Tire and alignment question

[CharBaby]

Lifetime balance, rotation and alignments are an add on gimmick to get you back in their store. Firestone Stores are notorious about selling them. They are easily sold to folks with very little knowledge about cars. It’s designed to separate you from your hard earned money. I’ve seen how it works on unsuspecting customers. I will never use a Firestone store again.

The Lifetime Tire Balance & Rotation has worked well for me at most tire stores that I have purchased from. However, they'll only check the balance on a tire to see if it needs re-balancing. And most will only slap on another weight to get the tire to balance. The don't strip off all the weights and start fresh. As-far-as Lifetime Alignment???

WELL:
The manager at the Good/Year Service Center explained to me how their Lifetime Alignment(LTA) works. If you pay extra money up front for the LTA, and you come back during that period, you can be DENIED an alignment(for free) if your suspension parts are in need of replacing(understood). They want to know why your vehicle needs an alignment and they'll look hard & long before approving another.

Also, if you replace suspension parts on your vehicle that would require an alignment(during your LTA period), you can again be DENIED. So YES, they take your money up front and then you don't get to benefit from your this Lifetime Alignment(LTA).

Also keep in mind that most people get rid of their vehicle before they can benefit from their spent hard earned cash. I only pay for an alignment when I need one.

 

[otis24]

I had the alignment checked. No charge. It was barely out of spec. Not enough to justify an alignment.

 

[Blang]

If I felt the need for an alignment I would do it after replacing the tires. I think the machine would read differently with old unevenly worn tires vs new tires. Get the alignment done based on fresh tires and you should be good.

 

[mightymousetech]

If I felt the need for an alignment I would do it after replacing the tires. I think the machine would read differently with old unevenly worn tires vs new tires. Get the alignment done based on fresh tires and you should be good.

The only way tires will affect the alignment is if there is a large difference in tread depth between the tires, which will change the ride height of that corner.

 

[demarpaint]

I won't let anyone do an alignment unless parts are changed. To many times they are in a hurry and screw it up but you won't know until uneven wear then you get the blame.

+1 I learned that lesson the hard way. If my tires are wearing well, and the front end is good I leave the alignment alone. I always got an alignment with new tires, and ended up with a messed up alignment, more than once. Not any more. My Liberty is approaching 85K miles with about 20K miles on the second set of tires, which are wearing perfectly.