Truck pulling to the right

Exactly samething happened to my friend’s Rav4 and my girlfriend new Camry. I guess the guy at the factory was falling asleep when doing his job.

 

Your caster is off. You should be .5° difference from left to right. You have 2.2 on the right and left should be 1.7. This offsets road crown. Also camber should be close to zero because Tacoma' s have a tendency to wear the outside edge of the tire. Your toe is also borderline. Don't ask how I know this info.

P.S. Tacomas don't come over on a boat.

 

The boat comment was just a figure of speech... Good ol Mexico! Everything you mentioned was what the alignment shop guy told me. Sounds like you know this stuff pretty well - care to comment on the odds of different wheels and tires causing these out of spec readings? They seem to strongly think it was this way when I got the truck...

Personally for me, the $70 is no big deal to get this fixed... It's the principal of having a $40k brand new truck and the company is already balking at taking care of the customer on something that sounds like 1) may have been part of a crappy "fix" to have the stock tires and wheels make the truck go straight down the road before selling it new, and 2) something that sounds like it's covered under the warranty once before 12K miles.

 

New tires won't change alignment angles but larger tires will change scrub radius. This can exaggerate the effects of a poor alignment. Most dealerships will charge for alignment and won't cover them under warranty because they consider it an adjustment. If you had noticed the issue right after you bought the truck they would have covered it. When you changed the tires it give the dealership a "reason" not to cover it. As far as Toyota is concern most mass produced vehicles will have a poor alignment and need to be tweaked. Yours just happened to be out and caused a pull.

 

Check tire pressure first, then alignment...hope it works out for you..

 

I also put new tires on my truck when I first bought it. That changes a few things, brought it in and found the caster was off. Get them to check the main three, caster,camber and toe. Many things change when you change tires, even the tread direction and pattern will change the characteristics of how you truck drives! Get the alignment done, will save you in the long run.

 

According to the Toyota warranty, you are eligible for a free alignment as long as it is less than 12 months or 10k miles I believe. Check it out in the warranty info.

Edit: sorry, just realized someone else answered this... and it's 12 months or 12k miles. Enjoy your free alignment! I intend on doing mine soon too.,

 

Serious suggestion... When no one is coming at you, try and drive in the incoming lane... I bet it pulls to the left, and your likely just feeling the bank in the road.

 

x2 on road crown. The foreman at a shop I used to work at aligned with crown in mind. He didn't try to fully compensate for it but enough to make it less noticeable.

If you didn't notice it before the new tires, try swapping the front wheels to see if that makes a difference. Could be one of the tires has a bad radial pull.

Be sure it isn't something stupid like one of the tires is 10 psi low.

 

Talked with the head service guy at my dealership and they're going to perform the alignment check/ adjust, even though it will not be covered under the warranty (due to new wheels and tires). Don't feel bad about them eating the $70 cost one bit. Score one for customer service... even though it took a lot of posturing and nagging. I'll update after they're done Thursday.

 

I took my truck to Firestone, they said the toe was off, paid 180$ for lifetime alignment done deal. All the process took about 20 mins, they also said be sure to rotate the wheels every 5000 miles because tacoma only needs alignment adjustment in the front.