Alignment Woes, Opinions?

[Clubber_Lang]

Hey Guys,
Put new Michellins on the car about 1500 miles ago. I originally had a 4 wheel alignment at an independant shop in town---with 32psi all around the car still pulled to the right. Took the car to the toyota dealership. They spent a considerable amount of time on the 4 wheel alignment, and after some time declared it to be in good alignment after a test drive, said that it was as good as they could get it.----With hands off the wheel the car still pulls to the right, it is not extreme but is consistant with any and all roads. I'm trying to keep my tires from wearing improperly but dont know what else to do. Opinions?

2003 Toyota Corolla 64K

 

[beast3300]

Do you have a print off of the alignment?

 

[Clubber_Lang]

no i dont. I should have gotten one but spoke to the service manager before paying for the service---he showed me the adjustments that they made, and commented that there was nothing else that they could possibly tweak and that the alignment was as precise as it could possibly be.

 

[pbm]

I'm taking my car in for an alignment in the morning. It really annoys me that our roads are so bad when we pay so much in taxes. Our politicians don't prioritize road repair because roads don't vote.
I'd rotate my tires to see if it affects the 'pull'.

 

[Drew99GT]

Are you taking into account road crown?

 

[wander2039]

Do your own check..

The back tires should be toed in a small amount and front's toed out since it's a fwd.

 

[XS650]

Originally Posted By: Clubber_Lang
no i dont. I should have gotten one but spoke to the service manager before paying for the service---he showed me the adjustments that they made, and commented that there was nothing else that they could possibly tweak and that the alignment was as precise as it could possibly be.


No one can help you without more information. Your service adviser owes you a printout. See if he will put it on the rack and print one for you at no charge. Then people can give you some advice.

I believe Corollas have twist beam rear axles which a dealer will typically say can't be aligned. There are aftermarket shims that can be used to correct alignment.

The front suspension may or may not have adjustable camber from the factory. If it doesn't, there are usually inexpensive kits available that will allow it to be adjusted. Some low end Toyotas do have adjustable front camber and the service departments either don't know it or pretend to not know it because it takes swapping in some different bolts.

Front toe-in is always adjustable and likely the only thing they adjusted.

 

[ddean]

I bet that your problem is radial pull.

General rule of thumb is that after swapping the front tires around if the pull changes sides then you have a mismatched/incorrectly mounted tire. If the car drives fine then you have both an alignment/suspension problem and mismatched/incorrectly mounted tire.

Also check out http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=12

 

[tomcat27]

yes, try rotating your tires and see if anything changes

 

[willix]

Have you considered a brake slightly dragging? See if side to side temp differences on the fronts or the rears are present.

Drive down the road when this right pull is present and roll to a stop & see if a frt. or rear right side wheel is warmer than the left side.

 

[mechanicx]

+1 swap your front tires L to R and see if it changes anything and then also one by one swap the front straight with each rear in turn. Also agree on checking for brake drag. Did the prblem only surface after the new tires? If we assume that the alignment is in spec which we can't really) and the suspension is not worn somewhere then the about the only other explanation is power steering rack issue. I doubt that and like someone else mentioned Camber has to be added to one side with a kit to stop a pull. Most shops don't want to do it though.

 

[Steve S]

Originally Posted By: pbm
I'm taking my car in for an alignment in the morning. It really annoys me that our roads are so bad when we pay so much in taxes. Our politicians don't prioritize road repair because roads don't vote.
I'd rotate my tires to see if it affects the 'pull'.
If you are not aware of it, the US rebuilding the middle east. Can't afford much else.

 

[wallyuwl]

As others have said, get a printout from both places. It hopefully will be saved on their computer systems. If not, have them rerack it and check the alignment and give you a printout. Then try switching the tires, and go from there regarding if it is a tire problem (tire itself or mounting/balancing problem) or a different front end problem.

Yeah, the rears on the Corollas are not adjustable. We have a Vibe (same chassis), and our passenger rear is a little off. You can get shims. Our is off so slight that we were told if they put a shim in, it would be off the other way, so might as well leave it.

 

[robshelton]

I thought the Vibe was a Matrix. Does the Corolla have the same rear suspension?

 

[XS650]

Originally Posted By: wallyuwl

Yeah, the rears on the Corollas are not adjustable. We have a Vibe (same chassis), and our passenger rear is a little off. You can get shims. Our is off so slight that we were told if they put a shim in, it would be off the other way, so might as well leave it.



One of the more common shims is adjustable from 0 to +/-1.50 degrees correction, so bologna on that.
Adjustable Shim

 

[pbm]

Originally Posted By: Steve S
Originally Posted By: pbm
I'm taking my car in for an alignment in the morning. It really annoys me that our roads are so bad when we pay so much in taxes. Our politicians don't prioritize road repair because roads don't vote.
I'd rotate my tires to see if it affects the 'pull'.
If you are not aware of it, the US rebuilding the middle east. Can't afford much else.



I hear you. We have given 10 million dollars a day for the past 60 years to our middle east 'ally' so they can have good roads.

 

[Trav]

We pay some of the highest taxes in the country and have the worst roads anywhere in the world i have ever seen including former soviet block countries.
Some cities have even turned off the darn street lights at night,crying poverty.

I wish they would bring back tar and feathering.

 

[pbm]

Originally Posted By: Trav
We pay some of the highest taxes in the country and have the worst roads anywhere in the world i have ever seen including former soviet block countries.
Some cities have even turned off the darn street lights at night,crying poverty.

I wish they would bring back tar and feathering.



.....or at least TERM LIMITS.

 

[mechtech2]

Lots of good advice above.
A properly aligned car [neutral] will drift slightly with the road crown. This will go either way, depending.

You paid for it, so get a print out. This will tell us exactly what is wrong, if it is an alignment problem.
Many things are NOT easily adjustable, except for front toe.
You DID pay for it, so get the results.