Dealer alignment

First question to ask when going for an alignment is, will I receive a print out of my before and after specs? If the answer is anything other than yes, walk out! Even older alignment racks have the ability to print out a spec sheet their is no reason for a shop not to include one with your alignment.

 

Looks like you have aftermarket wheels and tires...
Did your problems start after putting them on?

 

Scary thing is he use to do alignments for the dealership. Maybe he did the OP's alignment.

 

Rickenfl, when you put your wheel straight your truck pulls to the left correct? If that's the case then the wheel needs to be centered first and alignment redone. Once it's centered your toe will be to the left and need to be adjusted to the center again. Having a very slight toe in for both front tires is ideal as there getting pushed from the rear. Did you hit or run over anything recently ?

 

No. I owned my truck about 8 months before fitting the TRD wheels. The alignment issue came up right away with the stock wheels and wranglers, and was corrected by the dealer right away. I just needed a couple weeks to get over the “I love this truck so much” phase to realize the alignment was shit from the start.

When I later went to the TRD wheels and Kbro2’s the alignment stayed true and fine. The slight increase in wheel poke and diameter has made no difference I can tell in terms of alignment.

 

How and the Fudge can any dealer/tech call you up and say your truck is ready and good to go!? That shiat pisses me off, and it ain't my truck! Effin usat right there......

 

Because there are not many real Techs anymore. They are all computer readers. He probably set it up and the readings came out close, and he never even looked at the steering wheel. I see it in my industry with all the computer hook ups on outboard motors. Customer has a complaint, tech puts the computer on it, it doesn't show any active faults, tech says could not find any issue. I get the boat, take it to the lake and test it, find the issue and correct it without any computer, then said customer now comes to my shop for future issues.

 

I read about a phenomena called “knowledge centralization” in modern, western society. No one actually knows or understands anything themselves, but they know how to access the information to get through life. Basically you can fix your lawnmower watching a YouTube video, but you have no idea what you just did, and if the internetz are down, you are fubar.

 

thanks you sir...i cannot go a mile without touching the wheel and i feel a little pressure to hold it in place...so i guess i will check at 20k service

 

If you are paying for an alignment you need to tell them the exact specs that you should see on a print out. If you just take it into get an alignment they will just put it into factory specs which have tolerances which can lead to pulling. The steering wheel problem is just complete disregard of standard procedures lol.

 

On a new vehicle, it could be sooner than you might think, as things wear in.

Lots of things can affect your perception of alignment and/or steering. To parrot another poster, no one is a mechanic anymore; just service techs.

The two links I'm posting are not all inclusive/exclusive or even applicable. They just serve as an example that it can be a lot more involved than; center the wheel, adjust camber/castor and adjust toe.

https://m.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=47

https://www.google.com/amp/www.popularmechanics.com/cars/how-to/amp111/1272576/

 

lots of help....thank you very much