robsst

Hi,

I recently had the stealership replace the front struts and mounts.

Is it necessary, or recommended, to do an alignment after something like this?

On the way home, I started hearing a noise from the right front of the car. I called the dealership and they had be bring the car back in to fix it. Appearently the strut was bad, so they replaced it. They did an alignment when they replaced it the first time, but not after they replaced it the second time. Should they have done another alignment?

The car drives straight but the steering will is just a little cockeyed, it should be straight after a 4-wheel alignment, right?

I am going to have to take the car in for a brake problem, which should be under warrenty, since they fixed a bunch of stuff, including my brakes only about 6K miles ago.

I hope this is not a stupid question, but I am a newbie, so please forgive me in advance.

Rob.

knight71

Yes, you will be need the front 2 wheels aligned again.

Jatan

iTrader: (3)

If they replaced it the second time then it'll need another alignment - no point in risking your tires wearing out unevenly

robsst

Thanks! I paid for the alignment when they replaced the struts and mounts originally, so I am going to try to get them to do it under warrenty for free.

FR8RFLYR

Yes, you should have them align the front end again, it is not realistic to expect the new strut to have all the bolt holes EXACTLY in the same place as the previous, and further, even with match marking everything, it is impossible to get things back together so the alignment is perfect. The dealer should do this for free. There should be no argument.

Here's my story about the same thing. I just got my Tokico Illuminas installed all around, along with new Avon M550A/S and new alloys. I had a new (to me) shop in Pittsburgh do the work. They did a superb job! I asked about the new alignment- right dead nuts on nominal spec.) I asked about the previous alignment (done at a big Goodyear dealer in Erie PA). He said it was waaaaay off. I told him the Goodyear people told me the best they could do was get the camber to the edge of the tolerance, that they ran out of adjustment and the reason the car pulled left was due to a dragging brake. (It did pull left and chewed up a set of Dunlops, but I was no unusual wear on the brakes.) I asked the new guy about that. He said it was BS, my brakes were fine, there was plenty of adjustment available, that the previous guys just were too lazy to get the alignment to nominal, that many lazy specialists stop when they get the numbers just inside the tolerances.

Now, this may sound like the Goodyear guys were BSing me, but it could also be the Illuminas were built slightly different, with bolt holes in different places with respect to the longitudinal axis of the strut, thus allowing for a perfect alignment where the same result was impossible to achieve with the old strut. So, what I'm saying is, anytime you change struts you should recheck and adjust the alignment.

stevieb92

FR8RFLYR,
My wife and I just moved to Pittsburgh, and are looking for a good reputable shop to have work done on her Max. Could you reply with the name of the place you had the work done? We would appreciate it.

Thanks.
Steve

FR8RFLYR

Steve,

Enable your PM and I will send you his info. PM me when you have it set up.

stevieb92

FR8RFLYR,
PM enabled....

MaximaInCT203

"get an alignment every time you take your tires off of your car ONLY if the steering wheel is turned even the slightest and you let the car down off of the jack with the tires turned. knocks the wheel out of alignment everytime."
-Firestone worker

PAREDLINE

Firestone worker is dead wrong. The stress on the tires as you drive the car doing 90mph and turn the wheel even so slightly is much much greater than turning the wheel and lowering a jack. What an idiot.

As far as getting an alignment after springs. I say no. The only thing really adjustable without modification on our cars is the Toe-in/out. Toe (the outer tie rods) is not touched in any way by installing new struts.

Even if the strut manufacturers put the strut mounts on crooked where they attach to the spindle, they'd be equally crooked and would not affect toe. If they were so deformed, your spindle wouldnt attach to the strut.

Camber is adjustable by drilling bigger holes in one of the strut holes. Even if camber is off by 1 degree it doesn't cause that much harm. It in fact helps high speed handling because it will be camber in. Like the rear wheels on M3s. If your car is camber out. You have probably bent something and need a pull.

Caster is not adjustable. If your caster is off you need a pull or a new control arm at the very least.

If you have $60-100 to burn. Get an alignment. You're essentially paying that much money for 1/3rd of an alignment since nothing else is adjustable.

So why do our cars need adjustment at all? Its because as suspension parts wear. Namely the rack and ball joints and control arms, the latter 2 can affect caster by .1 to .5 degrees. Not too much. This can be corrected by fixing the toe. The rack's wear and tear will directly affect toe.

2 Da Max

iTrader: (2)

wow your serious? do you mean the wheel and rims? or just the tires in general?

i havent had an alignment since i changed my struts..dam i guess i should

so paredline what do you think? i mean my car used to pull to one side but it doesnt no more... do you think i kind of drove it off, until it became even?

PAREDLINE

Alignments never last in New York. Driving in the left lane on the LIE and grand central is like driving over a million speedbumps doing 80mph.

They pave the roads but they leave the storm drains at their original height. like 3 inches below the road surface.

If its been a while since your last alignment its 50/50.

If your car pulls get an alignment
If your tires are wearing unevenly get an alignment.

Front wheel drive vehicles will wear the inner parts of the front tires faster than the outer. So if all you have is a little inner wear you might just need a rotation.

Rotate the tires too. And keep them properly inflated.

robsst

I am not paying for it this time. They had to replace the struts 'cause they put in defective ones. This one is for free. The main reason I am having them do it is the steering wheel is slightly cockeyed when I drive straight down the road. That annoys the hell out of me.

WINO

yes, you need an alignment.

PAREDLINE

No you dont

euromaxima

iTrader: (1)

yeah you might need one just incase. You don't want to wear your tires out quick, so if it was me I would get one.

nismology

iTrader: (8)

I'm with PAREDLINE. I've removed and installed suspension compenents at least 6 times and none of the cars needed an alignment afterward. If you have good alignment before a suspension job you'll have good alignment afterward and vice-versa. The only thing that's really adjustable in our cars is the toe. You don't even have to remove the tie-rod end from the steering knuckle when doing suspension work which just proves that theory is hogwash. Anyone that's done suspension work themselves will know what i'm talking about. Everyone that disagrees is either slow or hasn't done it themselves...

The Wizard

iTrader: (43)

to what nismology and Paredline said.....couldn't have said it better myself.

Don't believe everything salesmen/employees tell you. Most of the time they tell you stuff just to make a buck.

robsst

Well, in this particular case, the bolt on top of the strut sticking out of the strut mount had 1/2 of free play when they did the original alignment. After it was replaced, I was not suprise that the alignment was off...