Alignment question. Is this close enough?

[Papa Bear]

I would mention that you will be talking to the District Service Manager if they don't fix it right now !!

Geez, looking at the pics of your steering wheel gave me a headache ............

 

[mechtech2]

Your alignment may be perfect - before and after.
Your description has nothing to do with alignment.
All they need to do it set the toe in on one side, and out on the other by the same amount to get the steering wheel centered.
You can do this yourself, and since the parts are already loose it should be easy . Like 5 minutes and test. Re do if necessary.
Only turn a LITTLE. Like 1/16 or 1/32of a turn. Paint, tape, or mark the parts first. This will ensure exact adjustments on both sides.

 

[2oldtommy]

I haven't read anything here about a 4 wheel alignment. (I could have missed). The front toe can be set spot on, but if the rear is not tracking the front wheels perfectly, your steering wheel can be off center.Only the latest laser alignment equipment on all 4 wheels will get you the perfection you desire. FWIW--Oldtommy

 

[doitmyself]

Make sure you get service receipts every time in case you have trouble down the road (i.e., premature tire wear).

And as others have stated above, you do realize that the front end can be in perfect alignment with the steering wheel off centered. They are two different things.

I would not tolerate that in a new car.

 

[garlicbreadman]

where is your alignment sheet? that would be pretty helpful to determine if there needs to be any finer adjustments

 

[bdcardinal]

Take it back and make them fix it. You should be under both factory warranty and a warranty on the alignment. I did alignments before I started selling parts and that is a complete and total fail on the alignment techs part. On a brand new car that is completely unacceptable. As I said before, accept nothing less than perfection. Threaten to have the car lemon law'd and you will see how fast that alignment is perfected.

 

[Trav]

That's unacceptable. I wouldn't accept it on a new car or pay for it from a shop doing an alignment.

 

[RH+G]

Check ur air pressures and make sure they are all even

 

[Chris B.]

I'll mention a lot of the ideas and details you guys told me about. No need to threaten the lemon law. They simply failed to align it on the 1st try. I called them and they told me to take it back in on Wednesday. I'll leave a polite detailed note and for them to call me when it is 100%.
I'll report back then.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Fine point for perfectionists:
Sometimes the steering wheel is off centerline when the steering rack is centered with correct minimal toe-in - you really dont want to correct an off-center steering wheel with toe adjustments - then the rack may end up off-center. The splined connecting steering shaft may require unclamping and repositioning to correct this. Count your exposed threads on the tie rod ends to insure they are equal withing a couple threads. Many tech miss this. Also insure the cross camber doesnt show a steering bias (having one side positive and the other negative will steer the car similar to how you steer a bycycle by leaning the tyre)

 

[Chris B.]

UPDATE:

I printed this thread out and took the car back to the dealer. They re-did the alignment again and this time it came out PERFECT! They said they had to "recradle" the front end and re do everything. It took them all day and they put about 15 miles on the car testing it out. The steering wheel is now 100% centered and the car tracks perfecly straight! I thanked them and left a very happy customer!

 

[ltslimjim]

^Awesome. Glad they got it truly 'right' on the money.

 

[bigmike]

That's great news. Maybe as a bonus someone in their service department will join BITOG too.

 

[lexus114]

excuse my ignorance, and I `m very happy that they fixed it for you. but what do they mean by recradle? Re do all the specs?

 

[SteveSRT8]

well, on my car that means moving the actual sub frame around the engine on its mounts.

 

[lexus114]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
well, on my car that means moving the actual sub frame around the engine on its mounts.




Wow! Maybe was never installed properly at the factory?

 

[mechtech2]

Shifting the subframe will cause camber more neg on one side, and more pos on the other. It is useful to try and even things up.
But they also HAD to do a subsequent toe and steering wheel centering.
We don't know what really affected the change. I suspect toe and proper wheel centering

 

[eljefino]

On my car recradling is just loosening four bolts then sticking a 15mm (?) OD socket in a factory alignment hole, and retighening. Or, if correcting something, prying to make two wrongs that make a right.

Nothing too fancy, but I bet the service writer thought he'd sound all high tech talking about it.

 

[Dakota1820]

Wow suprised that's what they had to do but glad you got it fixed

 

[Chris B.]

I asked what "recradling" was and he said they took apart the front end and put it all back together. He said they do it quiet often on new cars to fix problems like mine. My CRV is driving and handeling much better now and I'm happy! They did a good job this time.