Alignment?

well it looks like every alignment sheet DH has ever shown me... i don't know the actual spec numbers but i can ask him to look at it tonight.

 

I am contempating an alignment as well. When I drive on the highway, my 2005 meanders a bit in the lane. I was wondering if it was really necessary to have Toyota do it (i.e. is the alignment special in some ways), or should 'any' wheel/alignment place do?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(upland_bill @ May 5 2006, 01:43 PM) [snapback]250329[/snapback]</div>

Alignment requires a Toyota THHT. So any shop with one could do it but this usually means a Toyota dealer.

 

thumbs up from the tech. it was done on a dsp600 or dsp800 machine. the nice thing about those machines is you have to intentionally f it up to get it wrong.

you need to reset the zero point calibration after doing an alignment or the traction control kicks in because it thinks you're turning when you're not.

 

I disagree, from a subjective POV.
First, your right rear is WAY too positive. Funny, this was out on my 04 as well. Aske the dealer to order a shim kit and realign at no charge.
This caused me to have to replace the right rear wheel bearing-hub-abs sensor at 76k miles.

Second, your front toe is set to almost zero. I have had 3 back to back alignments and found higway tracking was best when front toe IN was 0.005 to 0.01(max limit). Yes, it makes a difference I can feel.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(grasshopper @ May 5 2006, 10:04 AM) [snapback]250296[/snapback]</div>

Same thing here.

 

I'm wondering if my '06 needs a look. It's hard to say, given that it's fine most of the time.

The problem is that above, say, 65 MPH, it's *really* twitchy. The lightest touch causes an overly sharp turn in that direction, making it pretty hard to control at higher speeds on the highway. 65 and under, and it feels fine.

It's a new 3-week old car, and I had the stock tires replaced with Comfortread before I accepted it (since the attrocious tire noise on the crappy California grooved highways was the only thing I disliked about the car during my test drives).

Should I have it checked? And if so, what should I have them pay the most attention to? The local dealer's service dept seems very accomodating and thorough.

 

Welp, they did it, and though I had to go through the "Where did you hear that, on the INTERNET?! Har Har" routine, I ended up with .03 and .04 toe in on the left/right front. I can now drive on the highway at 75+ without feeling like I'm fighting to maintain control (or dangerously close to losing it).

My rear camber is -2.5 / -0.4, rear toe is .17 / .18 -- should I be concerned about those?

 

grasshopper: shims are approved on a case by case basis by SET, which is the reigning empire in the southeast. afaik, they only approve them for cases where the wheel is out of the 'acceptable' range.

 

I just had my Prius aligned, four times. The first time was at a tire store where I planned to buy new tires. They discovered that the rear toe was out of spec and said "no adjustment better take it to the dealer."

I went back to the dealer where I bought it and they said there was no problem with the rear but adjusted the front toe because they said it was toed in to far. When they finished the car was so screwed up it would hardly go in a straight line, before they adjusted it there were no serious tracking problems

I Went to another dealer (Campbell Toyota in Hermiston, OR) they agreed with the tire store. They put the front toe back where it belonged and called Toyota about the out of spec rear toe. Toyota said "put in a new rear axle beam." I now have a new axle in the rear and everything is A-OK with the alignment. None of this has cost me anything except my time which I don't mind because I'm retired.

Both the tire store (Les Schwab) and Campbell Toyota got it right and they are both using Hunter alignment equipment. I don't know what the other dealer is using, when I called them to tell them their equipment might have problems they became quite defensive.

I just bought a new set of tires from the Les Schwab dealer (Toyo Proxis TPTs) and my next Toyota will almost certainly come from Campbell Toyota.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(grasshopper @ Jun 2 2006, 02:35 PM) [snapback]264851[/snapback]</div>

Yes I did get print outs from Campbell Toyota and Les Schwab, the other Toyota dealer wouldn't provide one because their printer was broken and they said it "cost to much" to replace it. That should have been a red flag for me!

Unfortunately I don't have a scanner but I will give you the as left data from Campbell, this is how it is now with the new axle beam:

***********FRONT: LEFT*************************FRONT: RIGHT
Camber*********-0.7*********************************-0.6
Caster***********3.2**********************************2.8
Toe*************.03**********************************.03

*********************************FRONT
Cross Camber***********************-.01
Cross Caster*************************0.5
Total Toe****************************0.05

*************REAR: LEFT*****************************REAR: RIGHT
Camber***********-1.5**********************************-1.3
Toe***************0.18**********************************0.05

***********************************REAR
Cross Camber************************-.02
Total Toe****************************0.23
Thrust Angle**************************0.07

Before the new axle beam was installed the left rear toe was 0.35, the spec is 0.03 to 0.28. It didn't cause any problems as far as drivability was concerned but it might have caused excessive tire wear. I'm glad I was able to get it fixed before I put new tires on.


EDIT: Well that didn't work so good, when I posted it all my spaces were taken out.
There maybe that will work, just ignore the ****.

 

I'm really curious about rear camber.

Mine is:

Left: -2.5
Right: -.4

Cross camber: -2.1

Specified range for this is 0.5 to -0.5 ...should I get this fixed? It's actually listed in red on the Toyota alignment report.

 

Grasshopper,
If you're stuck with a bad dealer, then go over their heads.

Ask for the Toyota Regional Service Manager, or some such title. Gather all your documentation of who you spoke with, when and what they told you. Forward this info to him and see what his response is.

Tracy Toyota in Northern CA is great. They told me about the shim kit, gave me a rental for a day when it came in and my car was back in the shop. They gave me the print outs of all my alignments. They even replaced the right rear wheel bearing (many miles after the shim kit was installed) that failed because of the out of spec factory alignment.