Is wheel alignment needed?

Not necessary unless the tires show uneven wear or seriously pull. Toyota front ends are solid, my 2012 v "could" use sway bar links at 320k miles and they were just called out at my last dealer oil change. If suspension or steering parts are removed it's a good idea to align. They don't do much except front wheel toe adjustments so find a low cost (maybe 50% of a dealer cost ) alignment shop if you need it.

The shop you buy the tires from would rotate free and most good places like Costco or Sam's will balance and repair for free. It's a good deal when you figure the cost of rotations and balances x15 over the tire's life. Rotating by the book is usually every 5k miles and will extend tire life maybe 10k miles additional.

 

Waiting until your tires show uneven wear to have the alignment checked is like waiting until the oil light comes on to check your oil. Get it checked.

 

IMHO; it's like insurance for your new set of tires investment. If they start wearing unevenly because of an alignment issue it isn't covered under your new tire warranty. It definitely needs to be done if your old tires are showing uneven wear. Fix the problem before it chews into the new tires too.

Hope this helps....

 

Again, the answer is no. Your existing tires are proof enough, especially at your low mileage.

Some Toyota dealers around here have free alignment checks in the service entrance driveway. But I would not make a special trip and personally would buy tires where you get free rotations and tire inspections every 5k.

 

FWIW; low mileage has nothing to do with it. Alignment may be thrown off by running into and over curbs, deep potholes or suspension issues. Your current set of tires need to be inspected for abnormal wear or signs of misalignment. If there are none, you don't need an alignment with the purchase of a new set of tires. It's simply a good idea to do an alignment with a new set of tires, before the new tires wear pattern is established - which will slightly alter an alignment, after the fact.

It's not mandatory to get an alignment with a new set of tires..... It's your car and your choice.....

 

It sounds like it's something you might want to do as a preventative measure. Unless you find some sort of uneven wear (cupping, inner or outer sides of your tires wearing more than the other side), or have some handling issues.

There are YouTube videos where guys will do their own alignment, but most people will just take it to a shop that has a multi-thousand-dollar rig to do it. Be careful; there are more than a few ripoff shops that will either give you a minimal "toe and go" treatment, or worse, tell you that you need to replace a few hundred dollars of suspension components. (Sometimes it is that you need to fix the worn out suspension, sometimes not).

When I first moved into my current house, I had the curb replaced at the end of the driveway to one with a gradual slope. That saves my vehicles the daily curb hit when I go into the driveway, and preserves my alignment (I feel). Like most things, your situation may be different. If you regularly hit potholes, drive over curbs, or do anything that's going to whack your front end out of alignment, maybe it's time.

For the most part, 31K miles the alignment isn't going to be that much of an issue. You should have been rotating your tires every now and then to even out the wear too. Most tire shops offer that as a free service when you buy the tires from them. Since you bought your Prius new, the dealer should have been doing that for at least part of the time.