my tires have been on since i got it last april and the front ones have worn down a bit and there was a hard wabbling once i hit 75/80 MPH, i rotated them and it's the same, i thought i wanted an alignment but my bro told me that he had the same problem and an alignment didnt fix it, new tires did. what do you guys think?
there is no problem with your front tires finishing faster on the innner part than the outer part.......... right?
how often do you guys get an alignment?

 

I get an alignment every time I hit a curb and when I do suspension work. Front tires should wear faster than the rears due to the increased weight on them. (motor and tranny) rotate your tires every 10000 kilometers or so and this will help with increasing the tires life. you might just need a balancing to remove the vibration around 80mph.

 

what the difference between alignment and ballancing?

 

Alignment corrects how your tires sit ?? I KNOW ballancing ensures they spin properly. If you look at your tires you might see little weights sitting on your rims. Like little fish weights. These help balance your tires as your rims may not be the same weight all the way around due to variable metal density in the rim.

If you are getting a wobble feel in the steering wheel when going around 70+ it's definately balancing. Why do I know this, because I need to get my tires balanced.

Incidentally this is the second f*cking time a shop has balanced my tires incorrectly in the past 6 months.

 

UM yes the inner and outer part of the tire should wear the same. The inner should not be more work than the outer, this points to too much negative camber, or the toe being out of alignment. Get an alignment then replace your tires. Have them make a print out of the specs the align to and oem referernce specs. THEN replace your tires.

 

If anything the OUTER part of the front wheels will wear more from turning, not the inner part. You need alignment if you have wear like that or if the car pulls one way or the other. If the ride feels bumpy on a smooth road you need more than likely need balancing.

 

An alignment is required after suspension work as JSMax said, and also should be done after hitting a monster pothole on the highway. I've had personal experience with potholes on this wonderful Massachusetts highway infrastructure. Wheels out of alignment is NOT a source of vibration at speed, but most probable cause is a wheel out of balance.

 

every year before auto-x

 

And you need to go to a GOOD alignment shop. A lot of the chain stores only set the toe in and takes yo money.

 

whenever my steering wheel is not centered

 

Every 2yrs sounds like a safe bet.....thats assuming u don't hit a curb or get into some sort of accident....

If you change your suspension or have done wheel bearings, axles, etc....you should def get an alignment afterwards....other than that, every 2yrs sounds okay...

 

I have had like 6 in the past couple months (lifetime ftw). I have done both axles, tires, swapped entire suspensions

 

Never.... But I need to get it alligned though.

 

Not if there's too much negative camber. But I see what you mean on a properly aligned setup.

 

2 years sounds reasonable (unless kissing curbs & autoxing)

 

or lifetime alignments are readily available

 

alignment and balance once a week

 

good topic

on my 98 maxima

i got both lower control arms changed with ball joints
replaced both drive shafts
replaced right side stabalizer end link
all this done two days ago

when taking off the lights under accleration the car pulls hard to the right ?

it never did that before

when driving straight on hiway it slowly pulls to the right

but under accleration its worse ? or is it just torque/steer ?

u guys think it needs alignment or someting not bolted up properly ?

also when driving on hiway when going over wavey bumps ... the car sways weirdly

maxima has 220,000 km


any input would be appreciated

 

I've never had an alignment since I bought the car

 

my car dont pll at all, i would take my handd off the wheel for a long time and not ever bother, its only the bumpy ride at 75+mph
do you guys think that this would happen after and egine swap, i got an engine swape couple months ago.....

 

got an alignment this week, it got rid of a pull to the right when not accelerating hard, it still pulls when i punch it but thats torque steer and cant be helped
and it fixed my cockazzed , tilted to the right, steering wheel

loverholic its doubtful your engine swap has anything to do with it, vibes at speed are a balancing issue, any tire shop can fix that for pretty cheap

on a side note my dads 1985 Jeep Cherokee has never been aligned in 21 years and still runs stright as an arrow (when it runs at all)

 

ha...youre kidding right? balancing is putting the little weights on the tires, and alignment lines up the axels/wheels/suspension system on the car itself.


anyway, look for abnormal wear, such as the side of the tread being worn down a lot more then the middle of the tread. if it is, your toe might be off(toe is the most tire wearing angle). if only one side of the tread is wearing abnormally, your camber might be off. either way, if either of these are true you need an alignment. make sure there are no abnormal marks on the sidewalls too or else youll most likely need a new tire. also check if they are inflated right and if the lugs are torqued down correctly.

 

I would align after suspension work, hitting something, or seeing uneven tire wear. Like most newer cars, only toe is "adjustable" on the Maxima. There is a coarse adjustment of camber, either by loosening the struts and pulling or pushing the tire/wheel assembly, or by shifting the "beam," the cradle that the engine and transmission ride on.

Caster is also checked but not adjustable.

Camber will make a car pull. Toe typically will not. Caster will not by itself but will affect the sensitivity of the vehicle to other causes (camber, road crown, tire construction, tire conicity, etc.).

When you get an alignment, have toe set to the factory target, not just "checked." The limits that come with algnment equipment are typically wider than the OE limits.

 

Every time you hit a curb?

 

sarcasm dosn't come through when typing very well.

 

hey willard00, dont mean to be so naive, but what teh toe and whats the camber, i kinda get the toe but i wanna be sure

 

you idiot!

haha just kiddin man...

the toe is where the front tires are lined up with the back ones. such as:

O_O (front)...or.........O_O (f)......or...O___O (f)
O_O Back................O___O (b)...........O__O (b)

make imaginary lines front the front tires to the bak tires, you want to lines to be straight, like the first one.


camber is the tilt of the wheels towards or away from the car. such as

/..../ (f)......or...\...\ (f)
|....| (b)............|...| (b) (looks like wheels turning i know, just read below)

obviously those are pretty extreme angles. but you have to kind of use your imagination with that one its hard to illistrate using lines lol. just picture the top of the tire tilted in towards the shock or out away from it. and thats what it is.

oh yea, just ignore the random .'s and _'s, they needed to be there so the things would line up when i posted it.