Alignment Results

[The Critic]

I had an alignment performed on a 2006 Corolla today. The car had 56,000 miles and this was its first alignment. The alignment was performed for two reasons:

1) Excessive Wear on the outer shoulder of the left front tire
2) New tires were installed last week.

Here are the results:

(Acceptable Range): Before/After

Left Front:

Camber (0.2 to -1.3): -0.4/-0.4
Caster (3.6 to 2.1): 3.2/3.2
Toe (-0.10 to 0.10): -0.09/-0.01

Right Front:

Camber (-1.3 to 0.2): -0.6/-0.6
Caster (2.1 to 3.6): 3.5/3.5
Toe (0.10 to -0.10): 0.00/-0.01

Front:

Total Toe (-0.20 to 0.20): -0.08/-0.01
Steer Ahead (-0.05 to 0.05): -0.05/0.00

Left Rear:

Camber (-1.0 to -2.0): -1.2/-1.3
Toe (0.00 to 0.27): 0.25/0.26

Right Rear:

Camber (-2.0 to -1.0): -1.5/-1.5
Toe (0.27 to 0.00): 0.04/0.03

Rear:

Total Toe (0.00 to 0.53): 0.29/0.29
Thrust Angle: 0.11/0.11

As a reminder, the rear toe is not adjustable on the Corolla as the rear suspension is of a torsion beam design. The front camber is also not adjustable from the factory.

Before I had the car aligned, the tire pressure was set to 32 psi. The car also had a full tank of gas, and the trunk was loaded with around 40 pounds of cargo to simulate normal operating conditions.

The alignment was done at the Firestone here in Santa Cruz, CA. Their new price is $89.99 for a standard alignment, but I had a $20 off coupon, which brought the price down to $69.99. I find the price to be a tad expensive considering that only the front toe is adjustable on this car.

With the above information, what do you guys think? Do I need to keep an eye on the left rear toe? Should I invest in a shim on that side to bring the toe closer to the middle of the acceptable range?

Thanks!

 

[bdcardinal]

technically if its in the green, its still good. im assuming they were using a Hunter rack.

if it were my car, or a car that i aligned, i wouldn't let it leave until everything was perfect in the middle of all specs, but thats me.

 

[tom slick]

I think you didn't need an alignment and you may still see wear on the shoulder of the left tire.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
technically if its in the green, its still good. im assuming they were using a Hunter rack.

if it were my car, or a car that i aligned, i wouldn't let it leave until everything was perfect in the middle of all specs, but thats me.

The left toe was still in the green, but the LF tire was displaying excessive wear on the outer shoulder. What's the explanation for that?

Yes, they used a Hunter DSP 900 (could be wrong on the model number) machine.

 

[tom slick]

does the car drive the same route almost every day? does it have a lot of right turns? did that tire ever get a little low for an extended period.

I had the same issue on the same tire/side, alignment is spot on. Tire pressure was a little low due to a slow leak, When I got the tire fixed and rotated tires the issue went away. no new wear on the rotated tire.

Camber, maybe toe, would have been out quite a bit for it to affect wear significantly.

 

[Warstud]

The places that advertise alignments for $30 or so are adjusting the tow. The price you paid was for a full alignment Camber, Caster and Toe. I would check around to see what other places are charging for a basic toe adjustment. If most of them are around $30ish I would go back to firestone and demand a partial refund.

 

[Chris142]

We used to call a toe only alignment "Set the toe and let it go".

 

[The Critic]

Talked to a Toyota MDT with 24 years experience. This is what he had to say after reading this thread:

Quote:
That alignment looks ok to me. I would have added a bit more front toe and the camber closer to “0”, but that’s just me. I am used to aligning trucks and they like 0 camber best.

The rear toe is almost impossible to measure 100% accurate, because the rear toe is self adjusting as you drive. If you were to put that vehicle on the alignment rack 3 different times, then you would get 3 different readings. The guy who said you didn’t need an alignment is crazy.

We don’t see rear tire wearing issues with toe, usually its only camber and lack of rotations, but I know you do that so there is no worry.

 

[mechtech2]

Rear toe is generally with the fronts pointing together on FWD cars.
They splay out to around zero toe under dynamic conditions.

 

[mikeinaustin]

so why do car manufactures build cars where something like the front camber cannot be adjusted? what do they expect you do do once your car ages and camber gets out of spec?

 

[XS650]

Originally Posted By: mikeinaustin
so why do car manufactures build cars where something like the front camber cannot be adjusted? what do they expect you do do once your car ages and camber gets out of spec?


That's usually cars with McPherson strut front suspension. Their camber doesn't normally go out unless there is damage or serious wear, either of which should be fixed rather than covered up with an alignment. For the few people that want camber adjustment on those cars, you can usually buy kits that make them adjustable.