerned about. I showed him how the S.A.I was out of range for the before and after adjusment. He said the SAI would not cause any tire wear and he wasn't sure why they even put it on the sheet. Then he said there is another adjustment that was out and he would fix it. He also said that the wheels on the truck have a 17" rim and the truck is supposed to have 16" rim. I said if that makes a difference, I'll go home and put on the other wheels and come back. He said he will align the truck to THESE wheels.
So he did his thing and the girl comes to tell me my truck is done and hands me a new sheet. The number (SAI) I was concerned about was now Further from the range.
So,
Does SAI matter?
Would the different rim size matter? The offset is 5mm different.
I don't know enought about this to argue with them if needed.
Please let me know how I should handle this.
THanks, John

Also, I complained about Pandora being removed from Entune and she had no idea this happened. Even aske ME why they would remove it. Then the Tech didn't know either and again asked my why they would do that.

 

The hubs are what gets aligned. Wheels/tires are incidental to the process.

Find a real alignment shop.

 

This why it's good to have a good mechanic you trust. Word of mouth from family or friends. Go for an oil change even if you dont need one and make friends. It can suck not knowing who's fisting you. I don't know what sai is but rim size makes no difference.

And you're in Jersey. Land of a million mechanics.

 

If SAI is out there is a significant suspension issue on the truck. It usually indicates something is bent.

https://www.freeasestudyguides.com/included-angle.html

Also if they're alignment rack truly wasn't updating values like the service writer claimed then they should not be using it. Alignment racks are very sensitive precision equipment and any issues with them needs to be fixed before they are used to align a vehicle. Also alignment racks are very sensitive to the setup of the targets as well as the zeroing on a particular vehicle. If the tech doing the alignment didn't set up the flags or measure the vehicle right the alignment won't come out correct.

Rim size also won't matter.

Like the previous posters stated, find a different shop to have look at the alignment.

 

This.

Technically you can align a truck without tires on it as it's the hub that measurements are taken on.


Dealer is dumb like Bill said, bring it to a real alignment shop.
If it's just the inside or outside of the tire with excessive wear sounds like camber would be off

 

I haven't heard of SAI before, but the setup at my work doesn't measure it. I did a quick search, and from what I can tell SAI is the measured angle of the suspension in relation to the center of the tread on the tire. So if your SAI is out of spec, it would seem a shock/mount(or something related to it) was bent, or your camber is off. Camber being off would definitely cause irregular tire wear on the inside or outside of a tire.

 

Unless somethings wrong and I want the customer to see it, I make it green, SAI is not critical, and it's not always easy to get it perfect along with the other numbers, especially with our trucks and the eccentrics that tend to seize. (rust states are hard to align)

Customers tend to overreact when seeing red when they paid for perfect, it was not explained properly either.

Wheel size and tire scrub can affect SAI but the idea is to balance the adjustments as best possible left to right. You could have 15's or 20's and it shouldn't change the SAI, its more of a balancing camber/caster issue.

Post the alignment and we can pick it apart for you and explain it further.

 

Its one of the secondary measurements. On the hunter racks I'm used to you had to access it through a menu. It rarely gets looked at unless there are other issues or the vehicle is suspected to have suspension damage.

 

We have a beeline setup at my work. I ca on mess around with it and see if I can find it. Just to be clear, I'm not an alignment tech, I can count on one hand how many alignments I have performed, just thought I would help the OP out. Now that the real deals are in hear I'll step aside!

 

Don't count me as the real deal. I've been out of the game for a while now. I think @Bishop84 counts though.

 

The dealer could never get the alignment right on my truck. Steering wheel was always too much to the left or right and I am OCD. So after 3 visits, I got fed up and brought it to a well known tire and alignment store by me. They had everything dead on, on the first alignment. I would look around for different options.

 

Yes , SAI matters...
Like another poster mentioned, it's usually an indicator something is damaged, broke, loose, etc.

It could be causing an increase in your positive scrub radius, increasing how much it toes out when road force is applied. This might be why your inside tire wear is occuring.

 

http://www.frenchesgrove.org/img032.pdf
http://www.frenchesgrove.org/img033.pdf
The first is the first day, second is after they did it again.
So, what I'm reading into the replies, is that after he adjusted the toe the second time it made the SAI worse which means there is something going on and not correct?
Also the ACTUALS from the first page should be the exact same as the BEFORE on the second page. Also not the case. I'm calling the service manager now to voice my concerns again and see what happens.
My solution is to take it somewhere else, and if they find something wrong, I'm going to ask the dealer for a refund. If they refuse, I'll file a complaint with my credit card company. If the second opinion says everything is OK. Then I'll have piece of mind.
Thanks

 

why did you pay for alignment, its not 3 yrs, old, do you have 36,000 miles on it already. i had alignments done at my dealer and never cost me a cent. ?hummm

 

As others have stated, there is no adjustment for SAI and I'm not really sure that there is a Toyota spec range. The 3 adjustments are camber, caster, and toe. Your toe was negative. That is where your tire wear was coming from. It should be slightly positive as the adjustment shows. Toe is confusing in measurement because it is opposite of what you would think. Negative toe means that you are toed out or think of it as being duck footed. Positive toe numbers means that you are toed in or Pidgeon toed.

Could something be bent? Maybe, but I don't see anything I would be worried about. The SAI and toe being off could indicate you hit something. Assuming you are in NJ, that isn't exactly shocking with the road conditions there. This is just why you get your alignment check every 6000 miles.

Your alignment looks good now. I wouldn't expect to see any wear on your blizzaks.

 

Thanks!