About 3 weeks ago, I took the car to a local Nissan Dealership to get my alignment checked and they re-set it, but didn't provide me with a "before" and "after" spec sheet saying the Mechanic forgot to print it. Anyways - the car still felt the same afterwards (constant pull to the right etc) and I took it back a few days later and they had a different mechanic set the alignment this time (no charge) and in the spec sheet - the "Before" showed the toe out of spec about a third of a degree. This means that they didn't do set it properly the first time. After that - the pulling to the right reduced dramatically but not completely. However, between then and now - got aftermarket rims that are 15 X 6.5 as opposed to the 15X6 steelies , but retained the same tires.

Now the car has a lot of tire squeal when I enter a corner hard and the front end starts washing out. I run the same tire pressures (30 psi all around). Do you guys think the tire squeal and excessive understeer is due to the alignment still being out of spec of maybe the new rims have something to do with it or maybe a combination of both? The lack of front end grip is driving me crazy!!! I just want some input before I go start yelling at the Service Manager.


Thanks

 

If they provided with you with a before and after printout and the alignment is within the specs, there isn't much you can do about it. Get a FSTB and RSB to reduce understeer if you want to improve handling.

 

I have a FSTB already. What I am saying is that the understeer increased after getting my alignment re-set AND the rims swapped.

 

What kind of tires are on the car? Are they a high performance tire or just M+S???

Also you went from 15x6 to 15X6.5 not that it's a big difference but the tire is now on a larger rim which means the contact patch is slightly different now. Your tires have worn into the 15x6 size rim, now that your on 6.5" the tread is spread out more. Give them some time to wear into a new rim size.

In general I don't think it's a good idea to change rim size (width) and reuse your tires. You should have mounted new tires on there. Thats only my opinion..... I'm a bit **** when it comes to stuff like that.